Angels Roll Over, Play Dead : Hey, at Least They Lead the Mariners

The Angels finally got to the top of the hill, only to find the view isn’t what they expected. Someone built a high-rise condo complex on the other side.

The last couple of times the Angels were in contention, they wound up looking at the same sights. You know, Randy Johnson on the mound shutting them down, fireworks exploding in the Kingdome to signal the Seattle Mariners’ division championship.

So when the Angels embarked on this season they were gunning for the Mariners. After all, Seattle had every major contributor returning from its division-winning team and added David Segui. It still had Johnson--the most dominant pitcher in the game--even if he was grumpy about his contract status.

No one counted on Johnson’s moodiness to turn him into just another pitcher. No one expected Jay Buhner to get hurt. No one could have imagined that the only role the Mariners would have the opportunity to play this year would be the spoilers.

Then again, the Angels didn’t exactly count on Craig Shipley driving in Chad Kreuter for their only run in the heat of a division race, which is what happened Wednesday night.

Strange how things work out. You’d think an 8 1/2-game lead over the Mariners in September would be more than the Angels would ever dare to dream about, yet it doesn’t mean a thing.

It’s the Texas Rangers who are standing in the way now. With the Angels, it’s always someone. Or something.

The Angels beat the Mariners two of three over the weekend, and all it got them was the right to call this series with the Rangers meaningful.

Then the Rangers beat the Angels in every way. Yeah, they bashed balls around Edison Field and shut down the Angels with their pitching, but the most frustrating thing was the way they beat the Angels at Anaheim’s own game, doing the small stuff like taking an extra base.

They scored their first run Wednesday night without a hit. Tom Goodwin walked, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly. The biggest, baddest lineup west of the Mississippi playing little ball.

Juan Gonzalez stole a base. So did Pudge Rodriguez. One of the runs was unearned. The first two balls they hit into the seats bounced first and were ground-rule doubles. The third, a home run by Todd Zeile, went only 350 feet to the shortest part of Edison Field. That still was better than the Angels’ output. Three runs in three games. Not even a little bit of a spurt; one run per game.

The Angels went down so meekly, so out of character for a team that scratched and fought its way through an injury-marred season. Manager Terry Collins didn’t like the fact that they were taking too many fastballs in the first two games of the series, because now is not the time to be waiting for something better to come along.

Then Jim Edmonds struck out looking twice Wednesday. Tim Salmon and Kreuter also took called third strikes. On the last pitch of the game, the series, and the season, basically, Chris Pritchett watched the ball settle into the catcher’s mitt for the third strike.

Now, with the Angels off to Oakland and the Rangers headed to Seattle to finish the season, the Angels need history to reverse itself to avoid having history repeat itself.

In 1995 the Angels needed Texas to beat Seattle two of four to force a one-game playoff with the Mariners, and the Rangers came through. Now, the Angels are counting on their old enemies, the Mariners, to beat their new foes, the Rangers, three times. And the Angels have to win out.

By the way, the Angels’ wild-card hopes officially ended Wednesday night when Boston beat Tampa Bay. It looks like the Red Sox once again will be moving on at the Angels’ expense, kind of like in 1986. Sorry to keep dredging up the past, but it’s just impossible not to with this team. This time it won’t go down as a collapse, just a fizzle. A new method, a new opponent, same old September story.

Collins said the Angels aren’t thinking about the past. If so, that makes them the only ones, and he knows it.

“We’re never going to put it out of anybody’s heads until we go through it, fight through it and change it,” Collins said.

The Angels changed it, all right. They topped the Mariners. It’s just too bad the game changed first, and all that victory gets them is second place.