Angels Go Down for the Count

This wasn’t a fair fight. You could say the Angels were mathematically eliminated from the American League West race Thursday, but then again those weren’t really the Angels wearing the gray uniforms.

The real Angels, the ones who captivated fans in Southern California by winning the World Series last year, the ones whose replica T-shirts are sold at Edison Field, watched from the dugout or the disabled list as the final outs were recorded. The Angels filed into the clubhouse quietly, just another loss in an undistinguished season.

“Did we get officially eliminated today?” Tim Salmon asked. “It seems like that was a few weeks ago.”

The Angels’ tragic number for elimination from the wild-card race is one. And, after the Oakland Athletics administered a 14-4 thumping Thursday, the Angels are out of the AL West race. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians are mathematically alive in their divisions, but last year’s champions are not.

“It’s not like you wake up today and you’re disappointed,” Salmon said. “You’ve been disappointed for a while. At this point, you’re already looking to next year.”

In the bottom of the eighth inning, as the A’s took their final swings, the Angels took the field with a group that included no one assured of making the team next season. Greg Jones pitched and Tom Gregorio caught, with Robb Quinlan, Trent Durrington, Alfredo Amezaga and Wilson Delgado manning the infield and Adam Riggs, Chone Figgins and Barry Wesson in the outfield.

“You always want to defend your title,” infielder Scott Spiezio said. “It’s never fun to be eliminated. You just go out and do the best you can.

“We don’t have the same lineup. It’s not an excuse. But it’s not the same. The team chemistry is a little shaken up. And we’re not playing the type of ball we can play, even with the different lineups.”

The Angels appear destined to finish with a losing record. They would have to win 11 of their final 15 games to finish at .500, a heady task under any circumstances and all but impossible given the personnel available.

While the A’s scored in every inning but one, pounding starter Scot Shields for four home runs and relievers Jones and Gary Glover for one apiece, the Angels fielded one of the weakest lineups in franchise history. Garret Anderson batted third, Spiezio fourth and Adam Kennedy fifth, surrounded by prospects and suspects.

And, after weeks of saying the Angels are not running a tryout camp, Manager Mike Scioscia acknowledged Thursday he is leading a de facto tryout camp, not by choice but forced by injuries.

“The guys that are playing are guys in that category,” Scioscia said. “If Troy Glaus was healthy, if Darin Erstad was healthy, if Bengie Molina was healthy, if Brad Fullmer was healthy, those guys would be playing. They’re not, so these guys are getting an opportunity.”

There was hope for the Angels at the All-Star break, when the disabled list was less crowded and they had climbed a season-high six games over .500. They lost 20 of their first 25 games after the break, and the players knew there would be no playoff encore.

“It’s been like this for the last four weeks or so,” said Salmon, the team elder. “You gradually came to grips with the fact that it’s not going to happen. Frustration, if there was frustration, set in after the All-Star break.”

Said Spiezio: “It is frustrating. We really wanted to come back and show everybody we were going to do it again. It didn’t happen. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future. You never know.”

This time, there will be no parade. This time, the off-season starts in September.

“It will be a long one this year,” Salmon said.