BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : They Didn’t Get A’s for Effort in ’91

The Athletics have the Angels to thank for keeping them in contention in the American League West.

Oakland’s 2-1 victory over the Angels Thursday gave it a 12-1 record in the teams’ season series and kept the A’s six games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins. Although the Angels are last in the West and fell a season-high 15 games out of first place, they have a better record against the rest of the league than the A’s do.

Oakland has a 56-54 record against the rest of the league, the Angels a 57-51 mark.

“I don’t think the A’s are that much better than us,” said Donnie Hill, who played shortstop Thursday to give Dick Schofield a rest. “Earlier in the season we didn’t get that one clutch hit they seemed to get, and in this series, we didn’t get anything. We faced some pretty good pitchers here in three games and they shut us down.”

The last time the Angels lost as many games in a season series was 1976, when they were 6-12 against the A’s. . . . This was the first time the Angels won only one game in a season series against any opponent. That victory was on April 18, when Scott Lewis defeated Kirk Dressendorfer, 7-1. That’s also the only victory recorded by the Angels’ fifth starters this season.

Jim Abbott will try for his career-best 13th victory tonight, but he’s trying not to think about such milestones.

“It’s getting back into being result-oriented, and I don’t want to do that,” said Abbott, who was 12-12 as a rookie in 1989 and 10-14 in 1990. “At this point of the season I don’t think it’s real wise to get involved in personal stats. You just try to finish the year with respectable stats for the club and give the team a chance to win.”

As expected, Fernando Valenzuela agreed to finish the season with triple-A Edmonton. He will rejoin the club in time to start Sunday at home against Calgary. . . . By going 16 for 40 on the trip, Luis Polonia raised his batting average to .301. He had been below .300 since July 6.