ANGELS DON'T HEAL, ARE READY TO DEAL : TEXAS 9 ANGELS 5.

Byline: Cheryl Rosenberg Orange County Register

They have to keep the positive spin on the season. They can't declare it over in July. The schedule would not let them, anyway.

But after losing 9-5 to the first-place Texas Rangers on Wednesday, the Angels are 11-1/2 games back in the American League West and on a six-game losing streak.

There aren't a lot of good things to talk about - except by opposing teams eager to get a crack at a soon-to-be-available player. The Angels have told teams they would wait until after they played the Rangers before determining which, if any, of their players they would consider trading.

Let the bidding begin.

Scouts have watched starters Chuck Finley and Omar Olivares. A high-ranking St. Louis Cardinals scout was at The Ballpark at Arlington, most likely to watch Olivares. The Houston Astros spoke with the Angels and also are believed to be interested, although they were said to have inquired about Finley and Tim Belcher as well.

Olivares is not paying attention to all this. He has enough to think about, especially after his start Wednesday. He entered the third inning trailing 2-1 and gave up six consecutive hits, capped by Todd Zeile's two-run double.

He left his pitches up and over the middle of the plate and the Rangers responded. Scott Schoeneweis relieved and gave up a triple and the Rangers led 8-1.

``I knew what I had to do,'' Olivares said. ``I just wasn't able to do it. They were not missing. I wasn't thinking about our situation. I'm not going to let this outing frustrate me.''

The Angels got back-to-back homers in the fourth and got consecutive run-scoring hits in the sixth, but it was not nearly enough. The five runs are the most they had scored since July 15, when they had seven against the Dodgers. That was also their most recent victory.

They looked to the Rangers series as a chance not only to pick up two games but to get something going, to string together a little streak and get themselves back in the mix. Instead, their most consistent pitcher this season got hammered.

``This was a good game for us,'' Rangers first baseman Lee Stevens said. ``Knowing what they're going through and what they're trying to accomplish, we don't want to give anybody hope.''

Olivares refuses to dwell on this or the possibility he could be traded. He can look only as far ahead as his next start, Monday at Tampa Bay. He has been through seasons of distraction before: He was traded from Detroit to Seattle almost exactly two years ago.

That has been the problem with the Angels. Six matches their longest losing streak this season. They have had three four-game winning streaks, but they haven't sustained them.

``We're a couple of hits away from winning some games,'' Angels manager Terry Collins said before the game.

This night, they seemed a couple of miles away.

McDowell to return: Jack McDowell will start for the Angels against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at Camden Yards.

Collins would not confirm it, but McDowell said before Wednesday's loss that he will make his first major-league start of the season Friday. McDowell had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in early February.

ANGELS vs. TEXAS

Time: 5:35 p.m., at The Ballpark in Arlington.

TV/Radio: Channel 9; KLAC-AM (570), XPRS-AM (1090, Spanish).

Matchup: Steve Sparks (4-6, 5.17 ERA) faces Texas right-hander John Burkett (2-4, 5.71) in the final game of a two-game series.

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Box: ANGELS vs. TEXAS (See text)