Steering Clear of Internal Combustion

With the exception of a few weeks, pitching has carried the Angels this season, keeping them on their now-tenuous perch atop the American League West, and the offense has been generally flat, springing to life on occasion but struggling to provide consistent support.

In the chemistry lab that is a baseball clubhouse, this can be a combustible combination.

Remember Odalis Perez in 2003? The Dodger pitcher, frustrated by a lack of run support, said after a late June game that the Dodgers “need to start producing or get some other players to produce, because all the pressure is on the pitching staff, and that’s not fair.”

The next day, then-Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca castigated Perez, saying, “If you’re going to pop off in the paper, then you’ve got no guts.” Perez felt like an outcast for several weeks, and his comments created friction in the clubhouse.

Angel pitchers might be just as frustrated this season, but they don’t show it. Even as an eight-game division lead has been whittled to one game in the last two weeks, and as a brutal 1-5 trip ended with two horrid losses in New York, in which the Angels blew a pair of four-run, eighth-inning leads to the Yankees, the Angels still seemed tight-knit, refusing to let tension or frustration rip them apart.

“If anyone points a finger at anyone, that starts wrecking the chemistry of the team, and you’re not going to find that here,” reliever Brendan Donnelly said. “If someone were to call out the bullpen, the defense, the starting pitching, the offense, the team is going to fold, because everyone in here takes it personal.”

It’s tough to measure the importance of team chemistry in baseball. The Bronx Zoo Yankees won championships in 1977 and ’78 despite in-house squabbles, and Oakland won titles from 1972 to ’74 despite being known as the “Fighting, Feuding A’s.” The Red Sox cited good chemistry as a major factor in last season’s championship.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia and his coaches have put a premium on chemistry since they arrived in 2000, the players have bought into their philosophy, and the Angels believe firmly that it has contributed to their success.

“We’ve always had a good connection between the pitchers and position players on and off the field,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said.

“To say the pitchers are not frustrated right now wouldn’t be accurate, but they respect the fact we’re trying; it’s just not happening for us. They’re frustrated, but they’re professional about it.”

Kelvim Escobar was the Angels’ most consistent and effective starter in 2004, with a 3.93 earned-run average in 33 games, but because of scant run support, he went 11-12. Not once did he lash out at teammates.

Jarrod Washburn is the Escobar of 2005, receiving only 3.7 runs a game, his 6-6 record not reflective of his 3.28 ERA. Asked after his last start July 24 why he didn’t complain, Washburn said, “What good is that going to do? All that’s gonna do is [tick] off my teammates, and I like most of my teammates.”

Asked Sunday in New York why there has been no such criticism from the pitchers, Washburn said, “We don’t have guys like that, and you have to credit Mike and Bill [Stoneman, Angel general manager]. With one exception, they’ve made very educated and good additions to the club, not only in talent but in personality. If anything crops up, Mike does a good job of quashing it before it gets too big.”

Washburn, of course, was alluding to outfielder Jose Guillen, who drove a wedge between himself and the team in May 2004 when he criticized his pitchers for not retaliating after he and Vladimir Guerrero were hit by several pitches.

That was the first of many public outbursts for Guillen, who was suspended for the final eight games of the regular season and playoffs for insubordination and was traded to Washington over the winter.

“Nothing good can come from that,” Washburn said, speaking in general about teammates’ ripping each other. “There’s no reason in the world to create an atmosphere where that would happen. Everyone gets along great here. To me, it takes a very selfish person to do something like that.”

Donnelly said the Angels have kept such incidents to a minimum “because we’re a tight group -- we’re not only teammates, most of us are friends too. The organization, the players, we’re all professionals, and we understand it’s a long season.

“The guys we have are good. This offense can flat-out produce runs, and we’ve seen that. But baseball is not easy. We know our pitching is going to carry the team for a while, and the hitters can carry the team for a while -- they did for six weeks.”

No matter who carries the team -- and who’s being carried -- down the stretch of a season that resumes tonight against the Baltimore Orioles, the Angels believe if they are to win, they must win as one, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

“There’s no hidden feelings among the team,” Kennedy said. “We’re not worried that they’re talking bad about us in the bullpen. They know we’re frustrated, but they know where our hearts are.”

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In addition to losing two games in which they failed to hold four-run eighth-inning leads Saturday and Sunday, the Angels may have lost a key psychological edge against the Yankees, especially should the teams meet in the playoffs.

Before the weekend, the Angels had won six of eight games against the Yankees this season and were 9-4 in Yankee Stadium in the previous 13 games. They beat New York in the 2002 division series and seemed to be one of only a few teams not intimidated in Yankee Stadium.

But the Yankees finally got to an Angel bullpen -- namely Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields and Donnelly -- that had dominated them this season, puncturing their air of invincibility.

“They’ve murdered us,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said of the Angels. “We hope this gives us a feeling that we can measure up. We did a lot of scrappy stuff the last couple days.”

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After playing 47 innings over four games -- three losses -- that spanned 15 hours 52 minutes and required 17 2/3 innings from their bullpen, Monday’s off day couldn’t have come at a better time for the Angels, who have lost six of seven games.

“It will be good to have a day to reflect, to relax mentally, and to get recharged,” Scioscia said after Sunday’s 8-7, 11-inning loss to the Yankees.

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Team leaders

The Angels rank 10th in runs scored but second in earned-run average. American League team leaders in runs and ERA (stats are through Monday):

*--* TEAM RUNS GMS Boston 570 104 New York 567 103 Texas 558 104 Chicago 516 104 Toronto 513 104 Oakland 504 104 Baltimore 494 105 Tampa Bay 487 106 Cleveland 481 106 ANGELS 480 105 Detroit 476 104 Seattle 460 104 Minnesota 459 104 Kansas City 455 105

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*--* TEAM ERA ER Chicago 3.64 382 ANGELS 3.72 393 Minnesota 3.77 392 Cleveland 3.84 405 Oakland 3.89 401 Toronto 4.03 414 Detroit 4.12 422 Seattle 4.49 456 Baltimore 4.50 463 New York 4.66 470 Boston 4.71 477 Texas 4.85 500 Kansas City 5.41 549 Tampa Bay 5.55 573

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