Angels Make Closing Push but Find Only Frustration

Angel Manager Terry Collins would love to see his players take one giant collective cleansing breath, release all their frustration, realize they’re so far out of contention there should be absolutely no pressure on them, and just go out and have a ton of fun the rest of this season.

“But these guys are so proud,” Collins said. “You think Tim Salmon likes to struggle? And Mo Vaughn? They don’t ease up on themselves. Good players demand performance, that’s why they get frustrated. And that makes it harder for them to relax.”

The Angels finally blew off a little steam Wednesday night, as Orlando Palmeiro singled and Todd Greene hit a pinch-hit, two-out, two-run homer off Cleveland closer Mike Jackson in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night.

But after Vaughn’s single, Jackson rebounded to strike out Salmon, preserving the Indians’ 4-3 victory before 26,399 in Edison Field and sending the Angels home frustrated again.

It was the Angels’ sixth consecutive loss, 22nd in the last 26 games, and it dropped them 22 games behind Texas in the American League West. The Angels have been limited to one run or less in 12 of those 26 games, they’ve scored four runs in the last 30 innings and 11 runs in the last six games.

“You just keep pushing and pushing,” Collins said. “There’s no pressure. Just have an idea up there, put a good swing on the ball and have a quality at-bat. These guys can all hit. But they’re all scuffling.”

Indian right-hander Dave Burba limited the Angels to one run on seven hits, including Garret Anderson’s double and Jeff Huson’s RBI single in the sixth, to improve to 3-0 with a 1.13 earned-run average in four Edison Field starts. Paul Shuey added two perfect relief innings.

Roberto Alomar hit a two-run homer off Steve Sparks in the sixth, one of seven hits Sparks allowed in five-plus innings. The Angels were also out-Ramirezed: Alex Ramirez had an RBI double in the fifth and Manny Ramirez homered in the eighth, increasing his league-leading RBI total to 116.

Adding insult to the Angel loss: As Salmon was about to leap for David Justice’s sixth-inning fly ball at the wall, a beach ball dropped out of the bleachers, almost hitting the Angel right fielder. Salmon missed the baseball but made full contact with the beach ball, booting it in frustration.

As if the Angels weren’t surrounded by enough turmoil, with reports circulating that the Walt Disney Co. is considering selling the team and a front office executive predicting “massive” changes in the off-season, there was another mini-crisis Wednesday.

ESPN’s Peter Gammons reported that Angel President Tony Tavares had received approval to fire General Manager Bill Bavasi and Collins any time between now and Labor Day.

Tavares scoffed at the report.

“First of all, I’ve been able to hire and fire people from day one,” Tavares said. “I’ve never had to ask permission.”

There has been growing speculation that Bavasi is on shaky ground, and it would be easy to speculate that Collins will be fired after such a horrendous season, but Tavares said no such moves would be made until October.

“I’m not doing anything to anyone until the end of the season,” Tavares said. “We are going to look at everything across the board at the end of the season, everything.”