[0] ERSTAD A HIT, BUT ... TAMPA BAY 11, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The way the Angels have pitched lately, they'd need nine Darin Erstads in the lineup just to be competitive.

As it is, they have only one Erstad, which would explain their 11-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Friday night before 31,888 at Edison Field.

Even Erstad, who established an American League record for hits in the month of April (45), has an off-night now and then. He had only one hit in four at-bats on Friday, as his league-leading average dipped to .459.

However, the 45 hits are the most in any month by any player in Angels history, breaking Garret Anderson's record of 44 set in July 1998.

Then again, not even four home runs by Erstad would have made little difference.

Angels starter Jason Dickson, coming off his best start of the season (0 earned runs in 7 innings against the same Devil Rays), didn't make it out of the second inning.

He was shelled for six runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings, leaving the game because of a strained left hip. Dickson said he's felt a nagging pain for a couple days but thought he could get through the game. That's why he didn't tell manager Mike Scioscia of his injury until the Angels were in a 6-0 hole.

``You'd rather get a little heads up,'' Scioscia said. ``But it's not something you'd be able to hide. It's Jason's makeup not to alibi, not to look for ways out of games. His makeup is not to make excuses.''

There is no excuse for the way the Angels have pitched lately, particularly out of the bullpen.

Dickson's performance and more shoddy work from the bullpen shed light on what is starting to become more rule than exception.

In the first 12 games of the season, the Angels had allowed a total of 48 runs, or 4.0 runs per game. In their last 12, they've allowed 86 runs, or 7.2 per game. Of those 12, the Angels' opposition has scored in double figures five times.

As a result, the Angels have fallen to 11-13, the first time they've been two games below .500 since they were 0-2 on April 4.

After the game, Scioscia held his first post-game team meeting of the season.

``We just talked about a couple things, nothing big,'' Scioscia said. ``We haven't done a lot of things well the last couple games. It's not about effort. If anything, they're trying a little too hard. Particularly the pitching staff. They're not executing the way they can.''

``He knows when it's necessary,'' Angels first baseman Mo Vaughn said of the meeting. ``He had what he had to say. That's why we got him, for these situations. He knows the difference between getting beat and beating ourselves. He said it's not effort, it's a mental thing.''

ANGELS vs. TAMPA BAY 

Time: 7:05 p.m. at Edison Field.

TV/Radio: KCAL-9; KLAC-570, XPRS-1090.

Matchup: Ken Hill (2-3, 7.30 ERA) will start for Anaheim against Tampa Bay's Dave Eiland (1-0, 6.28). Eiland made his first start of the season five days ago vs. the Angels and threw six scoreless innings. The Angels are 10-0 when leading after seven innings, 0-10 when trailing after seven innings.

- Joe Haakenson

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Box: Angels vs. Tampa Bay (see text)