[0] LONG BALLS DON'T STOP LONG-SHOT ANGELS : ANGELS 8 KANSAS CITY 5.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

With playoff tickets going on the market at 8 a.m. today at the Anaheim Stadium box office and through Ticketmaster, the Angels tried to write a plausible sales pitch Friday night.

About the best they could come up with was, ``We're not dead yet.''

Though they didn't cut into the Seattle Mariners' 5-1/2-game lead in the American League West, they avoided a season high in the games-behind column by overcoming another combustive outing by Allen Watson and beating the Kansas City Royals 8-5 in front of 25,259 fans.

The Mariners defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 Friday.

With 15 games left, it's unlikely the Angels will be playing in a Division Series Sept. 30 and Oct. 1-2. But there's still hope in the clubhouse, and the ticket office.

``This team is not giving up,'' Rickey Henderson said after scoring the tiebreaking run in a three-run seventh inning helped along by Royals shortstop Jay Bell's throwing error and three walks by three relief pitchers.

A bases-loaded walk by Matt Whisenant to Jim Edmonds, who had fouled off a 3-and-2 strike, scored Henderson. A bloop single by Darin Erstad, who had started the night on the bench, sent Tony Phillips and Dave Hollins home.

``We got some big hits for a change,'' manager Terry Collins said after the Angels won for only the second time in 10 games.

The Angels had taken a 5-4 lead in the fourth, but the Royals had retied the game after ex-Dodger Jose Offerman led off the seventh with a double off Shigetoshi Hasegawa.

Pep Harris (3-4) got the victory as the third of four relievers for Watson. Troy Percival pitched the ninth to earn his 24th save.

Watson, who already led the major leagues in home runs allowed (32), gave up three more to let the Royals back into a game the Angels led 4-1. He has allowed 13 homers in his past seven starts.

``One thing about Allen, in certain situations he challenges hitters,'' Collins said. ``We've told him to make better pitches, don't be afraid to (pitch around the corners of the plate). He's afraid to walk guys.''

Watson didn't walk a guy Friday, but he was out there for only 3-2/3 innings, the third time in his past four starts that he failed to reach the fifth.

He had seven strikeouts, one short of his season high. But when the Royals connected, look out in the construction zones beyond center and left fields.

Dean Palmer hit a 2-2 pitch 400 feet to dead center (his 21st homer) with two out in the second. Jeff King hit a full-count pitch 400-plus feet to left (his 23rd) with one out in the fourth. Palmer followed that with a single, and rookie Yamil Benitez drove a 2-0 pitch out to center (his eighth), making it 4-4.

Two hard-hit balls later, Watson was gone.

The Angels began the night with Erstad (hyperextended shoulder) and Garret Anderson (knee tendinitis) on the bench, not the best news for a team that was batting .218 in its past 14 games.

Appropriately, in uniform to throw pre-game batting practice was Single-A Cedar Rapids manager Mario Mendoza, whose prowess with the bat caused .200 to be known as the Mendoza Line.

The Mendoza Line was no match for the Rosado Line, which is what we'll call Royals left-hander Jose Rosado's 7.00-plus ERA since July.

The Angels led 4-0 after two innings, getting two runs when Chad Kreuter yanked a high pitch out to left (his fourth homer) after Luis Alicea walked.

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Photo: WATSON