A’s Remind Angels of Own Grim Past

Bill Bavasi, who still might answer for these Angels, just as Terry Collins might have had he not quit first, peered from beneath the dugout roof at a field overrun by Oakland Athletics. A loss from elimination, the A’s were an hour from playing for their playoff lives.

They were put in that precarious position because they don’t have Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox do, and also because the Texas Rangers whipped them in three straight games over the weekend in Arlington, Texas, ending their unlikely contention in the American League West.

A year after his Angels were vanquished so similarly, a year since there had been anything but terrible on-field disappointments here, Bavasi shook his head at an A’s season that was a misstep from ending as ingloriously.

“Been there,” Bavasi said quietly. “Been there, done that.” None of the Angels, it seemed, would take any great pleasure in finishing the A’s, which was fine, because they didn’t.

The A’s defeated the Angels, 9-3, Tuesday night before 17,981 at Edison Field, so the magic number for the Red Sox to win their second consecutive wild-card berth remained at one. Even Randy Velarde, traded along with pitcher Omar Olivares from Anaheim to Oakland, a difference in the standings of about 20 games, saw little significance in the series.

“It would have been more special,” Velarde said, “if we had gotten two out of three in Texas or, more so, if we had swept.”

For him, there was no irony in being traded from the Angels, and then being on the verge of elimination by them. It was a fluke of scheduling, a job started by the Rangers and perhaps finished by the Angels, if not the Red Sox tonight in Chicago, for no other reason than coincidence. The Red Sox and White Sox were rained out Tuesday.

If nothing else, the trade allowed Velarde to escape the grim Angel clubhouse, a situation that eventually caused Collins to flee.

“Nobody questioned his heart or enthusiasm for the game,” Velarde said of Collins. “It all comes down to production and getting guys ready to play.”

Velarde paused and then added, “That wasn’t the case.”

It still doesn’t look all that great. The Angels need two wins in their final five games to avoid 96 losses, which would be a club record.

The Angels scored twice against rookie Tim Hudson in the first inning, when Jim Edmonds doubled and Mo Vaughn followed with a long, loud home run to right field. The home run was Vaughn’s 31st and the double was Edmonds’ first hit in 14 at-bats.

Their 2-0 lead--Jarrod Washburn’s 2-0 lead--lasted until the fourth inning, when Washburn issued two of his four walks. Jason Giambi, who later hit a home run to center, led off the fourth with a single and John Jaha walked. Olmedo Saenz singled to drive in Giambi, and Ramon Hernandez singled to load the bases. Washburn then walked Miguel Tejada on four pitches to make the score 2-2.

Still, Washburn fielded a hard grounder from Ben Grieve and started a nifty 1-2-3 double play, then got Jason McDonald on a fly-ball out to center field.

All seemed well until there was an out in the fifth, when Velarde doubled to left-center field and Giambi hit the bomb to center field. . It was his 33rd home run and the A’s led, 4-2, because of it.

The A’s scored four more runs in the seventh inning, two on a pinch-single by Eric Chavez against reliever Mark Petkovsek. McDonald homered off Mike Fyhrie on the first pitch of the eighth inning.