Dodgers Win Race, Angels in One : Baseball: Harkey delivers clutch performance in relief role and Angels stay alive by defeating Oakland, 9-3.

The Angel offense finally appears to have awakened from its six-week slumber, but did the alarm go off in time?

Chili Davis and J.T. Snow hit three-run home runs and Rex Hudler added a bases-empty blast off the left-field foul pole Saturday night to lead the Angels to a 9-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics before a paid crowd of 27,026 in Anaheim Stadium.

Mike Harkey, who hadn’t pitched in two weeks, relieved struggling starter Shawn Boskie in the second inning and held the A’s scoreless on five hits until the ninth, leaving to a standing ovation with one out. Bob Patterson got Terry Steinbach to pop up and struck out Brent Gates with two runners on to end the game.

Not only did Harkey (8-9) earn a victory in a crucial game, but the right-hander’s performance allowed Manager Marcel Lachemann to give bullpen stoppers Troy Percival, who had pitched in the previous three games, and Lee Smith, who had pitched the last four, a much-needed night off.

The Angels’ fourth consecutive victory kept their playoff hopes alive, but if they are to advance to the postseason, they will have to win a one-game playoff game on Monday. And they will need help from either the Toronto Blue Jays or Texas Rangers to extend their season by at least a day.

The New York Yankees’ 6-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday kept them a game ahead of the Angels in the wild-card race, but the Angels moved to within one game of Seattle in the American League West because of the Mariners’ 9-2 loss to Texas.

So going into the last day of the regular season, two of the AL’s four playoff representatives still have not been determined.

If the Angels lose today, or if the Mariners and Yankees both win, the Angels’ season is over. But an Angel victory combined with a Yankee or Mariner loss sets up these possible scenarios:

--Yankee loss and Mariner win: The Angels would tie the Yankees in the wild-card standings and travel to New York for a playoff Monday at 10:30 a.m. PDT.

If the Angels win that game, they would travel back to Anaheim to open the playoffs against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.

--Yankee win and Mariner loss or Yankee loss and Mariner loss: The Yankees would gain the wild-card playoff berth, and the Angels would travel to Seattle for a one-game playoff Monday at 1:30 p.m. to determine the AL West champion. The winner would open the playoffs Tuesday in New York.

“You go into a season hoping September means something, and the last game means something--that means you’ve played well,” Lachemann said. “It’s all on the table. You just push all your chips into the pot.”

Both teams will throw their aces, Angel left-hander Chuck Finley (14-12) squaring off against Oakland right-hander Todd Stottlemyre (14-6).

“It’s a one-game season now,” Snow said. “We knew we had to win these last four games, and we’ve really stepped it up. We’re starting to play like we did early on. We realize we’ve had too good a year to let it just end.”

It nearly did early Saturday night. Boskie, who entered with a career 2-11 record and 7.57 earned-run average in September, lasted all of 37 pitches, giving up three runs in 1 2/3 innings, after which the Angels trailed, 3-1.

But Harkey--and the Angel offense--came to the rescue. Harkey retired Jose Herrera on a fly ball to end the second and cruised through the eighth, walking two and striking out five, and the Angels finished with 12 hits.

Jim Edmonds, who hit his 33rd homer in the first inning, and Tim Salmon opened the fourth with singles off Oakland starter John Wasdin, and Davis followed with a three-run homer to right, his 20th. Snow and Garret Anderson then singled, and Snow eventually scored on Andy Allanson’s fielder’s choice for a 5-3 lead.

Snow then came through with the game-breaker in the fourth, a three-run homer to right-center field, on a 3-2 pitch off reliever Mark Acre with two out. That gave the Angels an 8-3 lead, and Hudler hit his homer in the sixth.

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Playoff Possibilities

--If the Angels lose today, they are eliminated from both races, clinching the AL West for Seattle, and the wild-card spot for the Yankees.

--If Seattle wins today, it clinches the AL West title, eliminating the Angels from the division race.

--If the Yankees win today, they clinch the wild-card spot, eliminating the Angels from the wild-card race.

--If Seattle loses, and the Angels and Yankees win, the Mariners would play host to the Angels in a one-game playoff Monday to decide the AL West, and New York would win the wild-card spot.

--If Seattle and the Yankees lose and the Angels win, a three-way tie would exist between the teams, giving New York the wild-card spot, and sending the Angels to Seattle for a one-game playoff Monday to decide the AL West winner.

--If Seattle and the Angels win and the Yankees lose, Seattle would win the AL West title, and the Angels and Yankees would play a one-game playoff Monday in New York to decide the wild-card spot.