ANGELS' PHILLIPS IS LEFT FRUSTRATED.

Byline: Marc J. Spears Daily News Staff Writer

Once upon a time, the Angels were at a point where they seemed invincible and destined for a storybook season.

Their supreme confidence thrusted their chests forward like champions as they won 10 straight from July 5-17 and defied the odds that rated them as a below-average team in the spring.

Now, they are in the process of proving their critics correct, owning the confidence of pessimists and working on spending their October watching the playoffs on the tube.

The Angels tied a season-worst five-game losing streak during a 7-5 setback to the Detroit Tigers in front of 16,294 at Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

``Everyone has to be on the same page,' said disgruntled Angels second baseman Tony Phillips. ``And we're are not on the same page. Everyone is not on the same page. It is a damn shame. We've worked ourselves into a good situation. It is not about getting beat because if you're not good enough it is not going to matter. It is a shame that we're not going out playing the game like it is supposed to be played . . . hard.

``You play hard and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But you don't quit. Teammates don't give up on each other. Coaches don't give up on their players. Players don't give up on their manager or coaches.''

The gasping Angels are now five games behind front-runner Seattle in the divisional race and six games behind the New York Yankees for the wild card. Anaheim has dropped five straight for the third time this season and lost eight of its past 10 contests.

``We still have some games left,'' manager Terry Collins said. ``We've got to just go out relaxed and quit looking over our shoulder all the time. We have to make sure we continue to come out (today) and get after it. Pretty soon we'll put both ends together and play like we can.''

The Angels are 0-5 at Tiger Stadium this season and have lost 10 straight there since April 13, 1996. A Tigers win today would give them their first home sweep of the Angels in the 36-year history of the series.

Allen Watson entered the game hoping to turn around a poor pitching streak and carry the Angels to a long-awaited victory. Instead, the left-hander gave up two home runs, including a fourth-inning grand slam by Bobby Higginson, and pushed his major-league-leading homer-allowed total to 32.

In just 3-2/3 innings, Watson (11-10) allowed seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and 88 pitches. Watson's third straight loss resulted in the fifth time this season - and the second time in his past three starts - that he has failed to pitch at least four innings.

``When a guy has been winning all year and he gives up runs like that,'' said Watson, speaking in the third person, ``it kind of hurts the team. I haven't been doing well. I have to be the stopper of losing streaks. I have been pretty good with that coming into (Saturday).''

When asked about Watson's performance, Collins paused 18 seconds before saying, ``I don't know. He wasn't in there very long.''

In the first, Tony Clark's RBI single off Watson put Detroit ahead 1-0. In the second, the Tigers went ahead 3-0 on rookie Juan Encarnacion's two-run homer. His blast was the first of his career, coming in his third major-league game.

Jim Edmonds' solo homer off Detroit starter and winner Brian Moehler (10-10) in the third inning cut the Tigers' lead to 3-1. But Higginson's grand slam in the fourth vaulted Detroit ahead 7-1 and gave him three slams on the season, tying him for the AL lead.