Angels Still Can’t Generate Fireworks

After Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Mariners, Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy said “the wheels have pretty much fallen off.” Three days later, the Angels look like one of those abandoned cars on the side of the road that has been stripped down to its chassis.

Their bare-bones offense reduced to a few drops of marrow, the Angels lost to the Oakland Athletics, 2-0, before 29,045 in Network Associates Coliseum on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to seven games.

The Angels managed only five hits against A’s starter Cory Lidle and relievers Mike Magnante and Jim Mecir and put only three runners in scoring position. They are batting .204 in their last seven games and have been shut out eight times, three times in the last four games.

They are scoreless in 43 of their last 44 innings, and if not for Garret Anderson’s two-run home run in the second inning Tuesday night, they would have been shut out in four consecutive games.

Anderson’s homer ended the Angels’ consecutive scoreless-innings streak at 27, six short of the franchise record of 33. Not to be denied their place in club history, the Angels promptly started another scoreless-innings streak, which hit 16 on Wednesday.

The Angels wasted another strong pitching performance Wednesday, as left-hander Scott Schoeneweis gave up two runs and nine hits in eight innings, but that’s nothing new. The Angels have lost 11 games when giving up three runs or fewer, tying them for the major league lead with the New York Mets and San Diego Padres. The Angels have scored three runs or fewer in 42 of 83 games.

“There is frustration, but at the same time, we know we can hit, we’ve done it before,” first baseman Scott Spiezio said. “We have to somehow find a spark, like that ‘Cast Away’ film.

“It takes a while to start a fire. You get a spark, throw some twigs and grass on it, get it going, and then throw some logs on it. I don’t think we’ve gotten to the log stage yet.”

Maybe the Angels should throw all their bats in a pile, pour some lighter fluid on them and burn them to ashes. It couldn’t hurt.

Some teams have resorted to witchcraft and voodoo, conducting elaborate clubhouse ceremonies in an effort to end slumps or losing streaks.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia once played for a Dominican Winter League team that kept a live chicken penned up in the clubhouse for three months because the equipment manager thought the chicken could ward off evil spirits. That team went on to win the Caribbean World Series.

A few years ago, the Angels all used the same bat--a Jim Edmonds model--in their first plate appearance of a game, and then ended a losing streak. That might work again . . . if Edmonds were actually attached to the bat.

“Got any suggestions?” Scioscia asked reporters. “I’ve seen a lot of things tried, but I’m not into dead chickens and all that stuff. We’re going to grind it out and get this team where it should be. . . .

“This funk is not going to be broken by hitting four three-run home runs in a game. It will be broken by guys having tough at-bats, getting more runners in scoring position so there’s not so much pressure every time we get a runner in scoring position.”

Lidle (2-4) gave up five hits, struck out five and walked none in 7 2/3 innings, taking advantage of an Angel lineup that is obviously struggling.

“You can see when the hitters are pressing--everyone has gone through it, and we have here,” Lidle said. “The key is to get ahead of them and try to get them to chase bad pitches, which they did.”

The one positive for the Angels was Schoeneweis, who ended a string of three awful starts in which he gave up 22 earned runs and 26 hits, including five homers, in 13 1/3 innings.

Schoeneweis (6-8) struck out five and walked none, but Johnny Damon’s two-out RBI double in the fifth and Terrence Long’s two-out RBI single in the sixth sent Schoeneweis to his fifth consecutive loss.

“It was a much better game for me, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough,” Schoeneweis said. “Lidle pitched a great game, and the A’s got some timely hits with two outs.”

Unlike the Angels, who got no timely hits with none, one or two out.

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ALL-STAR GAME COVERAGE

Park, Shaw picked: Chan Ho Park, today’s Dodger starting pitcher, and closer Jeff Shaw were chosen for Tuesday’s game. D5

Glaus, Percival too: Third baseman Troy Glaus and closer Troy Percival will represent the Angels in Seattle. D5

Torre takes seven Yankees: Manager Joe Torre chose seven of his Yankees to round out the American League team; complete rosters. D6

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Falling Angels

A look at the Angels’ seven-game losing streak (one loss to Texas, three to Seattle, three to Oakland):

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Angels Opponents Runs 13 33 Average 1.86 4.71 Hits 49 64 At-bats 240 249 Batting avg. .204 .257 Extra-base hits 10 20 Home runs 5 5 Walks 12 22 Strikeouts 50 54

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