Angels Can Just Chuck This Entire Game, 9-1

The Angels’ game against the Texas Rangers Monday night had a familiar thud to it. It was the sound the Angels made when they were swept right out of the division race by the Rangers last September, a three-game Texas Chainsaw Massacre in which the Rangers outscored the Angels, 25-3.

It was almost as if Monday night was Game 4 of the same series. The Rangers pummeled Angel ace Chuck Finley for nine runs in 4 1/3 innings en route to an easy 9-1 victory before 20,539 in Edison Field in the opener of an important three-game series.

Whatever hope--realistic or not--the Angels had of getting right back into the American League West race were dashed by Juan Gonzalez, Royce Clayton and Rafael Palmeiro, who each homered off Finley, and Ranger right-hander Mike Morgan, who threw a complete game seven-hitter.

The loss dropped the last-place Angels 7 1/2 games behind the Rangers and must have left them wondering if last week, when they won six of seven games and snapped their offensive funk, was a mirage.

Todd Greene’s ninth-inning homer broke up Morgan’s shutout and ended the Angels’ 15-inning scoreless streak, but it also made the final result the same as it was in the first two games of that fateful series last September: 9-1 Rangers.

“I don’t live in the past,� Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “I’m worrying about [tonight’s] game. This is not September.

“You can’t compare the two.�

But you can compare Finley’s last two starts: both were awful.

Since telling reporters he would be open to waiving his trade veto rights to be dealt to a contender if the Angels are out of the pennant race in late July, Finley has given up 15 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings, an ERA of 16.21

If the veteran left-hander keeps pitching like this, the Angels will not only be out of the race in July, but the contenders will have nothing to do with Finley.

“I’ll take the loss on my shoulders,� Finley said. “We’d won four in a row and were playing good baseball.

“For me to stink it up like this. . . . you can’t ask your teammates to pick you up.�

Finley was pitching on three days’ rest but said fatigue had nothing to do with his performance. Rather, it was mechanical problems--Finley was having trouble maintaining the proper balance through his delivery--that led to his downfall.

“I was all over the place,� Finley said. “I’m in a bad funk right now. I can’t seem to put the ball where I want to put it.�

The Rangers put his bad pitches right where they were supposed to--the outfield seats. After Ivan Rodriguez singled in the first, Gonzalez blasted Finley’s first pitch over the left-field wall for his 22nd home run of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Gonzalez singled to open the fourth, and Lee Stevens followed two walks with a bases-loaded single to center, scoring two runs to make it 4-0.

Clayton then drove a full-count pitch into the seats above the right-center-field wall for a three-run homer and a 7-0 lead.

Gonzalez also started the Rangers’ final rally, singling ahead of Palmeiro’s 20th home run in the fifth.

That brought an end to another frightening Finley start--he gave up six earned runs in four innings against Seattle on Thursday night. The nine runs were the most allowed by an Angel pitcher since knuckleballer Dennis Springer gave up nine to the Yankees on July 22, 1997.

Finley, who has an 8-17 record against Texas, also equaled career highs for runs allowed--he gave up nine to Minnesota on Sept. 27, 1993--and home runs allowed.

“There was nothing good about this whole outing,� Finley said. “I fell apart.�

The day didn’t begin so well for the Rangers, either, as pitching coach Dick Bosman took a spill while in-line skating in the Edison Field parking lot and suffered a broken right hip.

As if Dr. Lewis Yocum, Angel team physician, wasn’t busy enough with the triage unit over in the home team’s clubhouse, he had another set of X-rays to read after Bosman was taken to UCI Medical Center.

Bosman, who may need surgery, will be out indefinitely, and bullpen coach Larry Hardy will serve as pitching coach. Butch Wynegar, a minor league hitting instructor, will replace Hardy.

Morgan’s performance might have eased Bosman’s pain.

The journeyman right-hander certainly didn’t overpower the Angels, but he kept them off balance.

“I don’t know a scout around who would look at his stuff and sign him,� Ranger Manager Johnny Oates said of Morgan. “But the way he changed speeds and moved the ball around, they would all want him.

“I just hope our young guys were watching him.