Angels on Base Stay There in Loss : Baseball: Opportunities knock, hitters don’t in fifth defeat in a row, 5-3 to Indians.

CLEVELAND —  Whitey Herzog stopped into Manager Buck Rodgers’ office the other day--in the infancy of the Angels’ losing streak that reached five games Tuesday with their 5-3 defeat to Cleveland--and tried to rationalize why the team had stopped hitting.

“Look at the guys we’ve been facing,” said Herzog, Angel vice president. “DiMaggio, Ruth and Gehrig would have struggled against those guys.”

The Angels had just faced Roger Clemens twice, Jimmy Key and Jim Abbott.

And now?

The Angels (13-10), silenced once again by the Cleveland pitching staff in front of 11,405 at Cleveland Stadium, have been stymied by the likes of Tom Kramer, Dennis Cook, Matt Young and Danny Darwin. And their pitchers have made stars of John Valentin, and on this night, Carlos Martinez.

“It makes me sick,” said Angel designated hitter Chili Davis. “There’s no excuse for what’s going on. It’s so frustrating I can’t stand it.

“Come on, man, guys like Kramer and Cook shouldn’t be getting us out. I wasn’t impressed with either of those guys. And I definitely wasn’t impressed by some guy who has hit (five) homers in his life, then stands at the plate and flips the bat when he finally hits one.

“That kind of stuff’s happening too much now. Guys are showing up our team and getting away with it. Maybe that’s what we’ve got to do, start getting cocky and . . . off teams ourselves.”

Davis and several of teammates were infuriated by Martinez, whose two-out, two-run homer in the sixth inning off starter Scott Lewis (0-1) proved to be the game-winner. Martinez showboated around the basepaths after the homer, his first of the year, much as Albert Belle did on Monday when he hit his two home runs.

“I can accept that from a guy like Belle, who hits 30 homers a year,” Angel left fielder Luis Polonia said, “but not from a guy like that.

“Maybe we’ve got to start doing that, too. We’ve got to show teams up. Let’s start embarrassing them like teams are doing to us.”

Polonia then paused, looked around the Angel clubhouse, and softly said: “But everybody’s so down now, we’re afraid to do anything.”

The Angels, still in first place because of their glorious start, suddenly are the team forecast this spring.

Facing rookie Kramer and reliever Cook, the Angels’ only offensive production was created when Cleveland right fielder Wayne Kirby slipped in the wet grass in the second inning, allowing Greg Myers a three-run double.

Kramer, making his first major league start, gave up four hits in four innings. Cook, entering the game with a 12.60 earned-run average, retired 14 consecutive batters at one point. And Cleveland, which had not come from behind to win all season, had done it on consecutive days.

“We should have scored 12 or 14 runs the last two nights with the opportunities we’re getting,” Rodgers said. “We’re getting pitchers in trouble, and we’re letting them off. We’re not giving ourselves a chance to bury them.

“Everybody’s trying to hit a five-run homer instead of just trying to get a damn hit.”

The Angels, who had six hits, came to the plate 12 times with runners in scoring position--including seven times with less than two outs. Their only hit under those circumstances was Myers’ double.

The Angels, batting .156 the last eight games, could have made amends in the ninth inning when Rene Gonzales led off with a single and Stan Javier walked. Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove summoned left-hander Derek Lilliquist.

Torey Lovullo popped up to shortstop. Pinch-hitter Gary Gaetti popped up to first base. And Polonia flied to right.

“We just need a hit, and we’ve got guys swinging for the fence,” Rodgers said. “I mean, we got two fastballs right down the pipe (to Lovullo and Gaetti). If you put them on a tee, we couldn’t have asked for a better pitch to hit.”

Rodgers had a team meeting trying to turn the Angels’ fate, telling them they still were playing good baseball but needed to relax. It appeared to be of little use.