Angels Are Being Ditched by Seattle

TORONTO — The season isn’t even four weeks old, and already the Angels are lagging far behind Seattle in the American League West, a deficit that reached 10 games with Friday night’s ugly 12-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays before 16,174 at the SkyDome.

The Angels played 162 games last season and never fell 10 games out of first place. They were never more than seven back in the first half of 2000, and their largest deficit was 9 1/2 games on the last day of the season.

This doesn’t seem to concern Manager Mike Scioscia, whose Angels lost for the 10th time in 13 games Friday night while the Mariners tied a major league record with their 19th win in April.

“My outlook is no different than it was four or seven days ago,” Scioscia said. “Our mission is to play with the kind of consistency that’s going to put wins up. We still have the same optimism we had in spring training. It takes more than a fast or slow start to make or break a season.”

No one expects the Mariners to continue their torrid .826 pace. But is it reasonable to think the Angels are going to play much better than .500?

Their best player, center fielder Darin Erstad, is trying to play through painful lower-back spasms that have hindered his swing and reduced him to a .242 hitter.

Though the Angels snapped a string of 13 consecutive games in which they failed to reach double figures in hits by collecting 11 Friday night, the offense still hasn’t really clicked.

Though the Angels have a very respectable 4.27 team earned-run average, they have issued 85 walks, third most in the league, and there are some unsettling developments in the rotation.

Pat Rapp has been hit extremely hard in three of five starts; Ramon Ortiz has been inconsistent, making two outstanding starts and two subpar ones; Ismael Valdes has been slowed by the blister problems that have plagued him throughout his career, and Jarrod Washburn has been so bad his own evaluation of his performance cannot be printed.

Washburn gave up five runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings Friday night, walking six--one intentionally--and striking out three to fall to 0-3. Three of the batters Washburn walked eventually scored, and he labored so intensively it took him 115 pitches--62 of them strikes--to get through 4 2/3 innings.

The left-hander began his third start of the season by walking Shannon Stewart and Raul Mondesi in the first inning, and both scored, on singles by Carlos Delgado and Brad Fullmer. By the time Washburn left in the fifth, the Blue Jays had a 5-1 lead.

“Tonight was my worst start of the season, and I haven’t got any better,” said Washburn, who was slowed in March and April by a lengthy bout with strep throat. “In my last game, I thought I threw pretty well and made one bad pitch [that Seattle’s John Olerud hit for a grand slam].

“Today I made a game full of bad pitches. I’m 0-3 and stinking up the field. I’ve got to go out and beat my next opponent, whoever the heck it is.”

When the Blue Jays were through beating up on Washburn, they pummeled reliever Lou Pote for two runs in the sixth and five two-out runs in the seventh, as Jose Cruz Jr. extended his hitting streak to a career-high 19 games with a three-run homer and Tony Batista added a two-run homer.

Fullmer had a career-high four hits, all singles, and Mondesi scored a career-high four runs for Toronto. Stewart, who ranks second in the league with a .409 average, reached base five times in six plate appearances, with two singles, a double and two walks.

Toronto right-hander Esteban Loaiza gave up three runs--two earned--on nine hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking two, to improve to 4-1.

“Certainly, the type of baseball we’re playing on this trip is not what we envisioned and not indicative of how this team can play,” Scioscia said. “But believe me, we have a lot of confidence our club can get on a roll.”

They had better start soon, or the Angels may need a pair of high-powered binoculars to see first place by the All-Star break.

“We have to concern ourselves with playing good baseball, not the standings,” Erstad said. “If Seattle keeps this pace up, they’ll win 140 games, but c’mon, it’s baseball. We haven’t clicked yet. We have the ability to get hot and stay hot. We just need to get our ship righted.”