Trying to Put a Finger on Angels' Troubles

Darin Erstad told everyone the other night, "There's going to be no finger pointing."

As I suspected, though, he was willing to make Page 2 the exception.

"You're free to point your finger at whoever you want," Erstad said, but where do you begin with a team so crummy it's even worse than the Dodgers?

The depressing assignment was to attend a baseball game played by two mediocre teams, a real letdown after spending the last few weeks with an outfit as good as the Clippers. Think about that for a moment.

I spent time with the Lakers in the playoffs, so I've dealt with disappointment, but the Angels are more than a disappointment, they've become a joke.

They fell all over themselves in losing to the Dodgers again, dropping nine games below .500 with their manager saying later, there's no other way to describe it than "just poor baseball."

Owner Arte Moreno likes to talk about perennial World Series expectations, but it's understandable why he remained in Arizona rather than making an appearance in Dodger Stadium. There's not much to see these days when the Angels take the field unless you think Robb Quinlan is about to break out of a career slump.

"How do you fix this disaster?" I asked General Manager Bill Stoneman.

"The players are going to fix it," Stoneman said.

"But aren't you the one who put them in this fix?"

"I decide who the players are, if you want to approach it from that standpoint," Stoneman said. "The talent is there, it's just not showing up right now."

So Stoneman obviously believes he's done his job because the "talent is there," while pointing his finger at the players who have failed to do theirs. I had no idea Erstad had given him an exemption too.

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EVERYONE BUT Stoneman recognized the team needed more power after last season, but his love for prospects doomed this year's team.

"You're 100% wrong if you think we had our heads buried in the sand during the off-season," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "We did everything we could."

I don't buy it. It all comes down to value judgments, and the value Stoneman placed on youngsters when discussing deals. As a result, he shortchanged the 2006 Angels.

It's his job to make something happen, especially knowing Garret Anderson has lost a step, and for a guy unwilling to run hard to first, that's not good ... especially knowing Erstad was an injury waiting to happen when shifted to center field ... and especially knowing Tim Salmon was a terrific feel-good story, but what were the chances he'd feel good all year long?