Angels Are Running Out of Chances

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Sept. 5, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DETROIT — The Angels keep telling themselves they’re still in the playoff hunt, that there’s no sense of urgency just because it’s September, but the sights and sounds--of silence, that is--in their clubhouse after games tell a different story.

There was no music blaring after the Angels’ 5-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers before 26,364 in Comerica Park Monday night, a defeat that extended the Angels’ losing streak to a season-high five games.

Tiger right-hander Hideo Nomo gave up five hits and struck out seven in eight scoreless innings, sending the Angels to their fourth shutout loss of the season.

“You look in this locker room after games, and there are a lot of ugly faces,” first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “There’s been a lot of frustration over the past few days, but you can’t point fingers or get mad, because we’ve got to come back [tonight] and the night after that.”

Because of Seattle’s loss Monday, the Angels remained six games behind the Mariners in the American League West. But they are now 6 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the wild-card race and fell under .500 (68-69) for the first time since May 18, when they were 20-21.

An offense that pounded out 26 runs and 26 hits, including eight home runs, in three gut-wrenching losses to the White Sox over the weekend ran out of ammunition Monday night, and now the Angels are running out of time--there are only 25 games left.

September has rarely been a good month for the Angels. They’ve had only one winning record in their last seven Septembers--in 1999, when they were 27 games out beginning the final month and the games meant nothing--and this September is shaping up as cruel as any. The Angels are 0-4 this month and fading from the playoff picture.

“We believe the results will come; we believe there’s still more time,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “I know the press and the fans will put more importance on these games, but we don’t want to have a sense of urgency to the point where we’re going to panic.

“If we did that, would that mean the games we played in April weren’t important? We took the same approach in April that we’re taking now. We’re not doing enough at an inopportune time when we’re running out of games, but the goal is still attainable. We’re still in this thing.”

Barely. There are five teams ahead of the Angels in the wild-card race and two in front of them in the division. The Indians have won eight of their last 11 games and seem poised to run away with the wild card, and the Mariners appear to have rebounded from their rocky August.

More important, the Angels are simply not playing good baseball. Third baseman Troy Glaus’ throwing error in the second inning allowed the Tigers to score an unearned run Monday night.

Left fielder Ron Gant bobbled one hit in the corner during Detroit’s two- run fourth inning and made a poor relay to the infield during Detroit’s two-run sixth.

Left-hander Scott Karl made significant strides from his shoddy Angel debut, giving up four earned runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings, but he couldn’t solve Tiger second baseman Damion Easley.

Easley, the former Angel infielder, had three hits, including a two-run double in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth.

Catcher Brad Ausmus added three hits and scored two runs for Detroit.

Nomo, the former Dodger ace, made it stand up with his best game of the season, spotting his fastball around the strike zone and keeping the Angels off balance with his split-fingered fastball.

He hit only two rough spots, when the Angels put runners on first and second with one out in the first and no out in the sixth, but he got Tim Salmon to ground into a 6-4-3 double play in the first and Vaughn to ground into a 4-6-3 double play in the sixth.

“Nomo made good pitches in big situations--that’s always been his trademark,” Scioscia said. “He doesn’t have the same velocity he had with the Dodgers, and his command was a little shaky, but he had a knack for making that one pitch, whether it was a fastball or splitter, to get a key out and shut down a rally.”

THE RACES

* Angels trail Seattle by six games in the West.

* Angels trail Cleveland by 6 1/2 games for the wild card.