Dodgers, Angels Need Kick Start

Listen to the players from both teams talk and the three-game series between the Dodgers and Angels that begins tonight at Edison Field holds no greater meaning than any other series.

But the standings say otherwise.

A fast start to the second half of the season is of utmost importance to both teams, considering the mountain each has to climb.

The Dodgers, who will start Kevin Brown tonight, are in last place in the N.L. West, 10 games out and eight games under .500. The Angels, who start Chuck Finley, are in last place in the A.L. West, 6-1/2 games out and four games under .500.

Still, both teams went into the break playing well - the Dodgers won their last four and the Angels won four of five. To sweep the series could propel one team into the race; to be swept could leave the other reeling.

“Just winning, plain and simple (is important),” Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros said. “We need one-game winning streaks … about 20 in a row.

“Winning one game, one night at a time is a lot more attainable. This game is so mental, when you win a few games, things continue to happen. Once you start to do that, everyone starts to believe in themselves.”

Angels manager Terry Collins said he’d rather not play the Dodgers to start the second half. And it’s not because the Dodgers won two of three earlier this season when the two teams met.

“I’d rather we were playing teams from our own league, teams we were familiar with,” Collins said.

The Angels won nine in a 15-game stretch against their A.L. West counterparts before taking two of three from the Rockies heading into the break. Collins wants his team to focus on the task at hand and not be distracted by outside forces.

Such as?

Such as Chan Ho Park, who will start Saturday’s game for the Dodgers. Collins said he didn’t expect Park, who angered Angels players by kicking pitcher Tim Belcher in a fight last month, to pitch in the series before learning otherwise: “Really?” Collins said.

But for now, there is more talk about reviving their seasons than creating a crosstown rivalry.