Angels Stuck in the Present

The season is over for the Angels. The fans know it. The players know it. Outfielder Eric Owens suggested the other day that a .500 finish would be a reasonable goal, nothing to be terribly proud of but something attainable under adverse circumstances.

But, rather than yield to reality and field lineups with next year in mind, Angel management continues to trumpet the lost and potentially damaging hope of a playoff encore.

“We haven’t given up on that goal,” Manager Mike Scioscia said Sunday.

After a 3-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians, the Angels’ lead over the last-place Texas Rangers shrank to three games in the American League West. They’re nine games under .500 for the first time since the final day of the 2001 season, when they finished 41 games out of first place and 27 games out in the wild-card race.

These Angels have lost 20 of 25 games. With 45 games to play, the Angels are 17 games out of first place and 14 games out of the wild-card lead, with six teams ahead of them.

“If we start playing better here for two straight weeks, there’s nothing to say we’re not going to change your mind,” Scioscia said.

There is no indication the Angels can play that well for that long, certainly not with an injury-depleted offense that failed to score in 35 of 40 innings during the Cleveland series and faces Chicago’s Bartolo Colon tonight.

But even if the Angels can close the wild-card deficit from 14 games to 11 by the end of the week, what would be the point?

And if the Angels aren’t going to win this season, might they be better served by providing inexperienced players an extended audition over these final weeks?

Can Alfredo Amezaga play every day at shortstop? Can outfielder Jeff DaVanon hit left-handed pitching? Can Chone Figgins play every day, as the Angels’ version of the versatile Mark McLemore? Can the Angels consider Kevin Gregg, who pitched so well in Saturday’s spot start, and minor leaguer Chris Bootcheck as legitimate candidates for a major league pitching staff?

Can the Angels make the smartest off-season decisions without getting the best possible answers to those and other questions?

“We’re going to play the guys that can help us win now,” Scioscia said. “We’re certainly not going to turn this into a tryout camp. You might be thinking one month down the road, but we’re not. That month will come, but there’s a lot of time left between then and now.”

General Manager Bill Stoneman said the other day the Angels still would play for 2003, not 2004.

“We want to go out there and win,” he said. “To say we’re evaluating people, we’re not to that point yet. We haven’t put people aside just to try guys.”

Texas has, and could soon pass the Angels.

The Angels fielded their latest makeshift lineup Sunday, this one with Scott Spiezio hitting cleanup, after Tim Salmon bruised his shin by fouling a ball off it during batting practice. Salmon said he expected to play tonight.

In the third inning, the Angels loaded the bases with none out, on a walk and two bunt singles. They got one run, when Garret Anderson grounded into a double play. They failed to advance another man past second base in the game.

Angel starter John Lackey pitched well but fielded poorly. The Indians got all three runs in the bottom of the third, on one hit. Lackey walked the leadoff batter, hit the next, then slipped and fell while trying to field a bunt. Then, with the bases loaded, he made an awful throw on a comebacker, turning a potential double play into a force play. The Indians happily capitalized thereafter.

“I wasn’t displeased with the way I threw,” he said. “I am displeased with the losing. It’s been happening way too much lately.”