Angels Beat Royals, 6-2, but Clinch Last Place

They might be, at least statistically, the best last-place team in baseball history. To the Angels, who had hoped to make history this season in a far more positive sense, that’s an empty achievement.

“Regardless of whether we’re the best team on paper or what people say, it doesn’t mean anything. We’re in last place, and that’s no good,” said outfielder Max Venable, whose run-scoring single in the eighth inning helped propel the Angels to a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Anaheim Stadium.

Despite beating Tom Gordon (9-14), the Angels are guaranteed of finishing seventh in the AL West, their fifth last-place finish since divisional play began in 1969. They did inscribe a line in the record books with their 79th victory, surpassing by one the highest total recorded by a last-place team. The 1982 Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians shared the previous record with 78-84 finishes.

But for Angel starter Chuck Finley, such technicalities are absurd. “I’d rather be the worst first-place team than the best last-place team,” said Finley, who handed a 2-1 lead to Mark Eichhorn with one out in the eighth inning but got no decision because Danny Tartabull’s double off the first base bag and Todd Benzinger’s single tied the game.

“My definition of a good season is where the Dodgers are or the Braves are,” said Finley, who was applauded warmly by the crowd of 21,397 as he walked off the mound for the final time this season. “That’s what it’s all about.”

A victory Friday would have given Finley a personal-best 19 victories, but he instead finished with an 18-9 record for the second successive season.

“I had a pretty decent year,” said Finley, who was 12-4 at the All-Star break but was victimized by the Angels’ offensive decline as the season progressed. “You always like to improve, and the only thing I improved was the number of walks. I wasn’t happy about walking (101) guys. But I’m not going to try to be too fine and pick everything apart. If it’s meant to be, it’s going to happen.”

The Angels sent 10 batters to the plate in the eighth inning and capitalized when Gary Thurman--who had been shifted to right field before that half-inning--misplayed Luis Polonia’s single to right and allowed Gary DiSarcina to score the go-ahead run. Lee Stevens collected his third RBI with a sacrifice fly to right.

“I’m just trying to finish strong,” he said.

Finley would have liked a strong finish--and a stronger midseason stretch than the swoon that dumped the Angels out of first place after July 3.

“We’d probably still be in first if it wasn’t for four weeks in the season,” he said. “But there are a lot of ifs in this game. . . . Everybody’s pretty dissatisfied with what’s gone on. As a team, we just didn’t do our job.”