Fans Know, What Can Go Wrong Will

Can they still blow it?

Can a first-place lead that was 11 games on Aug. 9 and 10 1/2 on Aug. 16 and eight on Aug. 30 and now five on the morning of Sept. 15 vanish entirely by Oct. 1--stripping the Angels of a sure-thing American League West championship, removing the wild-card safety net as well and inventing a remarkable way to supplant Game 5 of the ’86 playoffs in the upper ring of Angel Hell?

Maybe that’s why the Anaheim Stadium turnstiles have been going to sleep by the 19,000 mark, or the 21,000 mark, throughout this home stand.

It’s not that Angel fans don’t care to watch.

More likely, Angel fans can’t bear to watch.

The condition is known as Angel Dread. Symptoms: An unrelenting sinking sensation in the pit of the stomach, accompanied by an unrelenting sinking sensation in the AL West standings. Or the AL playoffs. Incubation period: It can strike at any time, but the at-risk months are September and October during any year the Angels are within a half-dozen games of first place. Most recent cases observed in Orange County: 1989, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1982, 1979.

This was supposed to be the year and the team that provided the cure to Angel Dread. The young, oblivious Angels of 1995--unfettered by the baggage of yesteryear, unflinching as they dug in against the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox and the specter of ’86.

What did 1986 mean to them? Jim Edmonds and Damion Easley were in junior high in 1986. Garret Anderson was in Little League. Tim Salmon was a senior at Phoenix’s Greenway High School. J.T. Snow was playing quarterback at Los Alamitos High.

Even the ’95 veterans were unscathed. Chili Davis was in San Francisco. Mark Langston, Seattle. Tony Phillips, Oakland. Spike Owen saw it from the other side--he was Boston’s starting shortstop during the ’86 playoffs. Of the current Angels, only Chuck Finley and Dick Schofield witnessed that meltdown, and Finley was little more than a bystander then--a 23-year-old rookie long reliever.

Nine years later, the slate has been wiped virtually clean. Yet, the Dread is back, and guess who visits Anaheim tonight, as part of the Kansas City Royals entourage, to check in on the Angels during their hour of need?

Gene Mauch.

Bob Boone.

Wally Joyner.

How can you follow this team for any amount of time and not believe in omens?

In the AL West, a five-game lead with 15 to play ought to be safe. Simple math tells us that if the Angels take only one of three the rest of the way, they finish 77-67. Seattle would have to go 10-5 to catch them. Texas would have to close 12-4 to force a tie.

Ordinarily, this would appear beyond the reach of the Mariners and the Rangers, but the challengers will play the leaders five times--in Arlington and Seattle--next week. Sweep those and who knows, the Mariners and the Rangers could push this thing to the final Sunday.

The Angels want no part of that, but twice in the last four games, they’ve painted themselves closer to that predicament.

They let a 7-2 fifth-inning lead with Jim Abbott pitching against the 40-games-out Minnesota Twins get away on Sunday.

They had a 1-0 lead over Chicago slip away Wednesday when Marcel Lachemann removed Chuck Finley from a five-hit shutout and turned it over to Troy Percival, Percival’s fifth appearance in six days. Rookie nerves? Tired arm? Whatever, Percival surrendered four runs in two-thirds of an inning and the White Sox rallied, 6-1.

Within a matter of minutes Wednesday night, the Angels’ magic number jumped from nine back to 11. Because while Percival scuffled in Anaheim, the Mariners erased a 4-0 seventh-inning deficit in Seattle to overtake the Twins, 7-4, on a rare off-night by Randy Johnson.

The Angels are 4-2 on this home stand, but should be 6-0. In one loss, Lee Smith serves up a ninth-inning home run to Dan Masteller (previous big-league home run total: one). In the other, the Angels manage four hits in seven innings against Luis Andujar (previous big-league experience: one start).

These are the kind of stretch-drive quivers that can sink a team. And that’s outside the trainer’s room. The Angels began this home stand without Gary DiSarcina and since have lost Easley to a sprained knee and Davis to a pulled hamstring. The best news the Angels have received in a week is that both players could return during the Kansas City series, but until then, the Angels are left to field a lineup that includes Schofield at shortstop, Rex Hudler at second base and Mike Aldrete at designated hitter.

Thursday, displaying a confidence that borders on the audacious, the Angels announced that strips of playoff tickets can be purchased starting next Wednesday.

What, with the Mariners only five games out?

And the wild card-hunting New York Yankees a half-game behind them?

Don’t the people running the Angel box office have any sense of history?

Actually, they do.

In lieu of playoffs, tickets are refundable.