Vaughn’s Frustration Growing

Brooding might be too strong a word, but Mo Vaughn definitely hasn’t been himself lately. He has spent a lot of time this past week alone at his locker, looking more pensive and introspective than usual. He hasn’t been joking with teammates as much. Normally accessible to the media, he has waved off reporters after a few games.

It’s almost as if Vaughn has been distancing himself from the Angels, a feeling accentuated when the Angel standout, usually one of the first in the clubhouse, didn’t show up in the Kingdome Tuesday night until about two hours before the game, a tardiness Vaughn claimed was pre-approved but one Anaheim coaches didn’t seem too thrilled about.

Vaughn can explain.

“When I get frustrated I get kind of quiet,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to see me lose control, because that breeds more panic. I don’t want to bring others down because I’m frustrated with things.”

And make no mistake: Vaughn is so frustrated right now he says he is “beginning to internally explode.”

The sources of his frustration are a slump in which he had two hits in 22 at-bats entering Wednesday night’s game, with no runs batted in since June 12, and his inability to adjust to--and accept--a designated-hitter role.

“I feel like I’m doing a disservice to myself and the team,” said Vaughn, a first baseman who has been hobbled by a sprained left ankle. “These guys pay me to play both sides. . . .

“I’ll DH until my ankle gets better, but that’s not my style. It’s not my game at all. I’m going on that field Friday. I’ve got to get a sweat going. I’ve never been this cold playing the game.”

As a result, Vaughn doesn’t think Southern California, or his teammates for that matter, have seen the real Mo Vaughn yet. Not on the field or in the clubhouse.

Vaughn hears teammates talk about the leadership void they expect shortstop Gary DiSarcina to help fill, and he realizes how difficult it is for him to be the kind of leader he was in Boston from the training room or the dugout.

“I can’t be Mo Vaughn as half a player, it can’t happen,” Vaughn said. “To lead you’ve got to be out there. I can’t keep my pitchers going, I can’t walk to the mound, I’m talking to myself the whole game. I like playing defense. I’m not a one-dimensional player.

“And I’m not used to going in that training room. I’m usually the one teasing other guys about being in there. Sometimes I’ve got to take a day off from there. It has aggravated the heck out of me.”

If Vaughn is able to play first base when the Angels return to Anaheim Friday and his ankle holds up playing defense, he will feel whole again.

“And when I get going,” Vaughn said, “it’s like a big snowball.”

*

Angel outfielder Matt Luke, who homered Sunday and Tuesday and made a diving catch in right field to preserve the Angels’ 4-2 victory over the Mariners Tuesday night, was in the starting lineup for the third consecutive game Wednesday night.

“I’ve always gone on the premise that if a guy is swinging good you take advantage of it,” Manager Terry Collins said. “You’ve got to ride that horse that’s running good.”

After being sidelined for three months because of a mysterious back ailment, Luke, who signed with the Angels after spending 1998 with the Dodgers, is just glad to make it out of the gate.

“A lot of coaches and teammates have never seen me play, so I have some proving to do, not just to them but to myself,” Luke said. “No one knows my full capabilities, so there’s a little extra motivation to show them.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ CHUCK FINLEY (4-7, 4.18 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’ JEFF FASSERO (3-7, 7.17 ERA)

Kingdome, Seattle, 7

TV--Channel 9

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090), KCTD (1540).

* Update--Darin Erstad’s first-inning home run Wednesday night, combined with a three-run eighth and a one-run ninth Tuesday night, marked the first time since May 22 that the Angels had scored in three consecutive innings. Finley has a career 17-7 record and 2.57 ERA against Seattle, including a 9-4 mark and 2.96 ERA in the Kingdome. Fassero made relief appearances Monday and Tuesday, but the Mariner left-hander, who was demoted to the bullpen after giving up a league-leading 25 home runs in his 15 starts, will regain his rotation spot tonight.