`A' IS FOR `ARGH'; FRUSTRATION MOUNTS AS ANGELS LOSE AGAIN : COLORADO 4, ANGELS 1.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

The Angels lost another pitcher and another game in the standings Monday night. The next thing they lose might be their cool.

They weren't banging their heads against the wall just yet. They were banging a fist against the wall - a show of frustration that summed up the Angels' 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies in front of 19,614 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

It happened in the second inning, after unheralded Rockies outfielder Harvey Pullium slugged an Allen Watson fastball over the 386-foot sign in left-center field for a two-run homer. Angels center fielder Jim Edmonds watched it clear the wall, then drove his left fist into the soft blue plastic barrier.

The thump was audible over the groan of the small Labor Day crowd.

The sound of frustration.

Which took on a different tone after the game - the Angels' 11th defeat in 15 tries against National League clubs - when Tony Phillips chastised his team for ``tentative'' play.

``There's only one way to play this game - aggressive,'' the second baseman said quietly in a nearly empty clubhouse. ``I don't think we played that way tonight.

``I'm p---ed off,'' Phillips said, noting, ``I'm included in this group too.''

Watson agreed: ``We didn't have the spirit today we usually have.''

Why would they be dispirited?

The Angels took the field knowing their chances of winning a close American League West race had slipped another notch when Mark Langston felt more pain in his left elbow before a scheduled simulated game Monday afternoon.

Langston, the one-time 19-game winner, hoped to return from the disabled list and stabilize the starting rotation. Instead he declared his season over with 24 games left.

``I'm going to shut it down for the rest of the year, not touch a baseball, and try to rehab for next year,'' he said.

The Angels took the field knowing also that even by winning, they couldn't catch Seattle, which has been alone in first place for 19 of the past 20 days, though never by more than 2-1/2 games.

The Mariners were well on their way to beating the San Diego Padres 9-6 in an evening game before the first pitch was thrown at Anaheim Stadium.

Seattle's lead is two games again.

The Angels cashed in Rickey Henderson's leadoff walk and steal in the first inning but scattered eight hits in the next seven innings against Rockies rookie John Thomson (7-8). Jerry Dipoto pitched the ninth to earn his 12th save.

The Angels' Watson (11-9) kept Larry Walker, Vinnie Castilla and Andres Galarraga - Nos. 1, 3 and 4 on the NL home-run chart - in the park. He couldn't handle Pullium.

Pullium's drive with one out in the second gave the Rockies a 3-1 lead. It was Pullium's second homer of the year and seventh homer in the majors.

Edmonds' display of despair was understandable.

Left fielder Garret Anderson's misplay, turning the wrong way on Galarraga's fly ball to the warning track, had given the Big Cat a double leading off the second. After Castilla grounded a single to center one out later, Edmonds' one-step hesitation before throwing had let Galarraga score without a tag.

``(Watson) held 'em down,'' manager Terry Collins said of the Rockies, who have won seven in a row. ``We just didn't help him.''

The Angels put runners in scoring position three innings in a row and came up empty. Chad Kreuter took a third strike to end the fourth, Darin Erstad lined into a double play to end the fifth, and Anderson and Kreuter popped up to end the sixth.