No Big Move? It’s Really No Big Deal

Almost scoreless in Anaheim. Is that a zero or a halo over the Big A at Edison Field?

Mouths will be flapping today about how the Angels didn’t do the big deal at the trading deadline Wednesday and how they scored one run in two nights against the Red Sox.

The Angels didn’t get a Cliff Floyd. Boston did, along with a 2-1 win over the Angels, which means the Red Sox are tied with Anaheim for the AL playoff wild card.

The New York Yankees, who come to Edison tonight for four huge games, get whatever they want. Need a starting pitcher? Get Jeff Weaver, an ace in Detroit even if he’s been shaky in pinstripes. The Angels get what is cheap and unspectacular and maybe helpful in an understated way.

General Manager Bill Stoneman offered backup catcher Jorge Fabregas, a well-liked clubhouse mentor to the Molina brothers, for Alex Ochoa, once a phenom-to-be outfielder for the Mets and now a has-been for Milwaukee, plus minor league catcher Sal Fasano, who is already on his way to Salt Lake City.

Ochoa brings some speed to the defense and a right-handed bat for the bench. So if your Angel fan friends show up today wearing a “The Red Sox got Cliff Floyd, the A’s got Ricardo Rincon and all I got was this T-shirt and Ochoa,” tell them to chill.

It’s OK.

Sometimes a little something is better than a lot of something.

“We didn’t have a glaring weakness,” closer Troy Percival said. “How about asking ‘What did we do in the off-season?’ You know? That’s when we addressed our weaknesses. We got our pitchers (Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele). We got our DH (Brad Fullmer). That’s when we did our work. In the off-season.”

The Angels are good. Fun good, young good, professional good. Good because there is no ego guy in the infield, the outfield, in the bullpen or the starting rotation. Good because they come from behind to win, 31 times, which indicates a certain physical toughness and mental fortitude found on championship teams.

What if the Angels had given up a couple of minor league pitching prospects for Floyd, as the Red Sox did? Or had given up those prospects and maybe a starting pitcher for Cleveland’s power-hitting first baseman, Jim Thome? And then Scott Spiezio could have played some second base and Adam Kennedy might have been a great guy off the bench and the lineup would have been so much deeper?

“But Cliff Floyd has a place to play with the Red Sox,” Angel outfielder Tim Salmon said. “The Red Sox had a hole and it really comes down to what are you having to give up? Do you go out and get a Bartolo Colon but give up a Jarrod Washburn? Yes, you can get a Thome but what will you have to give up?”

The Angels have come to this spot where it matters what they did at the trade deadline because they are probably one of four teams (with Seattle, Oakland and Boston) in a battle for two playoff spots.

They got to this spot because a pitching staff was developed slowly, with careful tending. It took Washburn three years to learn about using the strike zone but now he understands it. Ramon Ortiz can be brilliant and exasperating, but his talent is unquestionable if only his mind will catch up. Appier and Sele are pros. Percival is having an All-Star season. Again.

They got to this spot without anybody having a career year. No one is playing above his head and a couple of guys could play better.

What if third baseman Troy Glaus takes off? He’s a streak hitter, a power guy who is overdue for a hot month, the kind of homer-crazy month where he carries a team. And it would help if he kept his eye on the ball. His eighth-inning error gave Boston an insurance run and seemed to take the heart out of the Angels. Glaus was booed. He deserved it. Then he hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth. Bases empty. Cheers were scattered.

It’s probably silly to play what if, but what if the Angels had traded pitcher John Lackey last year at the deadline because they thought they could sniff out a wild-card spot? Would it have been worth it to lose a young pitcher with the maturity of a veteran and the naivete of a rookie who doesn’t understand what the big deal is? Lackey was impressive again Wednesday, allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings. He might have made it out of the seventh if Spiezio had made a good throw to shortstop David Eckstein and gotten lead runner Doug Mirabelli. Or even if he had made the safe and easy play and gotten batter Rey Sanchez at first. Since he did neither, Lackey left.

There is also the strike possibility. Stoneman said a “pessimistic man” might consider that there may be no playoffs this year and that it would be foolhardy to dump young talent for a run to something that won’t exist in a month. Stoneman also said he was “optimistic” about the season playing all the way out.

But Stoneman’s inner pessimist might have urged caution.

The Angels proved over the last 10 days that they can hold their own with Oakland and Seattle, that they can beat their division rivals at home and on the road. That’s as important as a two-game losing streak to the Red Sox.

And as disappointing as the loss? Only 28,227 came to watch two teams play a meaningful game on the last day of July. An extra bat or arm helps. So does a packed stadium full of noisy rooters. Complain about that, then, Angel fans.

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