With Little Left to Gain, Angels Lose to Royals

KANSAS CITY —  Royals Stadium in September looks different this year. No fans in the stands. No drama in the air. No Angel playoff hopes, browned and shriveled, rustling on the ground.

For the first time in three seasons, the Angels have come to Kansas City not to be buried, but to bide time. The West has already been won. Bret Saberhagen won’t make any difference this time. Neither will the Angel uniforms that used to come equipped with the incredible shrinking collar.

The Royals limped out of the 1986 American League West race long ago, and the Angels officially suspended any remaining suspense last Friday with their title-clinching victory over the Texas Rangers. The destination now is Boston, but the road to Fenway runs through Kansas City and Texas, where seven meaningless games must first be burned off the schedule.

Given his druthers, Angel Manager Gene Mauch would almost prefer nervous time.

“I’m bored already,” Mauch said before Monday night’s game, a 2-1 Kansas City victory before a paid crowd of 23,623.

“I’m not looking for ease. I want to get started.”

Mauch admitted that he finds the scenario--a fall Angel-Royal series with not a thing at stake--a little strange.

“I really don’t know how to handle this thing,” Mauch said.

Bobby Grich, a veteran of all the past Angel-Royal September skirmishes, can second that emotion.

“It’s not critical now and it’s a little hard to get up for these games,” Grich said. “You have to really push yourself to get it going.

“All you’re doing now is pushing for individual stats, and I hate playing like that. Nothing’s on the line except what your batting average is going to be.”

Hoping to cope with the post-clinch depression, Mauch held a meeting with the Angel position players before Monday’s game.

“Just to keep our toughness,” Mauch said. “We had it the way we wanted it and we don’t want to let it get away.”

Then, after a 41-minute rain delay, the Angels stepped onto the soggy carpet and stumbled for the third time in as many days, suffering their third straight one-run loss. Since wrapping up the West, the Angels have scored a total of four runs.

“I’m not really concerned about it,” Mauch said. “Tonight, everything went fine except the outcome.”

Monday, possibly to maintain interest, Mauch took to tinkering. He started Urbano Lugo and brought in Kirk McCaskill as a late-inning reliever. He batted rookie Mark Ryal in the clean-up spot. He started Devon White in center field.

Lugo (1-1) allowed five hits in six innings, but wound up a loser when Lonnie Smith put one of them over the left-field fence, and George Brett put another into the gap in right-center. Smith’s eighth home run of the year and Brett’s RBI double gave Mark Gubicza (11-6) just enough offense.

McCaskill, making his second major league relief appearance, pitched two scoreless innings. Ryal had a single, a stolen base and his second home run. White had a pair of singles.

“McCaskill got his tuneup, just the way we wanted before his last start,” Mauch said. “The one down there (Friday in Texas) will be more than a tuneup.”

Ryal is tuning up for next year. Recalled from Edmonton Sept. 1, he isn’t eligible for the playoffs.

He’s intent only on remaining eligible next spring.

“That’s the only way I can think,” said Ryal, who moved the Angels into a 1-1 tie with his fourth-inning home run. “I felt I had a good enough year (at Edmonton) for a job next year. I don’t want it to be on the Triple-A level.”

Said Mauch: “If that’s what he’s got in mind, he’s getting the job done.”

With the Angels, Ryal is batting .370 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. With the Trappers, Ryal hit .342 with 14 home runs and 84 RBIs.

“He came up pretty convinced he could hit,” Mauch said. “He was pounding out the same kind of Triple-A numbers that (Wally) Joyner and (Jack) Howell did last year.”

So, this last week may be anticlimactic for Mauch and the Angels, but not completely worthless. This is a chance to observe some of the kids, up close.

And when Grich really got down to thinking about it, this way beats the way the Angels spent their 1984 and 1985 autumn visits to Kansas City. As a matter of fact, it’s not even close.

“I’d much rather come in here this way than worrying about winning it,” Grich said. “I’m glad it’s over.”

Grich grinned.

“You got to complain about something,” he said. “What’s a day without a complaint?”

Angel Notes

Gene Mauch announced his starting rotation for the playoffs. As expected, Mike Witt will start Game 1 in Boston, which will pit him against Roger Clemens. Kirk McCaskill will start the second game, with John Candelaria and then Don Sutton pitching Games 3 and 4 in Anaheim. . . . McCaskill figured in Game 2 for three reasons. One, Candelaria is a left-hander and Fenway’s Green Monster isn’t kind to left-handers. Two, Sutton leads the Angels in home runs allowed (30) and Mauch doesn’t want to increase the odds by pitching him in such close surroundings. And, three, McCaskill shut out the Red Sox, 5-0, in Boston July 11. “He’s done very well there,” Mauch said. “This way, if we have to go six (games), he’ll get two games there.” . . . Boston Manager John McNamara hasn’t revealed the rest of his rotation, but it’s expected that he’ll go with only three pitchers--Clemens, Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd and Bruce Hurst. “That wouldn’t surprise me,” Mauch said. . . . Mark Ryal was originally Kansas City property and played six games with the Royals in 1982. He first caught Mauch’s eye as a pinch-hitter that year. “We were down by a run and I was pinch-hitting,” Ryal said. “I hit the ball well, but it was caught on the warning track. Fred Lynn caught it.” He was asked about hitting one beyond the warning track Monday against his former teammates. “To me, there’s no difference if it’s the Royals or a Legion team,” Ryal said. . . . Angel owner Gene Autry celebrated birthday No. 79 Monday.