Resigned to Failure : Angels: Collins steps down as fractious team’s field boss barely two months after signing contract extension.

Terry Collins bade a tearful farewell to the Angels Friday, resigning as the team’s manager while two of his superiors lashed out at the bickering players who essentially cost Collins his job.

Having exhausted all efforts to motivate an underachieving club that began the day 28 games out of first place, Collins said during a news conference at Edison Field he decided to step down after a lengthy meeting with General Manager Bill Bavasi Friday morning.

The move, both parties said, came by mutual consent, although Collins said he would not have left the team if Bavasi had asked him to finish the season. Joe Maddon, the Angels’ bench coach, was appointed interim manager, the third time in the last four seasons he has taken that title.

Collins’ departure is the first significant change in what might well become a management makeover of the Angels before next season. Bavasi’s own job appears in jeopardy, and the Walt Disney Co. has the team up for sale.

Bavasi has hired two managers in his 5 1/2-year tenure--Marcel Lachemann in 1994 and Collins before the 1997 season. Both resigned under duress.

Only a little more than two months ago, Collins received a one-year contract extension with an option for an additional year. Although occasionally criticized for his abrasive style and hot temper, his 1997 and ’98 Angel teams contended for American League West titles before collapsing in late September each time.

Despite a series of devastating injuries this season, the club was within 6 1/2 games of division-leading Texas at the All-Star break. But since the break, the Angels are 11-37 and players have taken turns pointing fingers at one another for being soft, for not taking losing hard enough, for having a lackadaisical attitude, for being unprofessional, and for putting individual goals above team goals.

And when they ran out of those complaints, they ripped one another for airing their beefs in the media.

Collins, 50, said he had a good idea Thursday that his reign as Angel manager would end Friday. “I was walking around Cleveland, trying to figure out how to end our [nine-game] losing streak, and when I got to the clubhouse, I had to address a few other issues,” he said.

“I was unable to talk about the game. That’s when it hit. . . . There were a couple things that happened [Thursday] and I thought, this was enough.”

Collins wouldn’t elaborate on any specific incident, but he endured a typically tense past week, during which:

* The Angels blew an eight-run, eighth-inning lead and lost Tuesday night.

* Reliever Troy Percival accused some teammates of not supporting him during a bench-clearing brawl.

* $80-million first baseman Mo Vaughn tore into his teammates with two expletive-laced tirades.

Friday’s announcement is a crowning blow in a tumultuous season that began to turn ugly when players staged a mutiny of sorts in May, complaining to Bavasi about Collins’ impending contract extension. The situation became even more repellent in late July and August, when the Angels collapsed on the field and crumbled in the clubhouse.

“If people took as much responsibility as Terry Collins, if they had one quarter the integrity he has, this wouldn’t have happened,” Angel President Tony Tavares said. “I don’t think [the players] quit on Terry, they quit on themselves. I’ve never been more disappointed in a team.

“We thought we had the right core of players here. . . . Frankly, I think it’s all excuses. We have to take a long look at the character of this team and determine if it can perform when the chips are down.”

Said Bavasi of the Angels: “They quit on somebody.”

He later said he thought quitting might be too harsh a word, “but their energies were divided. Not enough energy was spent on the games.”

Said shortstop Gary DiSarcina after the game: “Speaking for the guys, we’re pretty much embarrassed and ashamed of the way we’ve conducted ourselves. Terry deserved better. You don’t realize what your actions can do until something like this happens.”

Collins said he was sad, not bitter, about leaving the team.

Bavasi was the one who was bitter.

“This is not a good day for me, for the organization or for baseball, because this is a good guy,” Bavasi said. “This is not a reflection on how this man works, how he approaches things. He has sacrificed everything he has for this club. This is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow for me.”

As for Collins, he got to the podium Friday “thinking I was well-prepared for this.” But the silver-haired manager needed about a minute to compose himself before speaking, fighting back the tears.

“Hopefully, this is a bad dream we can all forget,” said Collins, who was fired in 1996 after three seasons as Houston’s manager. “I tried everything I knew--I patted them on the back, kicked them in the butt, everything. I gave it all I had, and it wasn’t good enough.”

Collins tried to maintain his sense of humor through the painful ordeal. Asked why he decided to resign Friday when he has stressed for months that he’s not a quitter, Collins replied, “the Yankees,” referring to a four-game home series with the defending World Series champions that began Friday night.

