Spoiler Role Fits Perfectly : Athletics: Henderson foils Langston and the Angels, as he has so many times in the past.

It was deja Hendu, all over again.

Dave Henderson has foiled the Angels so many times that it’s hard to keep track of them anymore. Just replay it in your mind--the bearded center fielder at the plate, the ball over the fence, the jog.

This time, Henderson took care of the Angels and spoiled his neighbor’s no-hitter, too. It wasn’t the first time Henderson has caused trouble for Mark Langston, a former Seattle teammate who still has a house practically next door in Bellevue, Wash.

Henderson came into Saturday’s game batting .448 in 29 career at-bats against Langston, with two home runs.

And don’t think he didn’t know it. “He was talking before the game,” Oakland starter Ron Darling said. “He backed it up.”

Langston took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but with two outs and a runner on second, Henderson stepped to the plate.

There would be no no-hitter. A two-run homer to left, estimated at 392 feet, took care of that. The A’s went on to a 3-1 victory at Anaheim Stadium; Langston lost, despite pitching a five-hitter.

“I’m looking for a two-out knock,” Henderson said. “There’s a guy on base, I’m looking for a base hit.”

But his pre-game swagger had already been exposed by Darling, and Henderson already had confessed.

“Just clubhouse garbage,” he said, not masking a smile. “You know, stuff you’ve done in the past when you’ve had some success off a guy.”

He and Langston have had their chances to relive these occasions, not quite over the back yard fence, but almost.

“Thirty feet. There’s a house between us,” Henderson said. “We get to talk about it in the winter. We have fun with it.”

The homer was Henderson’s 24th of the season, tying his career high set in 1988, his first season with Oakland.

Henderson started this season with 12 homers in the first two months, and had 18 at the end of June.

In July, he had one homer, on July 24. But with the arrival of August, he has broken out again. He hit three against Minnesota Aug. 3, and another against Seattle Tuesday.

“This is starting to become crunch time, playoff time, and we all know what he can do in those type situations,” Darling said.

The Angels won’t forget that, not after Henderson’s critical ninth-inning homer for Boston in Game 5 of the 1986 American League championship series, a 7-6 Angel loss in 11 innings. It was the beginning of the end for a team that had been a strike away from the World Series.

Hot as he was early this season, Henderson slowed for a while.

“He was so good for so long,” Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said. “Everybody has a little down period.”

Now Henderson is batting .291, with a career-high 14-game hitting streak.

“Things average out,” he said. “That’s why they call it an average.”

On his average day against the Angels, Langston would probably rather not see him.