Angels Out of It, But Here’s Hopeful Pitch

The Red Sox were scoring eight runs off Angel pitcher Scott Schoeneweis in the third inning at Edison Field and somewhere between the fourth run and the grand slam hit by Doug Mirabelli, it became clear.

It’s time to think about next season.

This is always a sad time for Angel fans, the approach of September. It is when bad stuff happens, when division leads disappear or when valiant chases turn to disheveled second-or third-or fourth-place finishes. And it’s when Angel fans hear from management, way too often, about how good things will be in another year.

But, really, truly, honestly, things will be good in another year. It’s OK to think that this time. It’s OK to believe that. It’s not another Disney make-believe story told to a gullible public hoping for a happy tale with a happy ending.

The Angels have nurtured three strong, young starting pitchers and an underappreciated bullpen who have learned, from pitching coach Bud Black, about how to throw strikes, how to stay healthy, how to believe in themselves and how to be major leaguers. This is the basis for everything else, to have a reliable pitching staff.

Luck has been involved too. Ismael Valdes and Pat Rapp were bargain-basement additions to the young trio of Schoeneweis, Ramon Ortiz and Jarrod Washburn.

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So the pitching staff seems well on its way to sustained excellence.

We should not expect Darin Erstad to have another season where his batting average drops 100 points. Erstad has not been truly injury-free this year. His right knee was strained before the season started. Erstad altered his swing a bit to save the knee, but he never took enough time off to get free of pain. Erstad suffers in silence and makes you think of that Monty Python character, the knight who continues the sword fight as his arms and his legs are chopped off. That’s a good quality and will make Erstad want to play better than ever in 2002.

Tim Salmon can’t possibly have another year when it takes him five months to get his batting average safely above .200. Mo Vaughn will be back. He can’t possibly badly sprain an ankle on the first day of the season or tear any big muscle or tendon again, can he?

The Seattle Mariners can’t possibly win, like, their first 100 games next year. Maybe Ichiro will have the 2001 Erstad season and not the 2000 Erstad season. Something bad, a little bit, will happen to Oakland. The Angels can’t possibly be stuck following the team having the greatest season ever and then one having the greatest second half-season ever.

Mike Scioscia has received a well-deserved contract extension. The Angels didn’t trade closer Troy Percival to a contender in July. Good and good.

What the Angels need the most, maybe even more than a fourth reliable starter or an Edgar Martinez-like designated hitter, is belief in themselves, from themselves and from their fans.

When he played for the Dodgers, Scioscia said, every day, from his first day in training camp in 1977, until the day he retired, he and every other Dodger believed that not only would they be in a pennant race in September, they would be in the playoffs in October.

It is what winning history can mean. When good things have happened, good things will happen again. Put pitcher Joe Blow in a Cub uniform and he is just pitcher Joe Blow. Put him in Dodger Blue and he becomes Sandy Koufax.

Of course there isn’t an Angel in the clubhouse who would say he expects bad things to happen. But honestly, you just know that when Vaughn was found to be so badly injured last winter that he was going to miss this season, even Scioscia, the most optimistic Angel, had to think, just for a minute, that it figured, that this was the Angels and that, of course, something terrible was bound to happen.

“There is a growing sense of confidence with the team,” Scioscia said before Tuesday night’s game. “It’s been growing every week.”

It should be growing in the minds of Angels fans too. Edison Field was probably half full of Red Sox rooters Tuesday. Why should Angel fans come to watch? It’s nearly September. It’s time for bad things to happen.

And this loss probably does make it too difficult for the Angels to continue challenging for the wild-card spot. Oakland just isn’t going to crumble.

Yes, the Angels are stuck in what Scioscia says is the best division in baseball. The Mariners and A’s also have talented, young pitching staffs, good, hard-nosed managers. The Mariners and the A’s also have a little bit of that good history, the kind you can draw on in September.

What the Angels have to draw on is Scioscia, his fierce belief in himself and this pitching staff. What the Angels have to draw on is Erstad and his brilliant talent, sturdy heart and intense desire; and Troy Glaus and Garret Anderson and Salmon, a fine offensive group.

What the fans have to believe is that Disney does want to win and that General Manager Bill Stoneman did know that these young pitchers were going to be great instead of only cheap. Who knew we’d be saying Schoeneweis, Ortiz and Washburn can be stars?

Looking ahead is better than looking backward. Something good can happen next year and who cares if something bad happened last year?

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Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com