“I thought this would give the team a fresh start, if nothing else,” Collins continued. “Maybe this will trigger some life in them, we’ll see what happens. . . . Tony and Bill supported me all year, but when you reach the last thing you can think of to get the guys going, if I’m the reason [we’re playing so poorly], then I’m outta here.”

Collins said he was “absolutely not” forced out. “I took a good hard look at this and some of the things that went on the last few days and made the decision,” he said. “When you don’t perform as a club, the manager is responsible.”

Collins signed his contract extension June 22. Under terms of his resignation, he will be paid in full through next season.

Bavasi said he would immediately begin compiling a list of candidates to replace Collins. Expected to be among the favorites are former Angel outfielder Don Baylor, the former Colorado Rockies’ manager who is now Atlanta’s batting instructor; recently fired Milwaukee manager Phil Garner, and former Boston manager Kevin Kennedy, who managed Vaughn in Boston.

Other potential candidates are San Diego first base coach Davey Lopes, a former Dodger; Yankee third base coach Willie Randolph; Houston third base coach Mike Cubbage, a finalist when Collins got the job, and Yankee coach Chris Chambliss. Maddon and Angel triple-A manager Carney Lansford are considered longshots.

If Bavasi remains long enough to hire the next Angel manager, he might be wise to hire one who has played in the big leagues. The fact that Collins never played in the major leagues seemed to widen the credibility gap between him and his players in Anaheim.

“Maybe not playing in the big leagues was an issue, but I worked for a pretty good manager who didn’t play above double-A ball,” Collins said, referring to Rockies’ Manager Jim Leyland. “That should not be an issue. If it is, the players should remember how they got here, that someone taught them along the way.

“I paid my dues. We have some players who didn’t spend a lot of time in the minor leagues. Maybe they needed to stay there longer.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BY THE NUMBERS

20: Angel managers (Marcel Lachemann, Gene Mauch, John McNamara, and Joe Maddon held post on two or more occasions)

51: Angel victories in 1999, fewest in the major leagues

10-37: Angel record since the All-Star break

214: Victories for Collins as Angel manager (6th in team history)

235: Losses for Collins as Angel manager (3rd in team history)

449: games for Collins as Angel manager (4th in team history)

0: Playoff appearance for Angels under Collins

3: Playoff appearances in Angel history (38 seasons)

In Charge Again

This is the third time Joe Maddon has taken over as interim Angel manager. His record:

1996

*--*

W L Pct. 8 14 .364 1998 6 2 .750 1999 1 0 1.000 TOTAL 15 16 .484

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Collins’ Managerial Record

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Year Club W L Pct. Finish 1994 Houston 66 49 .574 2nd (C) 1995 Houston 76 68 .528 2nd (C) 1996 Houston 82 80 .506 2nd (C) 1997 Anaheim 84 78 .519 2nd (W) 1998 Anaheim 79 75 .513 2nd (W) 1999 Anaheim 51 82 .383 Last (W)

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KEY: C-NL Central; W-AL West.

Angel Managers’ Records

*--*

Years Manager W-L Pct. 1961-69 Bill Rigney 625-707 .469 1969-71 Lefty Phillips 222-225 .497 1972 Del Rice 75-80 .484 1973-74 Bobby Winkles 109-127 .462 1974 Whitey Herzog 2-2 .500 1974-76 Dick Williams 147-194 .431 1976-77 Norm Sherry 76-71 .517 1977-78 Dave Garcia 60-66 .476 1978-81 Jim Fregosi 237-249 .488 1981-82 Gene Mauch 122-103 .542 1983-84 John McNamara 151-173 .466 1985-87 Gene Mauch 257-229 .529 1988 Cookie Rojas 75-79 .487 1988 Moose Stubing 0-8 .000 1989-91 Doug Rader 232-216 .518 1991-94 Buck Rodgers 140-171 .450 1992 John Wathan 36-49 .419 1992 Marcel Lachemann 3-1 .750 1994 Bobby Knoop 1-1 .500 1994-96 Marcel Lachemann 160-170 .485 1996 John McNamara 10-18 .357 1996 Joe Maddon 8-14 .364 1998 Joe Maddon 6-2 .750 1997-99 Terry Collins 214-235 .477 1999 Joe Maddon 1-0 1.00

*--*

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WHO’S NEXT?

Maddon should be considered for permanent job. But who will do hiring? Page 7

STREAK OVER

Five-run seventh keys 8-2 win over Yankees, ending nine-game skid for Angels. Page 6

RACE HEATS UP

Sosa homers against Dodgers, then McGwire answers the challenge with two against the Brewers. Not that it mattered, as both teams lost. Page 4