ROUT BRINGS 'BAD TRIP' TO FITTING FINISH SCHOENEWEIS SHOWS UP ANGELS WITH STELLAR GAME CHICAGO 11, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

CHICAGO - When the Angels embarked on this six-game road trip, they had a clubhouse in harmony, a three-game winning streak and a few holes in their lineup.

They patched one hole by acquiring Raul Mondesi, who made his debut Sunday, but not much else went their way. Bad luck, poor play, five losses in six games and a dose of dissension turned this junket into an unpleasant experience, capped by an 11-2 thrashing at the hands of former teammate Scott Schoeneweis and the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Schoeneweis, replaced by John Lackey in the Angels rotation in June 2002 and traded here 13 months later, far outshined the man who took his job, pitching seven innings of five-hit ball. Lackey, meanwhile, dropped the Angels into an 8-0 hole after three innings.

After four losses came in walk-off fashion, including three in Toronto, Lackey ensured at least there would be no late-game suspense in the finale.

``Just a bad ending to a bad trip,'' said Lackey, who gave up nine hits and eight runs in his three-inning stint. ``Our philosophy comes from the top, trying to play one game at a time, but I think everybody's aware we won only one game on this trip.''

Lackey (3-6) wasn't the only one to endure a sluggish start Sunday. Left fielder Jose Guillen and reliever Ramon Ortiz got caught in bad traffic caused by heavy rain and the closure of a downtown bridge. They made it to the park just 70 minutes before the scheduled first pitch.

That earned them a pointed pregame talking-to in manager Mike Scioscia's office. But Scioscia said the two, along with starter Bartolo Colon, who wasn't scheduled to pitch Sunday, would not be penalized for their late arrival because they called ahead of time and were ready to play.

A 42-minute rain delay bought some time to prepare, but Guillen still looked sluggish. He delivered a first-inning RBI single but was promptly picked off first, committed his first error in left field on an overthrow and misplaced a bouncing ball in the corner.

Guillen provided the fireworks on the trip when he questioned his pitchers' ability to protect him after getting hit by pitches six times. That rough spot has apparently been smoothed over, and oddly enough, there was little tangible damage from the trip.

Thanks to poor play by Oakland and Texas, the Angels (30-20) lost just one game in the standings to the Rangers, whom they still lead by 2 1/2 games.

``It's nice to hit this stretch and only lose one game to the pack,'' said shortstop David Eckstein, who stretched his hitting streak to 15 games. ``But five of six could've gone the other way.''

Sunday would be the exception. Lackey needed 47 pitches to complete the first inning, thanks to 10 two-strike foul balls. The nickel-and- diming paid off when No. 7 hitter Ross Gload dumped a two-run single into shallow left field to give Chicago a 3-1 lead.

There was nothing cheap about Jose Valentin's three-run homer in the second, however. Lackey was done after the third, when he yielded Willie Harris' RBI triple.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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Photo:

John Lackey can't bear to watch Chicago's Jose Valentin circle the bases after hitting a three-run homer in the second inning.

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press