COLLINS FEELING THE HEAT; ANGELS DROP 10 BACK AFTER 5TH STRAIGHT LOSS : NEW YORK 4, ANGELS 1.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

The last time Terry Collins worried about losing his job - he did. But the situation is far worse now for his Angels than it was three years ago when Collins managed the Houston Astros.

The Angels continued to disintegrate Friday night with a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees, dropping them 10 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West.

Collins got canned by the Astros for finishing second. He'd win a Nobel Prize if he could pull that off with this group.

``I've been through all that before,'' Collins said. ``I won't get caught up in that again. The only thing that's important is that we start to play better.''

That isn't happening for a team that has lost five straight and 10 of their past 12 with five games remaining on a nine-game trip that ends against improving Seattle.

Some on the team have voiced their displeasure with Collins. Now they are speaking much louder. Friday, they committed three errors, two that led to runs, and managed only five hits against Yankees starter Andy Pettitte (4-5) and three relievers.

Until Troy Glaus homered with one out in the eighth, the Angels had not advanced a runner to third in their past 23 innings. Garret Anderson ended an 0-for-30 slump with an infield hit in the second inning, but he misplayed Bernie Williams' single to center into a two-base error in the sixth and the Angels never recovered.

For the second time on this trip, catcher Matt Walbeck dropped a foul pop. Although it did not cost the Angels a run, a wild throw to the plate by second baseman Randy Velarde in the fourth, did.

And when the Angels had the tying run at the plate against Mariano Rivera, Glaus flied to center to end the game. It was Rivera's 18th save.

``If we keep this up for a week or two, we're going to take on a spoiler role,'' said Angels left-hander Chuck Finley (4-7). ``Fifteen games out by the All-Star break, I've done that too many times.''

Finley, who allowed six hits and three runs (two earned) in seven innings, says this season reminds him of 1996 when the team hoped to redeem itself from an epic late-season collapse the year before. Instead, it lost 91 games, manager Marcel Lachemann resigned and the Angels went out and got the high-energy Collins.

``All season we were out of sync,'' Finley said of 1996. ``It just never came together.''

Of all the places to reverse a trend, Yankee Stadium might have been it. Just a month ago, the Angels swept the World Series champion Yankees here in a three-game series. Finley came in with a six-game winning streak against New York and had 16 victories lifetime.

Chuck pitched a good game,'' Collins said. ``I thought we had a couple of opportunities late. All we need to do is come up with a hit.''

The big news before the game was New York moving shortstop Derek Jeter to the third slot, replacing Bernie Williams, who had just two hits in his past 16 at-bats. Jeter came in reaching base in 63 of the Yankees' 64 games and went 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI.

The Yankees, however, were more pleased with Pettitte, who had dropped three straight. But there was a feeling in the Angels clubhouse that his victory should have come with an asterisk.

``The problem is everyone has to do just what they can do,'' said Mo Vaughn, whose fifth-inning single ended an 0-for-12 slump. ``You've got singles hitters trying to go deep. You've got everyone pressing. We're playing too many 3-1 type games that we have to win.''

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PHOTO The Yankees' Andy Pettitte improved to 4-5 after going 7-1/3 innings to defeat the Angels.

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press