IT'S ALL COMING BACK TO ANGELS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Here they come again, those nightmares the Angels thought they outgrew in 2002.

Everything felt different for a few years after the ballpark was exorcised and remodeled, the weak periwinkle- trimmed uniforms were replaced by a fighting red, and the franchise won its first World Series.

Everything felt different until now.

The Angels, who led their division by eight games on July 18, are a second-place club in trouble as they open a three-game series against the first-place Athletics tonight in Anaheim. It's a Bartolo Colon-Barry Zito pitching match-up, no excuses on either side. It's September pressure in August, all in the home dugout.

Suddenly, if you've watched the Angels most of your life, you feel it all flooding back.

It's 1995 again, the year the Angels had a 10 1/2-game lead on Aug. 16 only to find themselves in a tie with the Mariners on Sept. 20 and on their way to a one-game playoff for the division title.

Look down at home plate this evening, and if you see Mark Langston flat on his back, you're having an Angels flashback.

It's 1986 again, the October when the Angels were a strike away from beating the Red Sox and sending Gene Autry to the World Series, before Dave Henderson's home run.

Look out to the bullpen this evening, and if you see Gary Lucas warming up, you're having an Angels flashback.

It's 1982 again, the October when Gene Mauch's finest Angels team had three chances to finish off the Brewers for the pennant but the manager's juggled pitching rotation failed.

Look at the mound this evening, and if you see Bruce Kison trotting out there instead of Colon, you're having an Angels flashback.

You say it's unfair to invoke the pre-2002 Angels disasters in talking about what's happening to the 2005 Angels. You're right, there's no comparison. If this tumble continues, it's the worst yet.

The achievements of three seasons ago were supposed to have made the past go away, erasing the 41 years when the Los Angeles-California-Anaheim Angels suffered from a lightweight version of the Red Sox and Cubs curses. The arrival of free-spending owner Arte Moreno the following year was supposed to have turned the underdogs into heavyweights. The roster transformation was supposed to turn the team of Newport Beach boys into a lineup of gamers.

The upshot is that the Angels no longer are sad sacks who aren't supposed to win. They started the year with the major leagues' fifth-biggest payroll and playoff expectations as high as the Red Sox's and Yankees'.

After Ervin Santana beat Oakland's Kirk Saarloos in Anaheim on July 18, the Angels were playing .602 ball and leading the Rangers by eight games and the A's by 8 1/2. Nineteen days later, the A's had caught up. Twenty-four days later, the A's had taken the lead.

Because the 2005 dive didn't happen a month later, the Angels were generally spared comparisons to 1995, when they lost a 10 1/2-game lead in 35 days.

Besides, this time, the Angels took the punch from the A's and stayed on their feet, rebuilding the lead to 3 1/2 last Wednesday.

But they haven't won since, and they go into tonight's A's series opener with a four-game losing streak that includes a three-game sweep by the Devil Rays.

What's the most insulting way to sum up the Angels' recent work? Over the past 40 games, the Angels have exactly the same record as the Dodgers (19-21).

Pin this on the Angels' all-right-handed bullpen, 4-8 since the All-Star break, and the feast-or-famine lineup, averaging 2.7 runs in the club's losses this month.

The Angels may be only one solid hitter away. Since the last week in July, when Garrett Anderson was fighting injuries and it became evident general manager Bill Stoneman wasn't going to make a deadline trade, opponents have intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero 12 times, including five in games decided by one run, in which the Angels have gone 1-4.

But that extra solid hitter isn't here. Now manager Mike Scioscia is thinking about moving Darin Erstad back to center field from first base as part of a lineup shuffle forced by Steve Finley's struggles.

The pressure is on Stoneman and Scioscia to get it right. Missing the playoffs would be unacceptable. We haven't seen what happens when Moreno's patience is tested.

This team is the descendent of two traditions, the old one in which the Angels always cracked and the new one in which the Giants did.

Which will it follow this season?