Royals Shut Out Angels, 3-0

At the All-Star break, when the Angels were still well within striking distance in the American League West and wild-card races, a late-season stretch of 30 consecutive games against middling American League Central opponents sat in front of them like a porterhouse steak before a hungry traveler.

But the Angels faltered so swiftly before arriving at that highly anticipated chunk of the schedule, losing 17 of 21 games right after the break, that even an extraordinary run over that stretch would have had little significance.

And as it turned out, the Angels barely held their own against the AL Central. A 3-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday at Edison Field gave the Angels a 16-14 record over what was once considered a crucial stretch, though they finished the season 26-15 against the division.

Kansas City remained three games behind AL Central co-leaders Minnesota and Chicago -- both winners Sunday -- after injury-plagued starter Paul Abbott limited the Angels to five hits in seven innings to record his first victory since defeating Texas on April 13, 2002, as a member of the Seattle Mariners.

John Lackey also pitched commendably despite giving up solo home runs to Aaron Guiel and Ken Harvey, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned) in seven innings. But Lackey (9-14) was saddled with the loss after a lineup devoid of five regulars who are on the disabled list stranded the only two runners it put in scoring position.

“Hopefully, I’ll learn some things from this, and when we get everybody back next year, a lot of these are going to turn into wins,” said Lackey, who has recorded a quality start (six innings or more, three earned runs or fewer) in five of his last six outings.

“You can’t control the outcome.... I can only worry about what I can do and try not to let other things affect me.”

The Angels put together their best scoring opportunity in the third inning when Adam Kennedy was hit by a pitch with two out and went to third on Garret Anderson’s single past second baseman Mendy Lopez.

The throw back into the infield hadn’t reached the cutoff man when Kennedy got to third, but third base coach Ron Roenicke held Kennedy there, eliciting scattered boos from the crowd of 38,943. Scott Spiezio grounded out to end the inning.

“I think he made the right decision,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said of Roenicke, “because I think it was only going to take any kind of a decent throw to get Adam there [at home plate].”

Spiezio hit a two-out double in the sixth but was left standing there when Jeff DaVanon struck out.

Scioscia said the Angels’ recent inability to provide adequate run support for Lackey -- the team is averaging 2.8 runs over his last six starts -- would accelerate the 24-year-old’s learning curve.

“For you to achieve, you really have to understand how to handle adversity, and John’s getting a lesson in that this year,” Scioscia said. “At times he’s struggled on the mound, at times he’s pitched very well and not had a lot to show for it, as today. Things are going to turn for John and for us.”

Said Lackey: “I just have to keep working on things and keep trying to get better. We’ve had so many injuries, so many different things happen to this team that it’s hard to evaluate anyone individually because the team hasn’t been together hardly any this year.”

The Angels (69-74), long out of contention in the AL West and wild-card races, would be 7 1/2 games out of first place if they were in the AL Central. They went 14-11 against division front-runners Kansas City, Chicago and Minnesota. But that will be little consolation as they play out the string during their World Series title defense.