Angels Hang On to Playoff Hopes by Beating A’s : Baseball: They move one game behind the Yankees in wild-card race with three to play.

Gene Autry turns 88 today, his birthday coinciding with the final days of his 35-year tenure as Angel owner, and the team still hasn’t determined how it will mark the occasion.

Will the Angels send Autry off with a going-away present he would cherish, a playoff berth that could lead to a World Series appearance? Or will they give him one of the biggest gag gifts in baseball history?

Thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics before a paid crowd of 22,533 in Anaheim Stadium Thursday night, the Angels, who blew an 11-game lead in the American League West, will have at least two more shopping days to decide.

The victory moved the Angels (75-66) one game behind the New York Yankees (76-65) in the wild-card standings with three games to play, and kept the Yankees’ magic number for clinching a playoff berth at three. New York closes with a three-game series at Toronto.

The Angels gained no ground on first-place Seattle, which used an eighth-inning grand slam by Ken Griffey Jr. to beat Texas and maintain a two-game lead.

The Angels will need some help from Toronto or Texas to reach the playoffs, but they got some from Oakland Thursday night. A’s pitcher Doug Johns’ throwing error allowed two runs to score, as the Angels broke out of a 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh.

Mark Langston, ineffective in his previous two starts as some questioned his ability to pitch in the clutch, came through with a strong 6 2/3-inning performance. He gave up only one run on six hits and struck out four.

Center fielder Jim Edmonds made a game-saving, running grab of Stan Javier’s drive to the left-center field gap before crashing into the wall with two runners on in the seventh.

Set-up man Troy Percival struck out three of the five batters he faced in the seventh and eighth, and closer Lee Smith got himself in--and out--of trouble during a scoreless ninth for his 36th save.

Smith, who teamed with Percival to close Wednesday’s crucial, 2-0 victory at Seattle, walked Danny Tartabull and gave up a single to Terry Steinbach before striking out Javier and retiring Mike Bordick on a groundout to end the game.

There was no clubhouse celebration, though. Soon after the game, players were informed that Bill Lachemann Sr., the 95-year-old father of Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann and bullpen Coach Bill Lachemann, had died.

The elder Lachemann, who was a chef at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles for 30 years, was living in a Laguna Hills retirement community and had been ill for several months. General Manager Bill Bavasi was unsure Thursday night how his death would impact Marcel and Bill Lachemann during the Angels’ final three games.

Just a few weeks ago, Michelle Carew, the 17-year-old daughter of Angel hitting instructor Rod Carew, was diagnosed with leukemia.

“It really puts things in perspective,” said designated hitter Chili Davis, who had two hits and two runs Thursday night. “We’re so lucky to be doing what we’re doing, to be blessed and be alive, we sometimes forget the reality of life.”

Davis doubled and scored the Angels’ first run on Garret Anderson’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and starting the game-winning rally with a single in the seventh. J.T. Snow followed with a walk, and Garret Anderson dropped a bunt toward third base.

Johns fielded the ball but threw it into right field, allowing both Davis and Snow to score for a 3-1 lead. The Angels made it 4-1 on pinch-hitter Mike Aldrete’s sacrifice fly.

The Angels had only five hits and they didn’t exactly pound the ball off Johns, the 27-year-old rookie left-hander who pitched a complete-game two-hitter to shut out the Angels on Sept. 18 and cruised through the first four innings without allowing a hit Thursday night.

But at least they beat him.

“That guy is never supposed to beat us,” Davis said. “That’s been eating me for a while, that a double-A pitcher beat us. I took that personally.”

* LANGSTON COMES THROUGH

After two consecutive poor performances, he pitches 6 2/3 strong innings. C13

* MARINERS WIN TOO

Ken Griffey’s eighth-inning grand slam gives Seattle a 6-2 victory over Texas. C13