AMERICAN LEAGUE AROUND THE HORN: FINLEY SAYS ANGELS LOST THEIR PRIDE.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - When Chuck Finley decided to sign with the Cleveland Indians this past winter, leaving the Angels after 14 years, many figured it had a lot to do with money.

The Indians offered $27 million for three years, and the Angels' budget wouldn't allow such an investment.

But in an interview with Baseball Weekly, Finley says it wasn't the money.

``There were a lot of things last year that told me, late in the season, that it was time to move on,'' Finley said. ``I looked around and there was nobody I recognized anymore. Year in, year out, the injuries kept pecking away. You'd look up and go, `Well, we lost this guy. The team's been through this before. I know exactly what's going to happen.'

``We tried to fix it with this and that, but the tape comes off, the wire breaks and the glue dries up. The main thing, though, was that I thought the team had lost its professionalism. You can get over losing talent - guys getting hurt - but when you have a group of individuals who start losing their professionalism then that's when you've got to really look at the situation and say, `Well, where am I at?' It was taking pride in the pregame dressing, being on time, the dress code, small things like that. It got pretty bad (with) guys bitching at each other through the paper, which is totally wrong.''

The irony of Finley's comments is that this year's clubhouse, run by manager Mike Scioscia, is as professional and workmanlike as any in the league, according to many of the players.

Another reason for Finley's choice of the Indians is that Finley wants to go to a World Series, and he got tired of seeing former teammates of his get there without him.

``If you play this game for the right reasons, that's all you want,'' he said. ``(I would) flip on the TV and the World Series would be on and there would be guys I played with. You go, `Geez. I just watched five or six guys from my team go the World Series' - Devon White, (Dick) Schofield, Chili Davis. Jorge Fabregas was in the World Series this year with Atlanta. You just want that opportunity.''

--Remembering Doc: Scioscia had a flashback of sorts when his team played the Devil Rays on Friday. On the mound for Tampa Bay was 35- year-old Dwight Gooden, whom Scioscia faced as a player.

Of course, Scioscia's most memorable moment involving Gooden was his home run against him in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS. That tied the game the Dodgers would win, helping them win the series and eventually the World Series. Gooden was 23 then and one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball. Now, Gooden is just trying to hang on and extend his career.

``I remember him when he was 19 years old,'' Scioscia said. ``Obviously, he doesn't have the same stuff, but he's going to battle you.''

Gooden won his first start this season against the Tigers, but the Angels got him for six runs in four-plus innings. Gooden, a Tampa native, had 34 friends and family members in the crowd. His 14-year-old son, Dwight Jr., served as the Devil Rays' batboy.

``Obviously, I would have liked to have pitched better,'' Gooden said. ``But, with everything that has happened in my career - on and off the field - to still get to pitch in front of my family and friends, nothing can take that away.''

--The Rap on rap: Chad Curtis and Royce Clayton of the Rangers got into shoving match last week after Curtis was offended by the explicit lyrics in the rap music Clayton was playing on the clubhouse stereo. But the Rangers downplayed the incident.

``Obviously, it's our job to make sure those things don't come to a head and cause a disruption,'' Rangers general manager Doug Melvin said. ``But maybe it's good that there's a little spark in the clubhouse. We knew with some of the new guys coming in, there would be some new energy in there.''

Curtis caused a stir with the Yankees last season when he got into a dispute with shortstop Derek Jeter. Curtis was upset with Jeter because Jeter joked and laughed with Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez during a fight between the two teams.