Dream Game Follows Flat-Tire Nightmare : Angels: Lovullo barely makes it to the ballpark, then stars in 7-6 victory over Oakland.

Torey Lovullo was sitting on the bench Sunday afternoon, frantic over his car that he had left stranded on Interstate 5, when he looked up and winced in anguish.

Angel second baseman Damion Easley had just been hit in the left hand by Oakland pitcher Shawn Hillegas’ pitch in the third inning, and now, of all days, Lovullo was being called into the game.

“I was in a state of panic, anyway,” Lovullo said, “and when that happened, I said, ‘This just isn’t my day.’ ”

Never in Lovullo’s wildest imagination did he envision he would end up the star of the Angels’ wild, 7-6 victory over the Athletics before 23,089 at Anaheim Stadium.

Not only did he go three for four with two doubles and three runs batted in, he also came through with the winning hit, a one-out double in the 10th inning.

“It’s been crazy, totally crazy,” Lovullo said. “I mean, if it wasn’t for my aunt and uncle (Joe and Dianne Lovullo), I might have not even gotten to the ballpark.

“We were absolutely stranded because my tire just blew out. My wife called them from the freeway. We had them bring an extra car with them, and I took off for the ballpark.

“I still don’t know what happened to my car. But after this, it’s not so important to me.”

The Angels’ victory, their third in four games, enabled them to beat the team they love to hate and also wipe out a day of ugly pitching.

The Angels issued 10 walks and gave up 11 hits, starter Scott Lewis lasted only five innings, and Julio Valera managed to blow one save and his own victory, and they somehow won the game.

“There was some ugly stuff out there,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “This was one of those seesaw, screwed-up games, where we pulled out all of the stops.”

The Athletics, who have won four of the past five American League West titles, have embarrassed the Angels since the 1987 season, winning 46 of the last 65 games. The Angels vividly remember how they swaggered in victory.

“They’ve got a certain charisma of a team you love to hate,” Rodgers said. “When you win, you can strut your stuff, and they’ve definitely had their strutters.

“They didn’t carry themselves with humility, and I’m sure some players have been offended by that. It was like, ‘Wait you . . . we’ll have our turn,’ and I think Oakland realizes that.”

Still, if not for Hillegas’ errant pitch, the Athletics (10-17) might have been laughing all the way to Oakland. While X-rays of Easley’s hand were negative, the Athletics certainly seemed like they got a break when Easley and his team-high .316 batting average left the game.

The replacement was Lovullo, who entered the game batting .200 with only two extra-base hits. The last the Athletics heard of Lovullo was a few years ago when Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson was proclaiming him to be the game’s next superstar. Instead, Lovullo found himself playing in places such as Toledo and Columbus, Ohio.

The Athletics were as surprised as anyone when Lovullo hit a two-out double during the sixth inning that tied the score, 5-5. They were stunned in the eighth when Lovullo hit a two-out single up the middle for a 6-5 Angels’ lead.

And they were speechless when they came back and tied the score during the ninth on Dave Henderson’s leadoff homer against Valera, only to see Lovullo hit a ground-rule double in the 10th against Rick Honeycutt, scoring Tim Salmon from second base.

“I know what Torey’s capable of doing,” said first baseman J.T. Snow, who homered in the fourth inning and made a game-saving play in the ninth. “To me, he was the MVP of our Columbus team last year, not me. He’s going to make a big difference for us.”

Snow, who batted .313 with 15 homers and 78 RBIs last season at Columbus, was the primary reason the Angels made the Jim Abbott trade. Lovullo, who hit .295 with 19 homers and 89 RBIs, was only a minor league free agent signed by the Angels with no guarantee of making the 25-man roster.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was J.T.,” said Lovullo, who rooms with Snow on the road. “(Angel vice president Whitey Herzog) was there for almost a week to watch J.T. right when I was in the middle of a 17-game hitting streak.

“I ended up riding J.T.’s coattails all of the way to the Angels.

“What a story, huh?”