Angels’ Condition Goes From Bad to Worse With Loss

Now what? A two-hour team meeting? Mandatory four-hour sessions of early batting practice? A daily spring training-like refresher course on fundamentals? Or maybe Manager Terry Collins can just send the Angels to their rooms without dinner.

Collins and the Angels have tried virtually everything to snap their offensive funk, but it only got worse Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays before 22,184 in the SkyDome.

The Angels managed six hits--five of them singles--off a pitcher who entered Wednesday night’s game with a 0-4 record and 11.32 earned-run average and had allowed opponents to hit .372 against him.

If you can’t hit Joey Hamilton, who can you hit?

After scoring two runs in the first three innings, the Angels had runners on first and second with one out in the fourth. Matt Luke, in his first Angel start, ripped a one-hopper to shortstop Tony Batista, who turned a double play.

In the eighth inning of a 2-2 game, Mo Vaughn rifled a line drive right at first baseman Carlos Delgado, who stepped on first for a double play. The Angels had a runner on second with none out in the seventh but failed to advance him.

Now eight games behind first-place Texas, the Angels have scored 17 runs in their last eight games, and they’ve been limited to four runs or fewer in 19 of the last 21 games. They’ve reached double figures in hits and scored more than two runs only once in the last eight games.

The only thing they hit with regularity is the showers.

Collins believes one big, bases-loaded hit or one two-out, run-scoring hit can snap the Angels out of their doldrums.

Asked to recall the last time the Angels had such a hit, Collins said, “I can’t really go back that far. Whether it was last week or a week before . . . I know we have, but I can’t remember when.”

Garret Anderson would be hard-pressed to remember his last hit. The cleanup batter went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts Wednesday night and is hitless in his last 26 at-bats, dating to June 7.

“If you sit there and try to search for an answer, a lot of things will pass you by,” said Anderson, whose average has nose-dived from .296 to .266. “If you wonder why you’re not getting any hits you can throw away five or six at-bats.”

Angel bats showed a slight pulse early Wednesday night, when Orlando Palmeiro led off the game with a double and Randy Velarde singled him home. The Angels made it 2-0 in the third when Steve Decker was hit by a pitch, Jeff Huson singled, Palmeiro advanced the runners with a ground ball, and Decker scored on Velarde’s groundout.

Then they slipped back into their coma, while a Blue Jay team that had been limited to three hits and no runs by Angel knuckleballer Steve Sparks in the first six innings sprung to life in the seventh.

Darrin Fletcher opened with a walk, Geronimo Berroa singled to center, and Jose Cruz reached on a bunt single when Sparks’ throw pulled Velarde off the bag at first.

Homer Bush hit a grounder toward the shortstop hole, which third baseman Troy Glaus lunged to glove. Glaus spun around and had time to force Fletcher at home, but he chose to throw to second for the force, as Fletcher scored.

Stewart singled to left, driving in Berroa and tying the score, 2-2, but reliever Scott Schoeneweis came on and got Batista to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The walk burned Sparks more than the hits or his bad throw. Glaus and first baseman Darin Erstad had made diving catches earlier in the game, “and you almost feel like you let the defense down by not giving them an opportunity,” Sparks said.

“I was just kicking myself after not doing the job in the seventh. You have a 2-0 lead, you can’t walk guys and let the tying run come to the plate. That was inexcusable.”

The Blue Jays broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth when Delgado, after fouling off several Schoeneweis pitches, walked with one out, Tony Fernandez singled and Fletcher hit an RBI single to left.

Mark Petkovsek relieved Schoeneweis and got Berroa to ground into an inning-ending double play, but that was of no solace to the Angel bullpen, which led the American League with a 2.98 ERA a week ago but has given up 14 earned runs in its last 15 innings, the ERA increasing to 3.24.

“I thought we had an outstanding meeting, a lot was accomplished,” Collins said of the 45-minute gathering after Tuesday night’s 13-2 loss to Toronto. “But you’ve still got to get it done on the field, that’s the bottom line.”

At least the Angels played with a little more vigor Wednesday night. The defense was crisp, they hit more balls hard, and they ran the bases aggressively when they had the chance.

“I haven’t seen anyone second-guessing other guys or doubting people,” Anderson said. “We’re going about the job the right way. No one is dogging it or pointing fingers. It’s just not happening for us.”

* ANGEL REPORT, PAGE 4