At Least the Angels Rally Beautifully

Cooperstown won’t be calling for the videotape of the Angels’ 6-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday at Anaheim Stadium. Most of the 20,528 in attendance probably will have forgotten the game by today.

But the Angels were not willing to throw this one, their fifth consecutive come-from-behind victory, back on the slag heap.

They have been too far down and out this season to turn up their noses at any victories.

After all, it moved them back to the .500 mark for the first time since June 2 and let them gain ground on American League West-leading Texas.

The Rangers still lead the third-place Angels by 7 1/2 games, but suddenly there are encouraging signs around the clubhouse.

“We’ve been scrapping for all five of them,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “None have been very easy. A lot of people contributed [to Thursday’s victory]. That’s what it’s going to take.”

Starters Chuck Finley and Juan Guzman put on the anticipated pitching duel, but not quite in the manner expected.

Both waged a losing battle to find some consistency. Both were given leads. Both lost them.

Toronto had a 2-0 lead and lost it.

The Angels had a 3-2 lead and lost it.

Toronto led, 4-3.

The Angels led, 5-4, and managed to hold it over the final three innings.

In the end, Finley fared marginally better than Guzman, leaving with a 5-4 lead after six so-so innings.

Hoping to end a two-game losing streak, Finley went haywire at the start. Toronto leadoff hitter Jacob Brumfield slammed Finley’s second pitch over the left-field fence for a home run. Juan Samuel’s run-scoring single then gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

“I was wild in the strike zone and my arm speed on the forkball wasn’t what it should have been,” Finley said. “[Catcher Don Slaught] said it was rolling in there instead of snapping.”

But when Joe Carter hit a grounder off Finley’s elbow that flew to first baseman Jack Howell, Finley finally found a groove that lasted until the sixth.

“It just started flowing after the second,” said Finley, 8-4 with a 4.15 earned-run average.

Finley gave up four runs (three earned) and six hits with six strikeouts and one walk, one wild pitch and one hit batter. Guzman also lasted six innings, giving up five runs (four earned) and eight hits, including three home runs.

The Blue Jays, losers of seven of eight, needed so much more, but didn’t get it.

Down, 2-0, the Angels received a jolt of power from an unexpected source. Then again, considering Damion Easley’s past success against Guzman, maybe his two-run homer shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Easley, hitting .167 going into the game, has been a tough out for Guzman, which is why he was in the lineup at second base.

His homer raised his career average to .500 (seven for 14) with two homers against Guzman. Randy Velarde did not start because he is only a .200 batter against Guzman.

“He seems to overmatch most guys,” said Easley, who was unaware of his exact numbers against Guzman. “I don’t know why it happens.”

Garret Anderson’s bases-empty homer in the third gave the Angels a 3-2 lead that lasted until the sixth inning.

Finley, so shaky in the beginning, began to hit his stride in the third inning. By the time the sixth rolled around, he had retired 10 in a row and it seemed a one-run lead might be enough.

When Finley retired the first two batters then got two quick strikes on Carter, he seemed almost invincible. That didn’t last long, however.

Carter beat out a slow roller to shortstop. Ed Sprague followed with an infield single. Robert Perez delivered a run-scoring single and, after Charlie O’Brien was hit by a pitch, Finley uncorked a wild pitch that scored Sprague.

But the Blue Jays’ lead lasted only long enough for Guzman to throw one pitch to Tim Salmon in the bottom of the sixth. Salmon hit a towering drive over the left-field fence for his 13th homer of the season and his seventh in the past 13 games.

The Angels then took a 5-4 lead when Blue Jay shortstop Alex Gonzalez misplayed Orlando Palmeiro’s grounder with the bases loaded.