Angels Still Working Their Kind of Magic

The designated hitter with the shredded foot ligament scored the winning run on a daring dash from first base on a clutch double by the seldom-used reserve in the eighth inning.

The middle reliever filling in for the injured setup guy struck out three in a row with two on to slip out of a jam in the seventh. The pitcher who has flip-flopped between the bullpen and rotation stepped in for the injured starter and threw six strong innings to keep his team in the game.

And the aggressive baserunner keyed the winning rally by going from first to third on a single to center field.

If ever there was a game that encapsulated this mysterious Angel season, it was Monday night’s 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before 24,279 in the Tropicana Dome, a crucial win that snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Angels’ 43rd come-from behind victory, combined with Texas’ 1-0 loss to Baltimore, pushed the Angels’ lead over the Rangers to two games in the American League West with 13 games remaining.

And, remarkably, Tim Salmon was still standing afterward.

Salmon has played almost all season with an injured foot that will likely require surgery this winter, but that didn’t prevent him from scoring from first on Todd Greene’s double into the left-field corner to give the Angels a 3-2 lead in the eighth.

Devil Ray left-hander Wilson Alvarez had shut down the Angels on three hits through seven, but Gregg Jefferies reached on a one-out, infield single in the eighth and Randy Velarde walked.

Salmon greeted reliever Albie Lopez with an RBI single, his third hit of the game, to trim the deficit to 2-1, Velarde getting a great jump from first and taking third on the hit.

Jim Edmonds’ sacrifice fly tied the score, 2-2, and Greene, who was making his 11th start of the season and had stranded six baserunners in his first three at-bats, ripped a double to left.

“As soon as he hit it, I was thinking there would be a play at the plate,” Salmon said. “I knew Larry [Bowa, third base coach] was going to send me. Actually, I would have ran through the stop sign if he held me.”

Tampa Bay shortstop Aaron Ledesma’s relay throw was off target and cut off as Salmon slid home. Garret Anderson then capped the rally with an RBI double to left-center.

“You kind of do a quick inventory after a play like that,” Salmon said. “Is everything attached? Can I still walk? Can I still run?”

The answers: yes, yes, and probably yes. The third depends on how Salmon recovers from the ball he fouled off his left heel in the ninth.

“I’ve ran hard before, but it held up again,” Salmon said. “I’m going to push it, do whatever it takes. But I’m more concerned with the foul off my foot. It’s killing me. I didn’t think I could sustain much more pain.”

And few thought the Angels would have so much to gain. Texas was supposed to run away with the division after strengthening its club with several trades in late July, but here it is, the middle of September, and the Angels have been in first place for 28 straight days.

They are there because of players like Omar Olivares, who replaced the injured Ken Hill Monday night and gave up only two runs, one earned, on six hits in six innings, with what Tampa Bay catcher and former Tiger teammate John Flaherty called “the best sinker I’ve seen him throw.”

And reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who struck out Quinton McCracken, Wade Boggs and Bobby Smith after the Devil Rays had put the first two runners on in the seventh with a single and an Angel error.

And closer Troy Percival, who rebounded from Saturday’s shocker of a 3-2, ninth-inning loss to Baltimore by striking out two of three batters in the ninth to record his league-leading 40th save.

And Velarde, who went from first to third in the eighth.

“That was the biggest play of the game because it set up the tying run,” Manager Terry Collins said of Velarde. “That set up the whole inning. That’s the way we play the game. I don’t know what’s going to happen the next 13 days, but we will never leave this clubhouse knowing we didn’t play hard.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Stretch Drive

AL WEST RACE

*--*

Team W L GB ANGELS 81 68 -- Rangers 79 70 2

*--*

WILD CARD RACE

*--*

Team W L GB Boston 83 65 -- ANGELS 81 68 2 1/2 Toronto 81 69 3 Texas 79 70 4 1/2

*--*

MONDAY

* Angels 4, Tampa Bay 2

* Baltimore 1, Texas 0

TODAY

* Angels at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m.

* Texas at Baltimore, 4 p.m.