Indians Give Angels a Look at Their Best : Baseball: Cleveland jumps to a five-run lead, California fights back to tie, then loses, 9-7, in the 10th.

There was a curtain call after the game-tying home run, predictable heroes and unlikely ones and a raucous crowd on hand to watch it.

Sure, it’s July, but Anaheim Stadium had the look, feel and sound of September on Monday night.

The Angels and Cleveland Indians put on a show worthy of a late-season game with all one would expect from the American League’s premier teams.

They traded hits, homers and fine defensive plays long into a midsummer night.

Doubles by Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez and a single by Paul Sorrento off Angel closer Lee Smith in the top of the 10th inning eventually gave Cleveland a 9-7 victory.

Smith began the game 0-1 with three saves and a 16.40 earned-run average in his past four appearances. He hardly resembled the man who earned a save in 19 consecutive appearances, a major league record.

Smith suffered his third loss and third blown save when he gave up a ninth-inning, game-winning grand slam by Albert Belle in the Indians’ 7-5 victory last Tuesday at Jacobs Field.

Cleveland built a five-run lead in the top of the fourth inning, only to see the Angels storm back. Jim Edmonds’ two-run homer off reliever Julian Tavarez in the seventh finally brought the Angels even at 7-7.

It was Edmonds’ 21st homer and he figured there was no doubt it would clear the left-center field fence. He dropped his bat as the ball headed for the fence, coolly walked a few steps toward first base, then broke into a trot as the ball sailed over the Indians’ logo on the fence.

The announced paid crowd of 30,367 wouldn’t stop roaring until Edmonds, who homered once Sunday and twice Saturday, stepped from the dugout to acknowledge their cheers.

Right-hander Russ Springer put the Angels in serious trouble by giving up six runs in 3 1/3 lackluster innings. But Angel hitters kept plugging away, chipping at the lead and Cleveland starter Charles Nagy.

By the end of four innings, the Angels had rallied to within 6-4. It was 6-5 after five, then 7-5 going into the bottom of the seventh.

Tavarez replaced Nagy, who gave up seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks, to begin the seventh.

Third baseman Tony Phillips led off the inning with a single to center. Edmonds worked the count to 3-and-2, then blasted a Tavarez pitch over the wall.

Earlier, he proved his glove is as hot as his bat, making a diving catch on Thome’s sinking line drive to end the third inning.

If the AL West-leading Angels were shellshocked after Central Division-leading Cleveland took a 6-1 lead, designed hitter Chili Davis snapped them out of it.

His bases-empty homer ignited the comeback. It took a while, but Edmonds brought them even and sent the crowd into delirium.

Relievers Mike Butcher, Mark Holzemer and Troy Percival held the Indians to only one run, on a run-scoring double by Wayne Kirby in the sixth. And that certainly helped the Angels stay close and eventually tie.

Before the game, Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann spent much of his daily session with reporters answering questions about the cosmic significance of the meeting between the AL’s top teams.

He made sure to point out often that the calender still reads July and not September.

“To look at it as a postseason preview would be real dangerous,” Lachemann said. “You’ve got the cart a little bit ahead of the horse. It’s an important series to see where we’re at. We don’t need to make any statements to another team. We don’t need to make any statements to anyone but ourselves.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a very good measuring stick.”

Davis provided another voice of reason in the Angel clubhouse.

“I keep hearing, ‘Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs,’ ” he said. “It’s not even August yet.”

If nothing else, the three-game series figured to provide something different at Anaheim Stadium in late July: drama, excitement, good baseball.

The two games last week in Cleveland served as mere warm-up for this week’s showdown.

What’s more, the teams split the games at Jacobs Field, so picking a clear-cut favorite was difficult. The Angels might have swept both games, but Belle’s ninth-inning grand slam off Smith gave the Indians a 7-5 victory and a split.

Cleveland’s lineup Monday featured five players batting .300 or better, led by right fielder Ramirez, who went into the game hitting .330 with home runs and 65 runs batted in.

The Angels’ lineup featured six players batting .300 or better, led by Davis, who began the game hitting .343 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs.

When was the last time you remember 11 .300 hitters taking the field in the same game? And if Cleveland’s Eddie Murray and Kenny Lofton had been healthy, it would have been 13 with averages of better than .300.