ANGELS NOTEBOOK: NARRON: '86 IS NO '02.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas - No Angels players or coaches were with the team in 1986, the last Angels team that made the playoffs and the team that came so close to reaching the World Series.

Over in the Rangers dugout, though, there is someone who remembers that season well. Rangers manager Jerry Narron was with the Angels as a backup catcher to starter Bob Boone on the '86 team, and he said there are no similarities between the two situations, with this year's Angels struggling near the end of the season.

``Not even close,'' Narron said before Wednesday's game. ``They've had a great year and they're going to win at some point in the next five days to clinch at least a wild-card spot. If they get some breaks in the postseason, they could do real well.''

Then again, Narron knows the feeling of being so close to something and not quite getting there.

``I've seen the plastic go up before,'' he said of the plastic sheets used in the clubhouse to protect the open-faced cubicles with the players' clothes. ``But Seattle will lose a game over the next five days and the Angels will win a game. If they don't, they don't deserve to be in it. But they've got too good a team to not win one.''

Narron pointed out the Rangers helped the Angels last week, sweeping four games from the Mariners. As for those '86 Angels, Narron said the shock of Dave Henderson's home run in the ninth inning of Game 5 was too much to overcome.

``The toughest part was knowing it could have been over Sunday (Game 5),'' Narron said. ``Boston played the next two games where they were just happy to be alive.

``These guys (2002 Angels) will be fine. The AL West is by far the toughest division in baseball. The Minnesota Twins would be in fourth place in this division.''

Narron has the distinction of scoring the winning run for the Angels in their last playoff victory: In Game 4 of the '86 series against the Red Sox, he singled in the 10th off Calvin Schiraldi and later scored for a 4-3 win.

--MVP news conference: The Rangers held a news conference featuring Ernie Banks, an MVP with the last-place Cubs in 1958 and '59, and Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, an MVP candidate with the last-place Rangers.

Banks was quick to point out he was not there to endorse Rodriguez for the MVP, but that he was in town on business and to visit his 90-year-old mother who lives in the Dallas area. Still, Banks called Rodriguez ``the greatest shortstop in the history of the game.''

When asked who he'd pick for the MVP, he said: ``I'm not here to promote him, but to play that position (shortstop) and play with that power is really exceptional. It's the position I look at more than anything else.''

Oakland's Miguel Tejada, another MVP candidate, also plays shortstop.

Rodriguez, who said he was flattered by Banks' compliments, was asked his definition of the MVP.

``The MVP to me is what your teammates think about you,'' he said. ``Going through the daily grind and being there for your teammates every day. Achieving some special things. I look at the MVP like the Oscars. You want to be nominated every year even though you won't win it every year. If you win it would mean everything, but if you lose it'll be nothing.''

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