After managing to put only one runner on base all day long, the Angels trudged off to their clubhouse Wednesday and -- following age-old baseball tradition -- hazed their rookies by making them dress up in skirts, frilly blouses and lingerie for their last road trip of the year.

It was a jarring 9-0 loss in a pennant race, and maybe not the best time for frivolity. But why not Wednesday? The Angels' entire roster wouldn't have fared any worse using purses to hit against Chicago starter Freddy Garcia, who retired the first 23 Angels batters, and combined with reliever Neal Cotts on the near-perfect game.

"No, it doesn't gibe," said second baseman Adam Kennedy of the postgame scene -- a quiet, subdued locker room populated by grown men stuffing tissue in their bras. "But we're a pretty grounded team. We can't dwell on it (the loss). Maybe we can have a laugh on the way to Texas and get ready for a huge series."

A Chicago pitcher on the mound, spinning curveballs, sinkers, sliders and occasional fastballs at hapless, helpless Angels hitters who can't seem to get a decent piece of the wood on the ball.

It was October 2005 all over again. Garcia's performance dredged up the muck of last year's playoffs when Chicago starters threw four consecutive complete games at the Angels, exposing their limp offense and bouncing them from the postseason.

The White Sox may have done it again -- only this time 2½ weeks before the season formally ends. Chicago won two of three here, giving up only six runs in the process.

The Angels have 16 games left to make up a 5½-game deficit to Oakland. The seven head-to-head games with the A's in the final 10 days are getting closer to irrelevancy.

Regardless of how it turns out, the Angels should thank Garcia and the White Sox for reinforcing the obvious -- the Angels need some pop. If management didn't take the hint seriously enough a year ago, maybe the second time will be the charm.

The Angels must look at the Sox lineup and wonder how Chicago also is -- for the moment, anyway -- on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Four players in the middle of the White Sox batting order have more home runs than Angels leader Vladimir Guererro's 28.

One of them, Paul Konerko, gives them headaches for a lot of reasons. Konerko has admitted he was razor close to signing as a free agent with the Angels last winter before taking slightly less ($60 million over five years) to return to Chicago. Konerko went 4 for 4 Wednesday, drove in two runs and raised his average to .315, with 32 homers and 105 RBI.

"I just got some good pitches to hit, better ones as the day went on," said Konerko, who at least knows what to do with them when he gets them. "When guys are on base, there isn't any place they can put you. Hitting is contagious."

But Konerko wasn't as hard on the Angels as Garcia, who must think the Angels always wear high heels and nylons -- to the plate. He has a lifetime mark of 14-3 against them with a 2.53 earned run average.

"I don't know what it is," said Garcia of his mastery. "I just have good days against them. I make my pitches. I know they like to swing early."

They did Wednesday, making him pitch with a three-ball count only twice. The second time, with two outs in the eighth inning, on a 3-2 pitch, Kennedy lined a single to center.

By then -- with the score 8-0 -- the matinee crowd was cheering each out, hoping to see something special in lieu of something constructive from the home team. Kennedy's hit sent legions of people to the exits.

"We weren't thinking about breaking up a no-hitter," said Kennedy. "We were thinking about putting something together, and maybe getting a little momentum going into Texas."

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