REVOLTING DEVELOPMENTS

The Angels and Dodgers obviously have deeper concerns than area bragging rights as they renew their interleague rivalry at Dodger Stadium tonight. Talk about June gloom.

The Angels are 6 1/2 games behind the sizzling Texas Rangers in the American League West, continue to operate without Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds and Gary DiSarcina, and have now been burdened with a potentially combustible clubhouse division that could threaten the future--if not current--status of Manager Terry Collins.

Disney used to feature Mouseketeers, now it’s mutineers.

The Dodgers are five games behind the second-year Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, slumbered through a three-game sweep by the Pittsburgh Pirates--an upscale model of the Florida Marlins--and remain on a .500 treadmill, toting their $80-million payroll and proving almost daily that Charlie Hough, the former pitching coach and handy scapegoat, wasn’t the problem.

This is the way it is as the disappointing and detached Dodgers meet the depleted and distracted Angels in the opener of a three-game series to be followed in July by another in Anaheim.

Will Collins still be there in July--or have the lunatics completely taken over the asylum?

This is amazing.

An unspecified number of Angels have created the perception--if not the reality--that they are more concerned about the possibility that Collins will soon receive a contact extension than their struggle for survival in the West.

At a time when the Angels are only one game under .500 despite the absence of three of their most productive and important players, there is this group that has seemed to put managerial style ahead of bottom-line substance, voicing concerns about Collins to General Manager Bill Bavasi, who has pointed out that there is another group that is dismayed and disgusted by the stance of their complaining teammates.

Have the Angels burned those T-shirts that Mo Vaughn handed out on opening night and carried the message “Together We Can Fly”? Is the new motto “Divided We Fall”?

Are the players paid to play or run the club?

There are many questions, few answers.

What are the complaints? Who are the complainants? Where does Vaughn stand? What is the situation with Collins’ extension?

“It wasn’t as if there was a battle cry demanding that he be fired,” a source familiar with the situation said. “It was more a case of, ‘Look, if you’re going to give him an extension, can we discuss some concerns and maybe they can be corrected.’ ”

Another source with ears in the clubhouse said that the problem is more serious--”far from minuscule,” and that if Collins receives an extension the Angels could face the loss of key players in the off-season.

Bavasi is exploring the scope and validity of the concerns.

What he knows to this point, he suggested, is that in a world free of pampered and arrogant athletes, they would be considered minor.

What is it?

Is Collins too loud, too hard, too excitable, too negative in the dugout?

Is he in too many areas that fall under the responsibility of others and, perhaps, too much the Little General of another era in Anaheim?

Who do they want? What do they want? Can any manager satisfy all 25 players?

There is an adage: Be careful of what you ask for; you just might get it.

The point: Angel players should ask themselves if there is another manager who will protect them with the media the way Collins does or another manager capable of stimulating five consecutive second-place finishes with injury-marred and pitching-thin teams in Houston and Anaheim.

Some of the Astros claimed to have wilted under the managerial overdrive.

Maybe that’s eroding the current situation.

Collins has insisted he is willing to listen, open to change.

If that’s what the current process produces, the Angels could benefit, but it’s a slippery slope, a paradoxical situation.

Collins is in the last year of his contract. Management was working on an early extension so that it wouldn’t become a distraction.

Now it has become a bigger one, but Bavasi is convinced his team recognizes the need to stay focused, to put the managerial issue aside.

With the Rangers streaking, he said, every inning carries monumental importance. The Dodgers should represent no greater motivation than the Minnesota Twins before them or the San Francisco Giants after them, but maybe the Dodgers do come at the right time for the Angels, that much more reason to refocus.

Think blue?

Even the true believer named Kevin Malone doesn’t know what to think about his troubled club.

The Dodger general manager has advocated patience, convinced his team will come together, but he’s beginning to wonder a bit. His starting pitching is still erratic, the offense inconsistent and his manager frustrated by a roster composition that provides little flexibility and few alternatives for tired and slumping players.

“I still believe that not many clubs have the talent we do, but we haven’t played together to the extent that I thought we would,” Malone said. “We haven’t done the little things consistently enough to win the close games, and that’s frustrating. I’m still looking at it optimistically, but I’m starting to scratch my head. We’ve got speed, plenty of power, and most of our lineup has been all-stars in recent years. That’s what is so puzzling. We just have to keep working, keep grinding.”

The Angels could provide an example. They have grinded through the injuries to stay alive in their division. The players are to be applauded for that. It’s their job. Making management decisions isn’t.

ANGELS at DODGERS

* 7 tonight: Angels’ Omar Olivares (6-3, 3.06) vs. Dodgers’ Kevin Brown (5-3, 2.62)

* Saturday, 1 p.m.--Tim Belcher (3-4, 7.08) vs. Chan Ho Park (4-3, 4.66)

* Sunday, 1 p.m.--Ken Hill (2-4, 4.61) vs. Ismael Valdes (5-3, 3.69)

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LAST YEAR

Angels won series, 3-1

* at Angels 6, Dodgers 5

* at Angels 6, Dodgers 4

* at Dodgers 6, Angels 5

* Angels 3, at Dodgers 2

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1998 INTERLEAGUE RECORDS

Dodgers: 17-12

Angels: 14-18

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HOW THEY COMPARE

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DODGERS ’98 ’99 Record 26-26 26-26 Place 3rd 3rd In 1st S.D. Ariz. Games Behind 6 5 ANGELS ’98 ’99 Record 27-26 26-27 Place 2nd 4th In 1st Texas Texas Games Behind 5 1/2 6 1/2

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RANDY HARVEY: Should Mo Vaughn be commended or reprimanded? Page 2

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

JUNE 22 at Edison Field

ANGELS, 6-5

* Winning pitcher: Troy Percival

* Losing pitcher: Greg McMichael

* Attendance: 43,491

* In Glenn Hoffman’s (above) managerial debut after the firing of Bill Russell, Jim Bruske walked Tim Salmon in the bottom of the ninth inning to force in the winning run.

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JUNE 23 at Edison Field

ANGELS, 6-4

* Winning pitcher: Pep Harris

* Losing pitcher: Rick Brunson

* Attendance: 43,719

* Dave Mlicki was strong for six innings, but designated hitter Cecil Fielder (above) keyed a three-run seventh inning with a two-run single, giving the Angels their 11th comeback victory of the month.

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JUNE 24 at Dodger Stadium

DODGERS, 6-5 (11)

* Winning pitcher: Antonio Osuna

* Losing pitcher: Greg Cadaret

* Attendance: 46,822

* Charlie Hough was named pitching coach, replacing Glenn Gregson, after Trenidad Hubbard’s (above) run-scoring single in the 11th inning ended L.A.’s four-game losing streak.

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JUNE 25 at Dodger Stadium

ANGELS, 3-2

* Winning pitcher: Steve Sparks (above)

* Losing pitcher: Dennis Reyes

* Attendance: 38,254

* The Angels had only three hits, but Steve Sparks pitched seven strong innings and Phil Nevin broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a two-out, two-run double.