Angels Are Odd Men Out in Loss to Royals

Angel pitcher Chuck Finley struck out seven consecutive batters Friday, one shy of the American League record. Yet, he was cooling his heels in the clubhouse in the fifth inning.

First baseman Chris Pritchett slid into second base in the fifth, got up and started a home run trot.

Mo Vaughn homered--no shock there--in the seventh, then was lifted for a pinch hitter with the game out of reach in the ninth.

Such strange-but-true moments were contained in the mess that was the Angels’ 11-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. A crowd of 30,946 at Edison Field certainly didn’t lack for entertainment, it was the Angels who came up wanting.

They lost their third consecutive game, dropped four games under .500 and fell 5 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers in a season that just keeps meandering along.

“We’re lucky no one [in the West Division] has gone 30-15, or something like that,” Manager Terry Collins said. “We don’t like being under .500, but we realize that with all the injuries we have had, it could be a lot worse. We have had some guys step up and pick us up.”

It was an evening chock full of letdowns, the biggest being Finley’s.

He was coming off nine shutout innings in a victory over Tampa Bay last Sunday and seemed fine at first, even unbelievable.

Sure, Finley gave up a home run to Carlos Beltran in the first inning. But he then struck out the side in the second and third. When he got Beltran swinging to open the fourth, it left him one short of the league record shared by Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Ron Davis.

It also was Finley’s apex for the night. A inning later, he was gone.

“I really can’t tell you exactly what happened,” Finley said. “I felt good, then bam-bam-bam . . . see you later.”

Finley gave up four singles in the fourth and was also hurt by Andy Sheets’ throwing error--one of a season-high three errors by a team that leads the league in fielding.

The Royals led, 5-2, after the fourth. It got worse an inning later. Finley gave up a double to Carlos Febles, a walk to Beltran and a run-scoring single to Johnny Damon.

Two batters later, Jeremy Dye’s three-run homer off reliever Al Levine made it 9-2.

“I have never seen anything like that with Chuck,” Collins said. “After the first three innings, I thought it was going to be a pretty good night.”

He should know better by now. The Angels have been depleted by injuries and riddled with inconsistency this season. They have not been above .500 since April 16, although they were within a game of it as recently as Wednesday.

“We’ve had two or three opportunities to get to .500 this season,” said Vaughn, who homered for the third consecutive game then was pulled for pinch-hitter Steve Decker in the ninth. “We couldn’t cash it in.”

The Angels had their chances Friday, but there was no cha-ching.

Garret Anderson had a run-scoring single in the first and Randy Velarde had another in the second. It left the Angels with a 2-1 lead, but they could have had so much more.

Todd Greene struck out with two on and one out in the first. Pritchett followed by fouling out to third baseman Joe Randa. In the second, Vaughn struck out with two on. Sheets flied out with two on in the third.

“When you have an opportunity early in the game, you have to put people away,” Vaughn said.

“You got to let the ball tell you where to hit. If it’s low and away, it’s telling me to go to left field. If it’s inside, it’s telling me to go to right.”

Angel hitters have turned a deaf ear lately. With the exception of Vaughn and Anderson, there have not been enough key hits. Those two have five of the Angels’ six home runs in the previous three games.

A home run by another Angel is so rare that no one could have been shocked when Pritchett hustled and slid into second in the fifth. He was then told by umpires that he had homered, and the ball had bounced back on to the field.