ANGELS HOPES ARE FADING FAST YANKS KNOCK APPIER OUT IN THE FIRST NEW YORK 6, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

They no longer are treading water in this pennant race. The Angels are taking it on instead, and the holes in their ship seem to get deeper with every passing game.

Third baseman Troy Glaus is not likely to return before Sept. 1, his sore shoulder precluding him from throwing a ball for at least a couple of weeks. Tuesday, right fielder Tim Salmon was scratched with back spasms, so against the New York Yankees' $160 million baseball machine, the Angels were forced to bat utilityman Shawn Wooten third and start .220-hitting Eric Owens in right field.

And with the always-unpredictable Kevin Appier getting the start, the outcome was as grim as it appeared on paper.

Appier was gone after eight batters, the patchwork lineup managed just one run off Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, and the Angels took another step back with a 6-2 defeat before 43,817, the largest crowd at Edison Field this season.

For those still scoring at home, the Angels fell 11 1/2 games behind Seattle in the American League West and 11 games behind Boston in the wild card race. While still insisting they are in the race, reality is suggesting otherwise. They fell under .500, at 52-53, with just 57 games remaining.

Tuesday's trade of reliever Scott Schoeneweis was no indication the Angels are playing for the future, but the rout by the Yankees that followed was another nudge in that direction. The Angels' first run of the night was scored by first baseman Robb Quinlan, who singled for his first major league hit and scored on an RBI single by David Eckstein.

Quinlan later added a double and another single, but the Angels were punchless otherwise save for Garret Anderson's eighth-inning bases-empty homer. Center fielder Darin Erstad struck out three times in four hitless at-bats, dropping his average to .253; he and Wooten fanned against Pettitte with runners on second and third to end the third inning, when it was still a game.

Appier (7-7) wasn't long for it, however. He retired two of the first three batters he faced. Then, the next five Yankees reached base against him, four on singles. The last of those came off the bat of Robin Ventura, whose two-out, two-run hit made it 4-0 and finished Appier.

Appier did not easily yield the ball to manager Mike Scioscia. He had thrown just 43 pitches, but Scioscia had seen enough and summoned Scot Shields, whose most frequent role has been as custodian, cleaning up after various starting pitchers' messes.

Shields performed that role admirably again, giving up just one run in 4 1/3 innings of relief. But another brief outing by Appier forced the Angels to use Shields, Francisco Rodriguez and Weber for at least two innings, exactly the sort of hit their bullpen can't absorb on a consistent basis.

Unfortunately for the Angels, it's a position Appier's put them in far too often.