[0] GOING, GOING . . . ; ANGELS DROP TWO GAMES BEHIND RANGERS : TEXAS 9, ANGELS 1.

Byline: Joe Haakenson

Apparently, something needed to be said.

After the Angels lost their second game in a row to the Texas Rangers by the identical score of 9-1, one of the quietest Angels exploded with a profanity-laced tirade in the clubhouse Tuesday night.

Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, the manager of the 1995 Angels club that collapsed in the season's final two months, screamed for several minutes at the players after they played their second horrible game in the most critical series of the season before 38,987 at Edison Field.

None of the Angels players would talk about the postgame ``meeting'' that could be heard by reporters in another room. But it was easy to understand Lachemann's disgust with the way the Angels played. The Angels got only four hits, made three errors and were embarrassed for the second night in a row.

Rangers starter Rick Helling got his 20th victory of the season with eight stellar innings (one run, three hits), which left the Angels two games behind the Rangers with five to play.

What that means is the Angels no longer control their own destiny. They could win all five of their remaining games and lose the division title.

But no one in the Angels clubhouse seems ready to concede anything.

``We have five games left,'' said Angels left fielder Gregg Jefferies. ``If you want to say it's over, we can cancel the five games. But if we win (tonight), we're one game out with four to play.

``I haven't been here long, but I know this team fights back. Nobody's going to quit now.''

Forgetting the past two nights will be ``easy,'' outfielder Todd Greene said.

``We've lost two games in a row before,'' he said. ``We've been two games out before. If this team didn't have heart, we wouldn't be where we're at now.''

The Angels, though, appeared to forget on Tuesday what got them to this point. They failed to play sound, fundamental baseball in a repeat of Monday's performance. Of the Rangers' nine runs, three were unearned. The Angels made three errors, including one by starting pitcher Chuck Finley that proved to be the final blow.

Finley (11-9) kept the Angels close through six innings as the Rangers led 1-0. But he asked for trouble by walking Royce Clayton and Luis Alicea to start the seventh.

When Roberto Kelly bunted, Finley threw the ball down the right-field line for an error, allowing one run to score and giving the Rangers runners on second and third with nobody out.

The Rangers scored two more runs in the inning, both charged to Finley, who fell to 0-4 against the Rangers this season and 7-16 in his career. Finley went 6-1/3 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) and four hits. He struck out seven but also walked a season-high seven (one intentional).

The Rangers added insult to injury in the eighth with three home runs - a three-run homer by Luis Alicea and solo homers by Rusty Greer and Juan Gonzalez.

``Obviously, we know we haven't played well the last two days,'' Finley said. ``But we've gone through this many times before. We don't feel fortunate to be here, we feel we've played well enough to be here. We've got 25 guys who have been grinding it out all year. These guys have a lot of heart. In the next five days we'll see what happens.''

Helling gave up one run and three hits in eight innings. He struck out five and walked none while becoming the third Rangers pitcher in club history to win 20 games in a season. The others are Ferguson Jenkins (1974) and Kevin Brown (1992).

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) Texas' Royce Clayton, right, is forced out by second baseman Randy Velarde.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

BOX: DOWN TO THE WIRE

The Angels lost to Texas 9-1 Tuesday to fall two games behind the Rangers in the AL West. They play each other once more today. The standings with four games remaining.