Angel Fade Continues as Finley Takes Loss

The Angels continued their slow, almost insidious, fade in the American League West Monday night in 3Com Park, where the San Francisco Giants took advantage of Chuck Finley’s error to score four unearned runs in a 5-2 interleague victory before a crowd of 13,661.

In case you hadn’t noticed--and with the Angels generating so many headlines with a clubhouse uprising against their manager and a bench-clearing brawl against the Dodgers last week, who has time to look at the standings?--the Angels are 7 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers.

They were three games back after beating Baltimore on May 25 and showing indications they were good enough to stay in the race despite injuries to Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds and Gary DiSarcina.

But the Rangers have gone on a tear since then, the Angels have lost seven of 12 games, and they’re beginning to lose sight of Texas.

“We’re not really getting any better right now,” Finley said. “We’re trying to hold on and hold on and play hard until we get someone back, but you don’t want to fall so far back that everyone in front of you looks small.”

The way the Angels are hitting, they may be in danger of falling so far behind by the All-Star break that Salmon, Edmonds and DiSarcina won’t be able to rescue them. Although they’ve hit 20 homers in their last 13 games, the Angels have scored more than four runs in only two of those games.

Second baseman Randy Velarde, who was hitting .326 a week ago, has one hit in 19 at-bats in the last five games, his average falling to .300. Left fielder Darin Erstad, who carried the Angels in the first half last season, is 8 for 49 with two RBIs in the last 11 games and has mediocre .227 average.

First baseman Mo Vaughn is 4 for 28 with one RBI and nine strikeouts in the last seven games, and shortstop Andy Sheets’ bat may show up on the back of a milk carton--he’s 3 for 40 in his last 13 games.

But there may be one silver lining in the thundercloud above--if the Angels go down, it will apparently be without a fight--among themselves.

Some called the events of last week a mutiny. Some called it an insurrection. Some called it a clubhouse rift. The Angels would like to call it history.

“It’s over,” Velarde said of player concerns about a possible contract extension for Manager Terry Collins. “We’ve cleared the air quite a bit and spoke our piece. It’s good to have that nastiness out of the air, because it makes for a long season.”

Velarde added that he has noticed some subtle changes in Collins since a series of meetings last Wednesday, between players and General Manager Bill Bavasi and between Collins and his players.

“He’s been more vocal, he’s talking to more guys and trying to get along with more guys, and he’s being more consistent instead of extreme,” Velarde said. “That’s a credit to him, because when a guy has a set personality, it’s asking a lot for him to change.”

Vaughn was one of the Angels who met with Bavasi last week, but he has done his best to bury the issue since then.

“It’s over,” Vaughn said. “People have to realize, we didn’t demand anything.”

United they stand, together they fell Monday night. Finley looked dominant in the first four innings, giving up one hit, before Stan Javier reached on a one-out single in the fifth and Rich Aurilia walked.

Brent Mayne hit a one-hopper back to the mound, which Finley grabbed and threw to second for a double play. But his throw tailed to his left, nicked Sheets’ glove and caromed into left field, allowing Javier to score for a 1-0 lead and Aurilia to take third.

Mayne stole second and Russ Ortiz struck out, but F.P. Santangelo, the Giants’ leadoff hitter who had one homer in 79 previous at-bats this season, slammed Finley’s full-count fastball into the left-field seats for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead.

The Angels countered with two runs in the seventh when Orlando Palmeiro and Troy Glaus singled, Palmeiro taking third and scoring on Ortiz’s wild pitch, Matt Walbeck singled, and Sheets hit an RBI fielder’s choice.

Reliever Jerry Spradlin drilled Velarde in the back with a pitch, loading the bases, and San Francisco Manager Dusty Baker summoned left-hander Rich Rodriguez, who got the slumping Erstad to ground weakly to second.