A’s Taking Wind Out of Angels

The Angels are down to their last breath, their last hope. Their season is not dead yet, but the priest is standing by with the oil, ready to administer last rites.

They were officially eliminated from the American League West race with Monday night’s 7-5 loss to the Oakland Athletics, and the odds of them winning a wild-card berth seem about a million to one.

A small but spirited Oakland Coliseum crowd of 14,248 saw rookie left-hander Barry Zito strike out a career-high 10 while limiting the Angels to three runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, as the A’s moved to within half a game of Seattle in the West and 1 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland in the wild-card race.

Oakland’s Giambi brothers, Jason and Jeremy, combined for five runs batted in, leading an A’s surge that dropped the Angels seven games behind the Mariners in the West and 6 1/2 games behind the A’s in the wild card with six games to play.

The Angels must win their final six games against the A’s and Mariners, and the A’s must lose their final seven games against the Angels, Rangers and Devil Rays for the Angels to tie the A’s atop the wild-card standings with an 86-76 record.

Cleveland also must lose five of its last six games, and Toronto must go no better than 4-2 in its last six games for the Angels to pull even.

Sorry, Angel fans, but stranger things have not happened. And if the Angels somehow forge a tie among two, three or four teams for the wild card, fans would point to that when they say stranger things have happened.

“It doesn’t look good, does it?” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “I guess the stars have to be aligned perfectly for us. We’re locked out of the division, but we’re going to keep playing hard every day.”

That never-say-die attitude almost led to strange things late Monday night. Oakland closer Jason Isringhausen took a 7-3 lead into the ninth but walked Bengie Molina and gave up a single to Adam Kennedy.

Scott Spiezio popped to short and Darin Erstad flied to shallow left, but Troy Glaus singled to left, loading the bases. Tim Salmon then singled to center for two runs, pulling the Angels to within 7-5.

Glaus took third on Salmon’s hit, and pinch-runner Justin Baughman took second on a wild pitch, but Isringhausen reached back and blew a 1-2 fastball by Mo Vaughn for a game-ending strikeout.

“It’s like a little bit of you dies when you don’t win the division, because you know you have to start from scratch next year and put it back together,” said Vaughn, who struck out three times Monday night.

“That’s all you play for. We knew it was going to be tough, and when it doesn’t happen, it definitely takes a lot out of you. You don’t get too many chances to make the playoffs.”

Oakland’s chances look good. The A’s have won 17 of their last 22 games, and they made a believer out of Angel starter Tim Belcher, who gave up seven runs on seven hits in four innings Monday night.

“I wouldn’t bet against them,” Belcher said. “They have some good pitching, plenty of offense, and their bullpen does a great job.”

The Angels have plenty of offense and a very good bullpen, but they didn’t have the starting pitching to win the West.

“It’s tough to let go of the division,” Belcher said. “Say what you want, but we think we were close all year. . . . We were within striking distance, but we could never put together that six-, eight- or 10-game win streak, which you need to win the division.”

Oakland took a 4-0 lead off Belcher in the second when Ben Grieve and Miguel Tejada singled, Eric Chavez walked, Jeremy Giambi tripled off the wall in center for three runs, and Ramon Hernandez hit a run-scoring single.

Ron Gant’s two-run single in the fourth made it 4-2, but Chavez homered in the fourth for a 5-2 lead. Jason Giambi chased Belcher with a two-run homer in the fifth, enabling him to join Mark McGwire (three times), Jose Canseco (twice) and Reggie Jackson (once) as the only players in Oakland history to hit 40 homers in a season.

Giambi, who hit the 5,000th home run in Oakland history Sunday, increased his Oakland-record RBI total to 130, the most by an A’s player since Jimmie Foxx had 130 in 1934.

THE RACES

AL WEST

Oakland’s victory over the Angels pulled the A’s within a half-game of Seattle and eliminated Anaheim from the division race. D1

AL WILD CARD

The A’s, who have won five of their last six games, opened a 1 1/2-game lead over Cleveland, which split a day-night doubleheader against Chicago and Minnesota. D5

NL EAST

Tom Glavine won his 20th game and Atlanta reduced its magic number to three for clinching its ninth consecutive division

title. D4

NL WILD CARD

The Dodgers’ hopes are on the brink of mathematical elimination going into today’s series opener against San Francisco. The next Dodger loss or Met victory will end L.A.’s chances. D4