Angels End Bad Trip Badly With Loss to Orioles, 6-4

BALTIMORE — Their aches and bruises have begun to fade, but the Angels still feel the emotional aftereffects of Thursday’s bus accident.

On the day Manager Buck Rodgers was operated on to repair his knee and elbow, the Angels ended their nine-game Eastern trip with a 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

It was the Angels’ seventh defeat in nine games. Their thoughts admittedly 3,000 miles away, the Angels were too distracted and too emotionally spent Sunday to rebound when the Orioles dispatched Chuck Finley (1-3) after five innings in front of 42,721.

“I think the day off (today) will help, and so will finding out Buck’s OK,” catcher Ron Tingley said. “This was one of the most memorable road trips I’ve ever been on. Then again, it’s the one you want to forget the most.”

Yet, they can’t forget, not while Rodgers is out--for probably two months--and while Alvin Davis is idled by a bruised kidney. “I don’t think we’re able to put it out of our minds because the evidence is all around us,” said second baseman Rene Gonzales, who singled and scored in the second inning to give the Angels a short-lived 2-0 lead against Bob Milacki (4-2).

The Orioles scored single runs in the second and third innings against Finley before pulling away in the fifth on home runs by Brady Anderson and Cal Ripken Jr. Finley was removed after he gave up doubles to Leo Gomez and David Segui in the sixth; a sacrifice fly by Mark McLemore scored Gomez for a 5-3 Baltimore lead.

“It was really hard, losing today,” Gonzales added. “When we got in front, I hoped we’d hang on because it would have made the trip a little nicer. But you’ve got to give (the Orioles) credit. They played well.”

The Angels did few things well Sunday. And while interim manager John Wathan acknowledged the team is still reeling, he hopes the end of its journey will bring an end to some of its nightmares.

“We can’t use this as an excuse for the rest of the season,” said Wathan, who planned to spend today with his family in Kansas City. “One series is enough. When we get back to Anaheim, we’ve got to buckle down and do what we can to turn this thing around. We’ve got a long (nine-game) home stand, and we need to win some games at home.”

Finley, an 18-game winner in each of the last two seasons, hasn’t won since April 28 and on Sunday experienced more control problems.

Finley, who pitched into the seventh inning in 28 of 34 starts last season, has done that only once in 1992. He has yet to get past the seventh, principally because of faulty control. He threw 107 pitches in five innings Sunday.

“He’s not quite fine enough to get some borderline pitches,” said pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, who was ejected in the seventh inning for disputing ball-and-strike calls. “His velocity is about the same it was the last two years. That’s not a major factor. He’s just not locating the ball.”

Anderson’s homer landed on the concourse behind the right-field seats at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and Ripken’s shot stayed in the park but was equally impressive. Finley, who was 7-2 at this point a year ago, said his problems are unrelated to the surgery he had last winter on his left big toe.

“I made some (terrible) pitches, but I’ll tell you one thing--they need to do something (about the umpires) in this league,” said Finley, who has given up 44 hits--11 of them homers--in 37 1/3 innings. “I got some balls up, and they hit them. Basically, that’s the story of the game.

“In my mind, there were a lot of pitches I thought were strikes, but what are you going to do about it? I can make excuses, but they got 10 hits, and you’ve still got to do something about it. . . . Everything I throw is up high. I just have to keep fighting it. I’ll come out OK.”