Angels’ September Song Is All Wrong

Call the Angel offices and you’ll hear this cheery recording: “Hello, and thank you for calling the world champion Anaheim Angels!”

That greeting will be changed soon enough, and the Angels will be left with memories.

Foremost among them: John Lackey starting and winning Game 7 of the World Series, the first rookie to do so since 1909. On Friday, the day they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, Lackey became the Angels’ first 15-game loser since 1996.

He has not been very good, and the Angels have not been very good to him. On the latter score, General Manager Bill Stoneman vowed to help, pledging Friday that the Angels’ intended winter spending spree would target a hitter as well as a starting pitcher.

“We’d like to help ourselves in a couple of spots,” Stoneman said before the Angels’ 7-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels might seek help at first base, shortstop, center field or right field, with such tempting free agents as right fielder Vladimir Guerrero and shortstops Miguel Tejada and Kazuo Matsui. The versatility of the current roster, Stoneman said, enables him to pursue a variety of hitters without being restricted to those who play a specific position.

“We see ourselves potentially talking to guys at a few positions,” he said. “We’re not necessarily married to doing it one particular way.”

Lackey, whose earned-run average is 4.86, has to get better, but the Angels have to get better behind him. He gave up six runs in five innings Friday, but three of the runs were unearned, resulting from a dropped relay throw by second baseman Adam Kennedy and a passed ball by catcher Tom Gregorio. With a patchwork roster overloaded with minor leaguers, the Angels have committed 16 errors in their last 18 games.

“The way our lineup is now, it affects more than just the offense,” Lackey said. “It affects the pitching. It affects the defense. It affects everything.”

Offensive support for Lackey has been poor all year, and the Angels scored once while he was in the game Friday. The lone American League starter with worse run support than Lackey is Nate Cornejo of the Detroit Tigers. Jarrod Washburn, whose next loss would be his 15th, is ranked fourth in the league in worst run support, behind Cornejo, Lackey and Detroit’s Jeremy Bonderman.

The Dodger offense was a favorite summer joke in Southern California, but Kevin Brown and Hideo Nomo have gotten more run support than Lackey and Washburn.

The Angels did have one offensive milestone Friday, when catcher Jose Molina drew his first walk after 104 at-bats. Among non-pitchers, the major league record for most at-bats in a season without a walk is 146, set by infielder Craig Robinson of the 1973 Philadelphia Phillies.

Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki homered off of Lackey, who has given up 10 homers in his last six starts and 31 overall. Washburn leads the league with 32.

Manager Mike Scioscia called Lackey “a winner” and predicted a terrific career for him. For now, Scioscia said, the frustration is visible, at times seeping over into an inability to minimize the damage caused by walks and errors.

“It definitely is a lot different feeling this September than last,” Lackey said.

Jamie Moyer earned his 18th victory for Seattle, which trails Boston by 1 1/2 games in the AL wild-card race and Oakland by 2 1/2 games in the AL West.