COULD THEY BE JUST TOO DARN HAPPY TO WIN?

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

ANAHEIM - Not sure how this is going to work, what with two different joints in the same city laying claim to being the Happiest Place on Earth.

One has a big, fake mountain with water falls, plenty of bright lights, teenagers walking the aisles hawking cotton candy and oceans of parking. The other is Disneyland.

The new entry is up the road, the former Anaheim Stadium and erstwhile Edison Field, now simply dubbed Angel Stadium.

The Angels played their first home game of the season there Tuesday, and you all but expected them to walk on the field in the midst of a big, group hug.

Arte Moreno seemingly has done little wrong since taking over as the team's owner last year. He strolls around the ballpark like the team greeter. Slashes beer and concession prices. Spends big bucks on needed free agents.

This is one happy, upbeat team. And right now, there seems no end to it all. Even at the home opener, Moreno was at it again. The Angels announced prior to Tuesday's game that Garret Anderson had been signed to a four-year extension.

Anderson, the club's most consistent hitter, was penned to a $48-million extension. Anderson, who has had more than 100 RBI each of the past four seasons, was so happy he actually smiled. In front of witnesses and everything.

``It's beyond my wildest dreams,'' Anderson said.

``I wanted to make that announcement and tell you how happy we all are,'' said Angels general manager Bill Stoneman.

They are all just soooo happy, that I'm getting very suspicious.

Can a team this happy, this contented, actually go out and win a pennant?

Moreno has now spent $194 million on Anderson and free agents Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar and Jose Guillen.

Save for the possibility of a left-handed reliever, it's a team recognized as having no weakness. Everybody says so.

And as we all know, everybody saying it may not make it true, but that doesn't stop plenty from believing it.

What Moreno has to hope is that his Angels don't believe it so much they just expect it to happen. That they aren't just so happy, they lose their edge. That a team two years from a World Series championship and buttressed with millionaire free agents is not hungry enough to put together a true title run.

``I think anybody who has ever played this game, plays it to win,'' Moreno said. ``I don't see that as a problem.''

That sounds a little on the naive side. Any cat wants to eat, but a fat, contented one is less likely to hunt than a hungry one.

Ron Roenicke, the Angels-third base coach who played on the Padres' 1984 World Series team and coached the Angels in their 2002 title season, said some players can lose a subconscious edge when they're financially satisfied.

``I really believe it's up to the individual,'' Roenicke said. ``Some guys you wouldn't (spend the money on), some guys it doesn't matter. That's part of the challenge for a general manager and manager, to know your players.

``A lot of this is because of Garret. They know his personality. They know he's not going to change. This is a quality person. I know Garret. I think Garret is going to be the same way he's always been.

``Vlad, he goes all the way back to Montreal with Bill. There's no way he doesn't know him.''

The Angels have hard-nosed players in the clubhouse like Darin Erstad and Troy Percival. Scrappy guys like David Eckstein and Adam Kennedy. Veterans like Tim Salmon and Anderson.

Plenty of reason to believe their focus will remain strong, that any lack of hustle will not be tolerated.

Still, for all the giddiness, the Angels somehow just found a way to lose three of four games to the lowly Texas Rangers. Somehow came into Tuesday's game with a league-high 6.60 ERA, which can tend to offset those 6.85 runs per game they'd been scoring.

Moreno's moves certainly look good, but he was quick to point out the obvious.

``We'll find out in two or three years if we're making the right decisions,'' Moreno said.

``Certain things look great on paper. I'm still on the honeymoon in a lot of ways.''

Certainly, Moreno has seen more than his share of favorable press.

``I think I'm a little awed by that,'' he said. ``We didn't want to make it about Arte Moreno but about the Angels.''

OK, but it was Moreno who walked to the mound with wife Carole prior to Tuesday's game and threw out the first pitch to manager Mike Sciosica. At the Dodgers' opener, new owners Frank and Jamie McCourt weren't so much as introduced, no doubt sparing them boos.

Moreno walked off to more cheers. The players all but blew him kisses. They're just so happy. Hopefully, not so happy they're without an edge.