ANGELS PONDER `ENERGY' CRISIS MINNESOTA 3, ANGELS 0.

Byline: Gordon Verrell Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - A couple of hours before the start of Wednesday night's game against the Minnesota Twins, Angels manager Mike Scioscia was going over the ``how comes'' and ``we gotta do whatevers'' but kept coming back to one central theme: offense.

``We're not playing the type of baseball we know we can play,'' he was saying, ``and we're putting all our energy into getting better, particularly on the offensive side.''

Getting the offense highballing again was just a matter of time, Scioscia has long maintained, and he figured with Tim Salmon finally perking up with three hits the night before, he was on to something.

``This is the lineup we talked about in the spring,'' Scioscia said, gleefully penciling Salmon's name into the cleanup spot after the struggling right fielder had done his time in the bottom end of the lineup.

What Scioscia hadn't figured on was Minnesota's Joe Mays, who made the new-look lineup look like every other one Scioscia has trotted out this season. Mays restricted the Angels to just five hits in pitching the surprising Twins to their fourth win in a row, 3-0, before 14,913 at Edison Field.

It's the fourth time the Angels have been shut out this year, just one fewer than all of last year, and the season isn't even a third over. It's also the first time they've have been shut out at home in nearly two years, ending a run of 125 games in which they got at least one run.

Mays improved to 7-3 with his first shutout this season and third of his career. He struck out only three, but it wasn't until the ninth that the Angels even managed to get two runners on base in the same inning.

Scioscia wasn't deterred.

``It's one game,'' he said afterward. ``(Mays) pitched a terrific game.''

Of the Angels, Scioscia said ``the potential is there, and with the pitching we're getting there's no reason for us not to get on a roll.''

Pat Rapp pitched well, allowing just five hits and one earned run in seven innings but came away with his fifth loss in six decisions.

``He had his best stuff in a long time,'' Scioscia said. ``He's pitched some good games and hasn't got much to show for it.''

``All I can do is pitch my game and keep it close,'' said Rapp. ``I can't do anything about the offense. It took me a couple of years to figure that out, but I can't control the way we hit the ball.''

Mays, a 24-year-old right-hander in his third big-league season, certainly controlled the way the Angels hit it. He gave up only five hits in pitching his first shutout of the season and third of his career.

``I figured I was in there as long as I didn't give up a run,'' said Mays, who stranded four Angels baserunners in scoring position.

His most impressive work was in the third, when the Twins had a 2-0 lead.