ANGELS' RIDE IS FUN ONE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

ANAHEIM - I confess, I'm a bandwagon-jumper. I heard the ``all aboard'' while the Angels were toasting their division championship in the Oakland clubhouse last week and sneaked on while everybody else was watching Bengie Molina empty an ice chest on Mike Scioscia.

--I was won over by something Scioscia said as he stood in the middle of the room with a champagne bottle in his right hand.

``You've had a lot of celebrations in this clubhouse,'' a writer said to the manager.

``Yeah,'' Scioscia said, ``last year.''

``And the World Series,'' the writer said.

Scioscia cocked his head, puzzled. The Angels wrapped up the 2002 World Series in Anaheim.

``1988,'' the writer hinted.

``That's right!'' Scioscia said. ``That was here.''

A lot of us still think of Scioscia as the catcher on the Dodgers' last World Series winner. But he seems to have moved on, huh?

You want a team that identifies completely with its uniform. And that starts with the manager.

--I was won over by something Darin Erstad said a few minutes earlier, holding a can of Lite beer.

``Is there any one guy you feel happiest for?'' a writer said to the first baseman.

Erstad didn't even have to think.

``Esteban Yan,'' he said.

Esteban Yan? The last man in the bullpen?

``It's his first time in the playoffs,'' Erstad said. ``I'm not sure he's even played on a winning team. I know how it felt for me the first time.''

Yan joined the Angels last winter after pitching for Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Texas, St. Louis and Detroit. He said he remembers something Scioscia told the team one day in spring training.

``The manager said, 'Let's go and put Esteban in the playoffs,' '' said Yan, who, it turns out, has been left off the first-round playoff roster. ``Yes, I was surprised to hear him say that.''

You want a team with an all-for-one, one-for-all spirit. It doesn't get much better than everybody pulling for the last man in the bullpen.

--I was won over by something Arte Moreno said a few minutes earlier, his black T-shirt soaked in bubbles.

A writer asked if one part of the team is the owner's favorite.

``For me, it's the chemistry,'' Moreno said. ``They stand together. They support each other.''

You want a team that's more than the sum of its multi-million-dollar parts. It's great when that attitude flows from the man who pays those multi-millions.

Yes, that's me hanging onto the tailpipe of the bandwagon. Looks from here as if it's going to be a long ride, starting with the Angels' first-round series against the New York Yankees, opening tonight at Angel Stadium.

The Angels were no fun to watch until September. Too little pop in the lineup, too many blowups in the bullpen, too little urgency in the front office.

They foolishly acted like everything was magically going to come together when it mattered. And then it did.

The Angels finished on a 14-2 run, things looking like 2002 all of a sudden, the way everything fell into place. They're a unique team, a unique good team.

This should be John McCain's favorite club, it carves a profile so out of the steroids-era vogue. It's all short guys (Chone Figgins, Maicer Izturis), wide guys (Molina, Bartolo Colon), gimpy guys (Erstad, Garrett Anderson, Steve Finley).

I used to think Colon looked like Chico Marx in a funhouse mirror. Taking another look at him from here on the bandwagon, I think he's just pleasantly plump.

Half of the Angels' runs this season were driven in by players who arrived since 2002, but they've kept the trademark style of the first Angels champion.

This again is a lineup that forces opponents to keep making plays until their pitching and defense cracks. This season the Angels put balls in play with the bat, or forced the issue with base-stealing attempts, 303 more times than any other playoff team, meaning one or two extra times a game.

There's a comfort about the Angels that was disturbing most of the summer, but is very appealing now. They were fun to watch once September arrived.

They ought to be fun to watch in October. And there's still some standing room on the bandwagon.