Injuries Negate Playoff Feeling

The A-Team has been reduced to the a-team. One more injury to the heart of the Angel order, and the G-Force will be more of a G-Farce.

An astonishing array of maladies and mishaps has depleted their roster of three, and possibly four, front-line starters and an All-Star reliever, and still the Angels take a nine-game winning streak and baseball’s best record into a three-game series tonight against New York in Yankee Stadium.

The Angels will take on the Yankees without All-Star center fielder Garret Anderson (upper-back stiffness), designated hitter Tim Salmon (inflammation in right knee) and first baseman Darin Erstad (strained right hamstring).

Left fielder Jose Guillen injured his right knee Sunday and is doubtful for tonight, and reliever Brendan Donnelly, who hasn’t pitched this season because of complications stemming from a broken nose, suffered another setback Sunday night when his rehabilitation appearance for triple-A Salt Lake was cut short by elbow stiffness.

And this series is supposed to be a playoff preview? Perhaps, but only if the Angels, in due time, can replace all these understudies with their headliners.

A few weeks ago, this was shaping up as one of those early-season showdowns between the Best of the West and the Beast of the East, the nouveau riche, Arte Moreno-owned Angels and the old-money, George Steinbrenner-backed Yankees, the big spenders against the really, really big spenders.

It was the heart of a bolstered Angel lineup, Vladimir Guerrero, Anderson, Troy Glaus and Guillen, the G-Force, against this millennium’s Murderers’ Row: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi.

It was new Angel starting pitchers Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar against new Yankee starters Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez; the Angels’ American League-best bullpen against a rejuvenated Yankee bullpen that includes Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon ahead of bulletproof closer Mariano Rivera.

But when venerable Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard delivers the Angels’ starting lineup tonight, a good number of Yankee fans probably will shrug their shoulders.

Chone Figgins in center field? Jeff DaVanon in left? Shane Halter at third base? Casey Kotchman or Robb Quinlan at first base?

Who are these guys?

Angel fans are learning. Figgins is the speedy and versatile utility player who should be nicknamed “Spackle” for his ability to patch just about any hole in the Angel lineup and batting order.

DaVanon is the switch-hitting outfielder who, after watching Guillen carted off the field Sunday, belted the next pitch for a two-home run in the Angels’ 8-4 victory over Tampa Bay.

Halter is the smooth-fielding infielder who also has some pop, as shown by Saturday night’s pinch-hit grand slam, and the guy who has enabled Glaus, the regular third baseman, to nurse his sore shoulders in the designated hitter spot for the last nine games.

And Kotchman and Quinlan? Not much is known about them, other than the fact Kotchman, a first-round pick in 2001, is considered the Angels’ top prospect and was called up from double-A Arkansas on Sunday to replace Erstad.

“This is straight ridiculous,” shortstop David Eckstein said of the rash of injuries. “It’s tough. It’s real tough. Guys are playing their hearts out on the field, and things keep happening.”

He is hopeful the experience Figgins and DaVanon received in 2003 will help them. “Hopefully, last year was a blessing for this year,” he said.

A few games in Yankee Stadium should provide Eckstein with an answer. What better way to determine players’ mettle than to plop them into baseball’s most hostile environment against a team that is probably still ticked off about being eliminated by the Angels in the 2002 AL division series and features a roster filled with the biggest names -- and contracts -- in the game?

Oh, and one other thing: After an embarrassing start, which included six losses in seven games to archrival Boston and a team batting averaging near the Mendoza Line, the Yankees have won eight of 10 games and appear to be hitting their stride.

The Angels have been even hotter, winning 15 of 17 games, though pitcher Jarrod Washburn admitted, “It’s weird to have won 15 of 17 and have the mood here that we have now. ... It seems like every day, important guys are going down. You can only take so much. But we’re not going to give up.”

If the Angels are to continue their tradition of success against the Yankees, it will be up to players such as Figgins and DaVanon, Halter and Kotchman.

Since 1995, only two AL teams have had a winning record against the Yankees -- the Angels and the Seattle Mariners. The Angels are 49-45 against New York in the last nine years, winning five season series and tying one. The Mariners are 50-44 against the Yankees since 1995.

“We’ve always had the personality that we’re never scared, never intimidated by them,” Angel closer Troy Percival said. “They’ve always had more talent, and a lot of teams go there intimidated -- that Yankee folklore has won many a ballgame. We haven’t exactly crushed them. We’re looked at as Yankee-killers, and what are we, about .500 against them? It’s just that it doesn’t happen too often.”

The Angels won’t go into Yankee Stadium completely empty-handed. The rotation has been superb, going 7-0 with a 3.05 earned-run average in the last nine games; their bullpen, with Percival and Francisco Rodriguez, has been dominant; and Glaus, who is batting .301 with an AL-leading 10 home runs and 26 runs batted in, will play.

And in right field they will have strong-armed Guerrero, the $70-million man who is proving to be a wise investment, batting .333 with six home runs and 24 RBIs.

“He’s in that top shelf of guys,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “What’s so remarkable for me is how aggressive and what a big swinger he is, and then how few times he’s struck out.

“He’s very talented. He can throw you out from the right-field corner to third base. The arms in the outfield have disappeared. You don’t see many guys who scare runners anymore, but he keeps you honest.”

The stars may not be aligned for the Angels this week, but Torre knows games are not always won on the marquee.

“Garret Anderson obviously is a big part of what they do; Salmon, they’ve lost him for a while, and they’ve lost Erstad for a period of time,” Torre said. “But they’re good. They’re a feisty ballclub, they have a pretty deep pitching staff, and they’re playing with confidence. They are really good. Yeah, we’re curious to see them.”