Time Is Now for Angels

The Angels have been granted a do-over after losing vital ground to their American League West rivals last week during a debilitating seven-game stretch.

The third-place Angels lost five of seven games to Seattle and the Dodgers to drop 12 1/2 games behind the Mariners in the AL West and 7 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card standings.

As they open a six-game stretch against Seattle and the Dodgers tonight at Edison Field with a game against the Mariners, the Angels might be wondering whether the rally monkey’s powers extend to the gaping deficit in the division standings.

While winning the wild-card now seems the most realistic route into the postseason, the sputtering Angels say they have not abandoned their quest to overtake Seattle in the division, though pitcher Kevin Appier admitted he’s not optimistic.

“We’re not swelling with confidence in our ability to catch them now,” Appier said of the Mariners, who won three of four games between the teams last week at Safeco Field. “We know we’re a considerable ways back, but we also know it’s within our potential -- albeit very difficult -- to catch up.

“Hopefully, Seattle cools down and we get hot and we can switch places with them.”

So far, the Angels (36-37), beset by streaky starting pitching and untimely lapses on offense, have been lukewarm at best. They have spent 19 days with a .500 record and haven’t moved more than three games over the break-even mark. Their longest winning streak is five games.

Last year the Angels moved over the .500 mark for good on May 9. They put together two winning streaks of six games, two of eight games and one of 10 games. When Oakland won 20 consecutive games late in the season, the Angels kept pace by winning 21 of 27.

“Oakland winning 20 in a row last year and us right behind them? That’s the beautiful thing about this game,” reliever Ben Weber said. “We have three and a half months left, and anything can happen. At the end, if the wild card is all we get, that’s fine too. As long as we get in there.”

The Angels appeared on the verge of a positive push as recently as June 11, when they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to move a season-high three games over .500 and closed to within nine games of the Mariners. Next up was an interleague series against the hapless New York Mets, while Seattle faced three games against the National League-leading Atlanta Braves.

But even the attempted assist from the schedule-makers didn’t help as the Angels lost two of three to the Mets and the Mariners won two of three games against the Braves. The Angels followed that with a face-plant in Seattle and might have been swept at Dodger Stadium over the weekend except for some clutch relief work by Brendan Donnelly and a late Garret Anderson home run in the series finale.

“The sign of a good team is when you can not play well and win, and we haven’t done that,” said Donnelly, one of few pleasant surprises for the Angels this season with a 0.47 earned-run average. “But we know we’re a good team. So basically the rest of this half and the second half we’re going to look at playing well on a consistent basis.”

The Angels could use a sterling effort tonight from starting pitcher Aaron Sele (3-5), saddled with a loss last week against Seattle even while limiting his former team to one run in five innings in a 2-0 loss.

Sele has been erratic since returning in early May from off-season shoulder surgery, and his struggles are emblematic of an enigmatic rotation that has a 4.93 ERA. Jarrod Washburn has given up more home runs than Ramon Ortiz -- never a good sign -- and John Lackey has failed to recapture the form that made him so successful last season as a rookie. Appier also has been inconsistent, though Sunday he held the Dodgers to one run in five innings.

The Angels realize that winning four or even five games this week against Seattle and the Dodgers probably wouldn’t be enough to catapult them back into the thick of the playoff hunt. But it would be a start. And the Angels could be emboldened by the fact that they don’t have to capture their division to win the World Series. Remember last season?

“We are confident we still have the potential,” Appier said. “Nobody’s given up yet.”

Said Weber: “We’ll take it down to September. Even if we have 10 games left and we’re nine out, we’re going to take it down because anything can happen in this game. I will not worry about it until you say we’re mathematically eliminated. I have that much confidence.”

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AL West

*--* Comparing Angel 2002, 2003 standing: 2003 W L Pct G B Seattle 49 25 662 -- Oakland 44 30 595 5 ANGELS 36 37 493 12 1/2 Texas 27 47 365 22

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*--* 2002 W L Pct G B Seattle 46 28 622 -- ANGELS 43 30 589 2 1/2 Oakland 43 31 581 3 Texas 33 40 452 12 1/2

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Note: After 73 games last season, the Angels were 2 1/2 games behind Boston for the wild-card spot.