No Time to Relax for Angels

ANAHEIM —  The Angels may be meeting their match in their season-opening series against the Boston Red Sox. Boston experienced just as much upheaval as the Angels in the off-season and starts tonight’s game in Anaheim Stadium with just as many questions.

And the Angels had better enjoy it while they can, because after their two-game series against the Roger Clemens-less Red Sox they will play their next 11 games against the Cleveland Indians, favored to win the American League Central title, and the defending World Series champion New York Yankees, favorites in the East.

Overall, 21 of the Angels’ first 39 games are against Cleveland, New York, the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, all division contenders with scary lineups.

Message to Chuck Finley: Get well soon . . . very soon.

“How ‘bout that first month?” Manager Terry Collins said, smirking. “We’re pretty excited about that.”

Look at the bright side, Angel fans. At least you’ll know right away whether those off-season moves will pay off.

“Maybe we can get them out of the way before they get hot,” said pitcher Mark Langston, tonight’s starter. “But any time you play anyone, whether it’s the Yankees or whoever, you have to be on top of your game to think you’re going to win. Otherwise, you’re going to be treading water all year.”

That’s what the Angels did for much of 1996, lingering around the .500 mark, six to nine games behind division-leader Texas through July, playing just well enough to stay in the race and just poorly enough to never make a serious run.

At one point, in early August, Finley said, “The cops should come and arrest the whole team for loitering.”

A few days later, Manager Marcel Lachemann resigned, the Angels slipped underwater, gurgled and were never heard from again, finishing 70-91 and 19 1/2 games out.

But if it’s mid-May this season and the Angels are hovering around .500, Collins might get early consideration for manager of the year.

“That would give us a lot of confidence, if we can float around .500 against these teams,” closer Troy Percival said. “I like facing the best this early because everyone’s bats are a little slower. They’re not where they want to be . . . so the teams with the best pitching will prevail.”

Pitching, of course, is the Angels’ biggest concern. The starters showed promise last weekend, Langston, Jason Dickson and Allen Watson pitching well against the Dodgers in the Freeway Series. Even so, the Angels finished spring training with a 7.51 earned-run average and a 9-21 record.

“It’s obviously not the way you want to play in spring training--we’ve got to step it up,” Langston said. “But maybe it will force us to turn up the tempo. The last two years we were Cactus League champions, we had a lot of confidence going into the season, we hit a rut early and couldn’t get out. Now we know we need to come out kicking and fighting.”

Those are things the Angels should do well this season. With the addition of former Nebraska punter and current speedster Darin Erstad in the leadoff spot, tough-guy Dave Hollins at third and a manager who loves perpetual motion, the Angels should be a scrappier bunch on the basepaths, creating scoring opportunities with dash and determination.

But none of it will mean much if the pitching isn’t there. How will Collins’ rotation, which includes a rookie, Dickson, and two American League newcomers, Watson and Shigetoshi Hasegawa, measure up against the league’s best hitters?

How will the Angels, who are not expected to contend with Seattle and Texas in the West, measure up against the league’s best teams?

Collins will have a very good idea in about a month.

“We have a good lineup,” the former Houston Astro manager said. “We don’t match up, power to power, with some teams, but one thing I found in the National League, when we played the Atlanta Braves, we picked up the pace. Every time you played them they brought your level of play up. That has to happen here.”