Meeting Is No Answer for Angels

The Angels, still stinging from Friday night’s shocking loss to the White Sox, held their first players-only team meeting of the season before Saturday’s game against Chicago.

Judging from the results, it might be their last.

White Sox catcher Charles Johnson, acquired from the Baltimore Orioles before the July 31 trading deadline, drove in a career-high seven runs with a home run, double and a single to lead Chicago to a 13-6 victory over the Angels before 29,785 in Comiskey Park.

Angel starter Kent Mercker suffered a slight strain of his rotator cuff and lasted only two innings, giving up four runs, and the White Sox ripped relievers Lou Pote and Mark Petkovsek for five runs in the fifth.

The Angels’ third consecutive loss dropped them five games behind Seattle in the American League West. They remain 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the wild-card race, but there are now four teams--Boston, Toronto, Oakland and Detroit--separating the Indians and Angels.

First baseman Mo Vaughn, sensing the Angels might dwell too long on Friday night’s loss, in which they blew a six-run seventh-inning lead, called Saturday’s meeting and was the primary speaker of the house.

“I just wanted to say that what we’ve accomplished as a team cannot be forgotten, under any circumstances,” Vaughn said. “The loss [Friday] was tough, but I didn’t want anyone to get caught up in the heat of the situation.

“I told them there’s nothing greater than getting to the playoffs, but that it’s also the same game in September that it is in April, May and June. You’ve got to stay focused and aggressive. I just wanted to say that before this month was up. I would have been kicking myself if I didn’t say it. It wasn’t a motivational speech. It was all positive.”

Problem was, it was the only positive development of the night for the Angels.

Mercker, who will be replaced by Tim Belcher in the rotation this week, ran into control problems early, walking three in a row with one out in the second and paving the way for Chicago to score four runs on Jeff Abbott’s RBI single and Johnson’s three-run double.

Johnson’s RBI single off Pote in the fourth made it 5-0. Magglio Ordonez’s RBI single off Pote and Carlos Lee’s two-run double off Petkovsek--who has given up four earned runs on 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings of his last three appearances--highlighted Chicago’s five-run fifth, which gave the White Sox a 10-0 lead.

“We were still confident down by four runs,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “but the chances of coming back from a 10-0 deficit are remote.”

The Angels, of course, made it interesting. White Sox left-hander Jim Parque, a former UCLA pitcher, won for the first time in six career starts against the Angels, but he almost let the Angels back into the game by walking three consecutive batters to open the sixth.

Chicago Manager Jerry Manuel pulled Parque in favor of Mark Buehrle, and the Angels scored five runs on Ron Gant’s RBI fielder’s choice, second baseman Ray Durham’s error and Garret Anderson’s three-run homer to center--the only hit of the inning--which cut the lead to 10-5.

The Angels loaded the bases with none out in the top of the seventh, but left-hander Kelly Wunsch replaced Buehrle and recorded three consecutive outs--Vaughn’s sacrifice fly, which pulled the Angels to within 10-6, Gant’s fielder’s choice and Anderson’s fly to right.

Scioscia did not believe the pregame meeting was an indication that the Angels are showing signs of panic.

“The gist of it was that we’ve come this far, we’ve played hard, let’s stay on the same path, let’s come out with the same intensity and desire every night,” Scioscia said. “You don’t want to overreact and create a sense of urgency, but I didn’t sense that at all.

“Any time guys are communicating, whether it’s with us or between themselves, it’s great. The only thing we’d ever question would be focus, intensity and approach, and those weren’t issues [Friday] night.”