Angels Can See Trouble in Rear View Mirror

Damion Easley has tendinitis of the right rotator cuff, the Angels were shut out on four hits by Mike Mussina, a one-time 11-game lead in the American League West is now 7 1/2 and during the waning innings Sunday, the songs chosen to soothe the anxiety cases breaking down all over Anaheim Stadium were “Melt With You� by Modern English and “Tempted� by Squeeze.

From the players’ perspective, a late-August trip to New York, Boston and Baltimore never looked so good.

At least until they get there.

With 30 games to go, the Angels have taken a screenplay utterly devoid of drama and punched it up a bit for the paying customers. That’s the Angels--always thinking of their fans, who now have a choice of themes for the pennant stretch ahead.

Will it be a replay of 1986?

Or a rehash of 1989?

You remember 1989. Not many current Angels do, which could be to their benefit, based on the assumption that what they don’t know can’t hurt them . . . not yet anyway.

In August of 1989, the Angels embarked on their annual dog-day East Coast swing--with stops in Kansas City and Texas thrown in as warm-up acts--with a one-game lead over Oakland in the AL West. Fifteen road games in 15 days awaited them, including eight at Fenway and Yankee Stadium.

“I remember Doug Rader calling it ‘Sherman’s march through hell,’ � Jim Abbott recalled. Rader also referred to the trip, quite lovingly, as “the Bataan death march.� This was before the trip, before 11 losses in 15 games took the Angels from first place to third by the time they returned home, 4 1/2 games back, soon to finish 8 games behind the A’s.

Those Angels may have flinched when they boarded that fateful flight, but they did go in with their eyes wide open.

Six years later, can it be happening again?

Only 12% of the current Angel roster survived ‘89--and two of them, Abbott and Chili Davis, had to leave town for a couple years before deeming it safe to come back. Chuck Finley is the other; his broken foot in Kansas City that summer was the first step on the banana peel. Marcel Lachemann was there, too, then serving as Rader’s pitching coach, and don’t believe any of the photos taken during that era--the silver-maned Lachemann had jet black hair before that trip.

Bracing for this go-round, Lachemann minced no words Sunday. “It’s a challenge,� he said. “No question. But that’s what this is all about, getting challenges and meeting them.

“We’re at a different level now; it’s time to step up. Before, we were at a level where there weren’t many expectations and we did a lot more than that. Now, there are more expectations. We’ve got to take the next step.�

The Angels will take it gingerly at first, touching down in New York City on the heels of a 3-8 home stand and nine losses in their last dozen games. It’s the first dry patch in an otherwise lush season and Finley professes to believe it’s the only one. “I don’t care who you are,� Finley said, “every team has a period like this. If we play the way we’re capable, this trip shouldn’t bother us . . .

“We’ve got the same team we had a month ago and we were killing everybody then. We just didn’t play well this home stand.�

But is it really the same team? A month ago, Gary DiSarcina was turning in a fair Cal Ripken impression at shortstop--out there every day, making every play, toting a stout .317 batting average. Now, it’s shortstop-by-committee, and the chairman has come up with a sore arm. Easley is “day to day,� according to the Angel trainers, which means we might see him again some time in September. Until then, there’s Spike Owen, Rene Gonzales, Rod Correira and, yes, Dick Schofield, who is said to be fielding and throwing without a hitch in Vancouver, but batting .120. Ah, Ducky, we know him well.

“Obviously, it’s been a factor,� Lachemann said of the loss of DiSarcina. “It’s probably had an effect everywhere. Obviously in the field, but when you’ve got a .315, .320 hitter batting ninth and then you lose him, it gives a whole different look to the lineup.�

Still, “this is a good team,� Lachemann insisted, “and I believe we’re going to win this thing. If we don’t win this thing, they should get rid of the manager.�

If that happens, Finley said, Lachemann won’t be traveling alone.

“They’d probably have to fire him and the rest of the players,� Finley said. “They’d need two trucks. One for him and put the rest of us in the other.�

For the time being, however, the transportation mode of the day is an airplane. Destination where? Bataan II?

Tony Phillips, new to these parts, has heard the horror story of August ’89. Blunt as always, he said, “It’s possible to do it again. If we keep playing this kind of baseball, know what I mean? I don’t believe that we will, not for a minute, but it’s possible to do that again.�

Phillips smiled.

“Hopefully I can talk to you later and tell you I was wrong.�

Seven-and-a-half games up with 30 games to go. The Angels would like to begin the countdown, but it’s too early, and too impractical. Too many fingers remain crossed.