Forget Angry Image, Remember 6-2 Victory : Angels: Rader ejected on play that breaks tie against the Rangers. Winfield hits his 17th homer of season.

The images that people will talk about will be of Angel Manager Doug Rader, fuming and ranting and pointing sharply toward the camera bay near the Angel dugout until he was ejected.

But the Angels’ 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers Monday night was built, won and preserved by a collection of performances that made the point Rader argued in the seventh inning moot.

The foundation was the pitching of Mark Langston, who tied Minnesota’s Scott Erickson for the American League lead with his 12th victory, and the continuing show of power by 39-year-old Dave Winfield, who hit a homer for the Angels’ first two runs.

The game was won on the clutch-hitting of Wally Joyner, whose two-out, bases-loaded single off losing pitcher Kevin Brown in the seventh inning drove in two runs, giving the Angels a 4-2 lead.

“He’s had as much success in that situation as anyone I’ve ever seen,” Rader said.

The Angels got a comfort zone on Lance Parrish’s eighth-inning two-run homer off reliever Terry Mathews. and Bryan Harvey pitched two innings for his 21st save--one fewer than Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley’s league-leading 22--in 23 opportunities.

With the victory, the Angels closed to two games behind Minnesota, which leads the AL West.

“The team picked me up tonight,” Langston said. “That was unbelievable clutch hitting by Wally. He’s been doing it all year.”

Before Monday, the Angels had lost two games in a row, losing ground on the Twins when they could have been gaining.

“This was a big win for us,” Langston said. “I had a lot of help from my friends, put it that way. Every time I need runs, they pick me up. Every time I need plays behind me, they pick me up.”

Tied, 2-2, in the seventh inning, the Angels loaded the bases with one out on singles by Gary Gaetti and Donnie Hill, a one-out intentional walk to Luis Polonia and a fielder’s choice grounder by Max Venable.

With two out, Joyner worked the count to three and one and then singled sharply to right, scoring Hill and Polonia. But right fielder Ruben Sierra’s throw to third base sailed over Dean Palmer and caromed back onto the field from the vicinity of the camera bay, which is out of play.

If the ball had entered it, as Rader claimed, Venable would have been awarded home, not thrown out after the carom.

Rader was ejected by second base umpire Don Denkinger for the argument. Clearly angry, Rader pumped his fist at Denkinger after being ejected and continued to argue. Rader took his complaint to home plate umpire Durwood Merrill before finally leaving to a roaring ovation from the crowd of 23,677 at Anaheim Stadium.

“The ball hit the camera. It was out of play,” Rader said.

He was the fourth Angel to be ejected this season, following Dave Parker and pitchers Scott Bailes and Chuck Finley.

Langston pitched seven-plus innings, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out three and walking three. The victory was his sixth in a row and his 11th in his past 12 decisions.

Langston (12-2) trailed, 1-0, in the fourth inning when Winfield gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer to left-center field.

The homer was Winfield’s team-leading 17th and his second in two games. It also moved him into a tie behind Chili Davis’ 19 and several others’ 18.

Winfield, is only two seasons removed from sitting out the entire season in 1989 because of back surgery. He hit 21 homers last season, 19 with the Angels, but did not hit his 17th and 18th until a two-homer game on Sept. 11.

The Rangers tied the score, 2-2, on Steve Buechele’s homer in the seventh inning, his 12th.

Sierra went hitless in four at-bats Monday and lost his 18-game winning streak, longest in the American League this season.

“We just didn’t get it tonight,” Texas Manager Bobby Valentine said. “Winny is swinging great and so is Joyner. We’ve just got to stay in the thick of things.”