Angels Find This Series Is for the Birds

A season that held so much promise less than a week ago is on the verge of unraveling before the Angels can return to the friendlier confines of Edison Field.

Kevin Appier failed to survive the second inning of the Angels’ 8-4 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards on Saturday, plopping his teammates into a familiar early hole. But there was no dramatic comeback as there was one night before when the Angels mounted a five-run rally only to fall one run short.

After scoring a run in the third inning Saturday that cut their deficit to 7-3, the Angels went meekly over the final six innings in losing their third consecutive game since the All-Star break and falling to 1-7 this season against Baltimore, 0-5 at Camden Yards. The Orioles will go for a sweep of the four-game series today.

Practically every positive vibe the Angels had generated by winning their final five games before the All-Star break has dissipated among a series of weak at-bats and sloppy pitching.

“You don’t want to feel that way,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said, “but it’s obviously happening.”

The Angels (49-46) remained 9 1/2 games behind Seattle in the American League West after the Mariners lost for the second time in three games against Kansas City. But the Angels fell to 6 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card standings, where they also trail Oakland and Toronto.

The reasons for Angels’ recent struggles are no mystery. Their starting pitchers, who had compiled a 2.94 earned-run average over their final 16 starts before the break, have posted a 9.45 ERA over the last three games. That figure would be significantly worse if not for Ramon Ortiz, who gave up two runs over six innings Thursday.

Appier (6-6) reached a new low Saturday, needing 41 pitches over 1 1/3 innings during the shortest outing of the season by an Angel starter. He retired only four of the 13 batters he faced and hit two batters.

B.J. Surhoff’s two-run ground-rule double in the first and Luis Matos’ two-run single in the second were the big early blows.

“They hit the ball hard, they hit it where we weren’t and if they didn’t hit it, I hit them,” Appier said. “For every one or two pitches I threw good, it seemed like I threw one bad.”

The Angels struck for nine hits but couldn’t string enough together to score more than one run in an inning. Darin Erstad scored on a double-play grounder in the first inning, giving the Angels their only lead. Troy Glaus hammered a Sidney Ponson pitch for a homer to left in the second, pulling the Angels to within 3-2.

But the Orioles put the game out of reach with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Scott Spiezio and Garret Anderson extended their season-best hitting streaks to 10 and 11 games, respectively, as the first four Angel hitters in the batting order accounted for six of the team’s hits. But the Angels realize they need contributions from the entire batting order.

“Besides the top of the order, the rest of the order hasn’t done anything,” said Kennedy, who had a single in four at-bats while hitting in the No. 8 spot. “You can’t expect to win games against good teams when you’re playing with half a team.”

Although many might not consider Baltimore which resides in fourth place in the AL East at 44-50, a good team, it is undeniable that the Orioles have played well against the Angels.

“Why does that happen?” Angel right fielder Tim Salmon asked. “Some teams just seem to have your number.”

Salmon, who had two hits and drove in a run, said the Angels need to return to what they were doing before the break to resurrect the positive momentum.

“We were playing good ball,” Salmon said. “We have to find a way to get back to that.”