Angels Won’t Admit It, but Collar’s Getting Tight

Last year I walked the dogs all the way to the finish line, the Dodgers winning their first playoff game in 16 years, so I’m kind of an expert when it comes to working with teams on the verge of choking.

That’s what brought me to Angel Stadium on Thursday.

Obviously I couldn’t be in two places at the same time a year ago, so the best team in town on paper gagged, failing to win a playoff game last season, while I was with the Dodgers watching Jose Lima pull off a miracle.

As for this season, the Angels remain a major flop. Once again they’re the best team in town on paper, and armed with the fourth highest payroll -- shame on them for going 29-33 since July 7.

(I wonder what the Micro Manager’s record might be if given the chance to work with this kind of talent?)

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ONE BY one I went to the Angels before Thursday’s game asking why they were choking, and you know what, I couldn’t get a rise out of them -- leading me to believe they might already be dead men.

I didn’t get the chance to check with Garret Anderson, of course, not wanting to wake the old man from his afternoon nap, and for a moment there, Paul Byrd took offense. He said, “that’s not a very nice thing to say,” walked away, but then returned to ruin the fun I could have had with him on Page 2.

The Angels are either smarter than the Dodgers, more smug, or more confident in their abilities, because when I first began to call the Dodgers “the choking dogs” a few years back, they flipped out. And then choked.

But not the ho-hum Angels. “We’re still in first,” said John Lackey, and a few minutes later I didn’t get much more out of Scot Shields. Once again Shields failing to save Lackey.

I moved on to Jason Christiansen, who kept saying over and over again, “I know nothing,” and for a moment there I thought I was talking to Bill Stoneman.

Darin Erstad said he’s absolutely positive the Angels won’t choke -- a few hours before Chone Figgins and Vladimir Guerrero played fly balls like Little Leaguers just making the jump from T-ball.

“One thing about these guys,” Manager Mike Scioscia said before his players melted against Detroit. “They will not melt.”

Figgins, drawing mock cheers after catching a routine fly, said the Angels have struggled because “that’s just the way the ball bounces.” He would know, all right, although the two balls he misplayed were both airborne, and led to four runs.

What’s frustrating, and drawing more boos than cheers at times in Angel Stadium is the annoying fact that the best team on paper hasn’t looked to be much on the field. The Angels’ biggest problem has been a lack of offense, the blame falling on Steve Finley, Anderson and the void at third base.

There’s no panic, though, or improved play for that matter based on how they performed against Detroit. The Angels have been to the World Series, so there’s a feeling here they’ve been there -- done that. They were three games out of first a year ago with nine to play, and pulled that off too. Maybe they think they can just turn it on when they want.

“That’s not us,” Byrd said. “If you take things for granted in this game, you’re done.”

That’s good. The A’s just won in Boston, and the Angels are beginning their last homestand of the season -- giving them 10 chances to pull away from Oakland. OK, so now nine.

“Our game has not surfaced,” Scioscia said. “It’s not a matter of choking; it’s just a matter of playing our style of baseball.”

Any time now, guys, or it’s like I told Erstad: “I’ve been wearing an Angels’ cap everywhere I go, the one with an embroidered ‘L’ in front of the ‘A’ supporting the best baseball team we have in Los Angeles, and I’m going to look kind of foolish if the Angels end up doing no better than the Dodgers.

“Play for the hat,” I told him. I made one mistake. I shouldn’t have been talking to Erstad; I should’ve been trying to get the best out of Figgins.

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THE ANGELS went over the three-million mark in attendance and are on pace to sell 93.5% of available tickets this season. Owner Arte Moreno said he had the Angels projected to turn a profit in 2006 -- after losing $20-some million when he bought the team, but now he says he thinks the team will make money this year.

He said the Angels rank No. 22 in average ticket prices at $17 with Boston at $44, but the team will raise prices on some tickets. The average Angel ticket, though, will not hit the $20 mark. He said he’ll also not raise beer prices.

As for the team’s payroll, he said it’s now at $96 million and it won’t be any lower than that next season, which should make the Angels the best team on paper in town once again -- given the cheap skate who runs the other team.

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ON THE way to get a cup of coffee at the game, I heard the broadcast of the Angel game, and caught Steve Physioc saying, “Rex, you hit the nail right on the head earlier.” Somehow, I find that hard to believe.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in a news release from the Dodgers:

The Dodgers announced there will be a concert following a game with Pittsburgh on Sept. 24th featuring “The All-American Rejects.”

I had no idea Jayson Werth, Jason Phillips and Jason Grabowski had formed a band.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.