THE MAIN QUESTION: WHY?

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

The strange stillness in the Angels' clubhouse Sunday should have sounded a shrill alarm.

Two hours before the Angels' game against the Orioles, there were no outsiders milling around the players' lockers and there was no sign of Tony Phillips.

The clubhouse remained closed to reporters long after the doors usually swing open. And yet the players didn't suspect anything was sadly amiss until shortly before the 5 o'clock start, when word trickled out that Phillips, 38, had been arrested at a hotel near the ballpark early Sunday morning for possession of a small amount of free-base cocaine.

Anaheim police said Phillips was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into ``the street level sales of cocaine.''

Phillips, who spent the 1995 season with the Angels and re-joined the team in mid-May via a four-player trade with the Chicago White Sox, posted bail and showed up at the stadium with the intention of playing the last game of a 10-game homestand.

Manager Terry Collins already had posted a lineup card that showed Phillips in his usual place, leading off and playing left field. It was still hanging on the bulletin board after the Angels' 4-3 loss in which the ebullient Phillips was conspicuous by his absence.

The only sign that he had been around was the stuffed duffel bag sitting on the folding chair in front of his locker stall, waiting to be transported to Chicago.

After a pow-wow in Collins' office, Phillips was sent home to Scottsdale, Ariz., where he resides in the offseason. Darin Erstad moved up a spot in the order to bat in Phillips' place and Garret Anderson took Phillips' spot in the outfield.

Phillips is scheduled to re-join the team Tuesday in Chicago for the start of a seven-game trip.

``We just felt Tony needed to take a break,'' Collins said after a game that suddenly seemed steeped in irrelevance, their first-place spot in the division notwithstanding. ``I know he'll be back in the lineup Tuesday. We'll need his energy back.''

Phillips has shown a special flair everywhere he has played during a 16-year sojourn that has taken him to Oakland, Detroit, Anaheim, Chicago and back to Anaheim.

The Angels would appear to be a better team for having re-acquired him, posting a mark of 46-31 in games in which he has graced the lineup.

Phillips is a consummate leadoff hitter, with enviable speed, power and patience, the latter of which was borne out by his American League-leading 125 walks last year with the White Sox. He is also a manager's dream, versatile enough to have started at six positions in 75 games with the Angels.

Phillips is batting .279 with seven home runs and 47 RBI. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout Saturday while playing second base in the Angels' 4-3 victory over the Orioles.

What happened next remains unclear.

Angels general manager Bill Bavasi claimed not to know the details but declared that Phillips had given him no reason to believe he had any kind of drug problem.

In retrospect, perhaps the signs were there for the stealing. Thinking back, people spoke in hushed tones Sunday of seeing Phillips glassy-eyed before a game in Oakland.

Then there's the matter of his increasingly short fuse, which has gotten him ejected twice from games since he joined the Angels.

Catcher Chad Kreuter, the other player the Angels acquired from the White Sox in the May 18 trade that sent pitcher Chuck McElroy and catcher Jorge Fabregas to Chicago, didn't know what to say.

After a pregnant pause, he finally settled for this:

``Actually, I'd rather not comment on anything. It's none of my business to comment on what's going on with him. I don't want to speculate any more than you guys do.''