ANGELS COULD USE A BIG UNIT; ANOTHER LOSS POINTS UP NEED FOR ACE : TEXAS 9 ANGELS 7.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

On a day that saw another Angels starter get torched and their losing streak reach a season-high seven games, came a painful, ironic bit of news: Randy Johnson could have been wearing periwinkle.

As Steve Sparks was hammered in a 9-7 loss to the AL West-leading Texas Rangers on Thursday, Johnson told reporters in Phoenix that he might have joined the Angels. All they had to do was call.

``If Anaheim had pursued me as hard as it did Mo Vaughn, I'd probably be over there,'' said Johnson, who instead signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. ``But their ownership didn't get back to us.''

The Angels made a successful, all-out effort to get Vaughn in the offseason, signing the slugger to an $80 million deal. Johnson evidently believes he didn't get the same sort of red-carpet treatment from the Angels, who also were pursuing the Big Unit.

``(Arizona owner) Jerry Colangelo was constantly on the phone, answering our questions,'' Johnson says. ``That made my decision a lot easier to make. It's different when you're working with a team that has a chain of command. They (the Angels) don't even know what their game plan is because they have to find out from the corporate level.''

So the Angels continue to suffer with a substandard rotation. It took another beating as the Angels lost the two-game series and fell to 12-1/2 games out of first.

Rafael Palmeiro's seventh career grand slam keyed a six-run third inning as the Rangers rallied from a 3-0 deficit and won their fifth in a row. Sparks allowed eight runs - three earned - and eight hits over 5-1/3 innings.

The Angels got within 8-7 in the eighth on Randy Velarde's RBI single. Tim Crabtree, Texas' fifth pitcher, then retired Tim Salmon on a pop-up with two outs and a runner on third.

With closer John Wetteland unavailable because of a stiff back, Jeff Zimmerman pitched the ninth for his third save.

The Angels had the makings of a big inning in the fifth, but two baserunning blunders prevented them from scoring more than one run.

Yet pitching, not offense, remains their Achilles' heel. Johnson said it didn't have to be that way. He now says that while his family's desire to live in Phoenix year-round played a role in his signing, it was not the deciding factor.

``If this team hadn't gotten any better, I certainly wouldn't be here,'' said Johnson, who signed a four-year, $52.4 million deal and has rewarded Arizona with a 10-7 record and league-leading 2.65 ERA.

Despite his thinly veiled criticism of Angels management, Johnson will not say his final decision came down to Anaheim or Arizona.

``It's not really important now,'' Johnson says. ``I've been pitching here for a few months, and this is where I'm going to be the next four years.''

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Photo

Photo: Mo Vaughn watches his third-inning homer sail over the center-field wall.

Bill Janscha/Associated Press