A New Day Dawns for the Angels : Baseball: After being overpowered by Randy Johnson the night before, they beat Seattle, 7-5. Edmonds extends hitting streak to 19 games.

Shawn Boskie sat in front of his locker after the Angels’ 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, trying to answer a most puzzling question.

What makes the Angels so resilient, so tough to beat? Certainly, there was nothing to foreshadow their success, and Boskie had difficulty pinpointing the reasons.

He is one. A free-agent right-hander nobody else wanted, Boskie is 6-1 after plowing through 6 1/3 innings Sunday, giving up 10 hits and five runs. Ordinarily, that kind of performance wouldn’t turn a head, but Boskie walked out of the Kingdome a winner.

In five seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Mariners, Boskie had never won more than five games in a season.

Boskie talked of chemistry, friendship, talent and tenacity as the reasons behind the first-place Angels’ success.

“Whatever it is, this team has it,” he said. “It’s not one guy carrying us. It seems to be a different star in each game.

“Maybe it’s chemistry. Maybe it’s guys who nobody expected to do well coming through. Whatever it is, it’s fun.”

The day after they were rendered punchless by Randy Johnson, who struck out 15 batters, the Angels picked themselves up, cast off any lingering effects from the beating and went back to work.

Sunday, Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The Angels scored three runs in the third. From there, they kept the Mariners on a treadmill, unable to catch up.

Boskie, with relief help from Bob Patterson, Troy Percival and Lee Smith, played a key role in holding off Seattle.

But credit also went to Jim Edmonds, who singled twice and extended his American League-leading hitting streak to 19 consecutive games. And it went to Greg Myers, Gary DiSarcina and J.T. Snow.

Myers singled twice and doubled, DiSarcina hit his third home run of the season and singled and Snow added two singles.

“I thought it was good how we scored runs right after they scored,” said DiSarcina, a lifetime .242 hitter who is batting .320. “They could have built momentum. We’ve been good at that [coming back]. That shows resiliency, especially after Randy Johnson shut us down last night. We could have easily folded up today.”

DiSarcina’s bases-empty homer to lead off the sixth inning pushed the Angel lead to 5-3.

“The wind was blowing out,” said DiSarcina, tongue firmly planted in cheek in Seattle’s Kingdome. “I got it up in the wind.”

Damion Easley, who had been hitless in 32 at-bats until singling in the fifth, delivered a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the seventh. He later beat out an infield single in the ninth.

“I saw him talk to the first base umpire [after ending the hitless streak],” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “I don’t know if he was going to ask for the ball or what.”

In the eighth, the Angels scored their seventh run when Snow walked with the bases loaded.

Smith gave up a double and a walk in the ninth, but held on for his 19th save, tied for the major league lead with Philadelphia’s Heathcliff Slocumb, who also picked up his 19th save Sunday.

Seattle starter Chris Bosio (5-1) left after only three innings, complaining of stiffness in his right ankle after being hit by Edmonds’ grounder in the first.

In the end, it didn’t seem to matter that Edgar Martinez continued to terrorize Angel pitching. He had two hits Friday, a three-run homer Saturday and doubled three times on Sunday.

“He’s been something,” Lachemann said of Martinez. “Maybe we’ll go back there and throw the rosin bag at him. Let him try to hit that.”