ANAHEIM, Calif. - It was so quiet in the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse, you could hear Chone Figgins throw in his towel.
Into a laundry hamper, I mean. Not to be confused with a team throwing in the towel, of course.
The Angels would never say it, think it or play like it, even on the bottom side of a 3-1 deficit to New York in the American League Championship Series.
The tough talk Tuesday night was as perfunctory as a post-game shower, a spritz of deodorant and a chin-up look.
"Our backs are against the wall," said Figgins, the Angels third baseman who has two singles in 16 at-bats in the series. "But we'll fight until the end."
Standing at an adjacent locker, looking into his own crowd of reporters, outfielder Bobby Abreu promised a big-time effort on Thursday at Angel Stadium.
"We'll throw everything out there on the field and try to win no matter what," said Abreu, also 2-for-16, which seems about the team average this week.
Despite the promises, there's nothing quite like the feel of inevitable doom around a team on the brink of postseason elimination.
Tuesday night in a swing game they needed to win, the Angels had trouble competing, losing 10-1 in Game 4 to the Yankees' dominating lefty, C.C. Sabathia.
Just 24 hours after grabbing some life in the series with a stirring, extra-inning win Monday, they found themselves in a no-chance game. From the fourth inning on, they were always looking up -- 3-0, then 5-0, then 5-1 and on up past 7-1 in the eighth inning on Johnny Damon's home run, when the Rally Monkey was seen making his way to the parking lot.
From the celebration of Game 3 back to gloom. From raised expectations back to reality. From Monday's sunshine to Tuesday's fade to black.
It's been an all around uncomfortable series for the Angels. They've played some shabby defense, had mental lapses and hit the ball hard only in Game 3. It's been a humbling four games.
Teams have dug themselves out of 1-3 holes before, of course, even against teams that had the look of the 1927 Yankees. But these '09 Yankees are 6-1 in the postseason, and hardly seem like a team ready to give up their lead.
In the 11 weeks between the July All-Star break and the day they clinched the American League East on Sept. 27 the Yankees never lost three games in a row.
Hard to picture it now. Sabathia went eight innings and was barely fazed. He'll be ready for Game 7, if necessary.
Meanwhile, Angels starter Scott Kazmir gave up three runs in the fourth inning. In the fifth, Alex Rodriguez smacked his daily postseason home run -- actually just No. 5 in the seven games of the playoffs -- a two-run shot that made it 5-0 and felt decisive at the time.
The only people who had a worse night than the Angels were the base umpires, who made three obvious errors.
Miraculously -- and thankfully -- none of their blunders ultimately changed anything on the scoreboard. But if you're like the umpires and me and you hate the idea of replay, you'd have to admit they didn't do much for their cause Tuesday.
Third base umpire Tim McClelland conceded his two errors after the game, and pleaded that he was just "out there trying to do my job ... the best I can."
As the Angels know so well, sometimes there's just not much else you can say.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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