Angels Finally Find Some Work for Percival

It was Old-Timers Day in Network Associates Coliseum on Thursday. Troy Percival pitched for the Angels.

OK, it hadn’t been that long since the Angel reliever made an appearance, but when you haven’t pitched for eight days, your team has lost seven consecutive games and the only thing you’ve been able to save is your energy, days start to seem like weeks for a closer.

Percival was called back to active duty, though, and after reacquainting himself with his teammates and a stadium mound, the right-hander retired the side in order in the ninth inning, sealing the Angels’ 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics before a crowd of 12,719.

It was the Angels’ first victory since June 27 and Percival’s first appearance since June 27, a combination the Angels will need to see a lot more often if they are to contend for a wild-card spot.

“Percy’s like a starting pitcher--he goes every fifth day,” Manager Mike Scioscia said after Percival had recorded his 20th save. “Troy knows how this job goes. He might have to pitch five days in a row, and he might sit five days in a row. His experience helps him deal with it.”

Percival’s services have not been required lately because there have been no late-inning leads to protect. The Angels were shut out in three of their previous four games.

But they ended an 18-inning scoreless streak with three unearned runs in the third, starter Ismael Valdes came off the disabled list to hold the A’s to two runs through five innings and the trusty Angel bullpen blanked Oakland over the final four innings.

“In my opinion, this is the biggest win of the year,” center fielder Darin Erstad said. “Every game from now on is important. We’ve put ourselves in a situation where we have to get after it every night. We have no room for lapses.”

They will gladly accept lapses from their opponents, like the one Oakland right fielder Terrence Long suffered Thursday. With David Eckstein, who’d ended a 0-for-23 skid with a single, on first base and two out in the third, Erstad lifted a high fly ball toward the wall in right-center.

Long, who’d robbed Troy Glaus of a two-run homer with a spectacular leaping catch Monday night, drifted on the play and looked back twice as he approached the wall. The ball nicked off his glove for an error, allowing Eckstein to score and Erstad to reach second.

Glaus then made the A’s pay, blasting Gil Heredia’s pitch over the wall in center for his 22nd homer and a 3-1 lead. The Angels, who’d put one leadoff runner on base in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to the A’s, put the leadoff runner on in each of the last five innings.

That helped the Angels score two more runs, on Erstad’s two-out single in the fifth and Adam Kennedy’s fielder’s choice in the seventh, a grounder that scored Orlando Palmeiro, who’d led off with a double and taken third on Eckstein’s sacrifice bunt.

Five runs may not seem like much, but they were a veritable outburst for the Angels, who’d scored only five in their previous five games combined.

“I don’t care if it’s 1-0, a win is a win, and you’ve got to start somewhere,” Erstad said. “This game is all about taking advantage of [mistakes], and Troy [Glaus] did a great job of it. You get a break, you have to jump on them. That’s how you win games that could go either way.”

This was about as complete a game as the Angels have played in weeks. They got solid starting pitching, outstanding relief and excellent defense--Glaus made a lunging stop of Frank Menechino’s grounder to his left in the fifth and a diving, backhand stop of Olmedo Saenz’s grounder in the sixth and threw both out at first. Glaus, Palmeiro and Garret Anderson each had two hits.

“We had a really good approach at the plate,” Scioscia said. “It was a tight game, we got some bunts down, we scored three runs with two outs, we got the leadoff guy on. That’s the type of game we haven’t been able to play.”

And the type Percival hasn’t had a chance to finish.