Victory Is Music to the Angels’ Ears

Music blared inside the Angel clubhouse at Edison Field on Sunday afternoon, the recently unfamiliar sound spurred by an unfamiliar result.

An Angel victory.

The Angels ended a losing streak at six games and won for only the second time at home by defeating the Oakland Athletics, 4-1, before a sun-splashed crowd of 32,881 at Edison Field.

It was the Angels’ first victory since beating the Texas Rangers on April 6 at Arlington, Texas. It was their first home victory since April 2 when they defeated the Cleveland Indians in the second game of the season.

“It’s definitely nice to come into a clubhouse with music on,” said first baseman Scott Spiezio, who broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with a run-scoring single against A’s starter Barry Zito.

While it was rock group Van Halen that thumped from the clubhouse speakers, the Angels’ play was more characteristic of smooth jazz.

Veteran right-hander Kevin Appier (1-1) turned in his second consecutive solid outing, giving up one run, four hits and striking out five in seven innings. Dennis Cook pitched the eighth and Al Levine earned his third save with a perfect ninth.

Outfielder Garret Anderson hit a first-inning home run for the second consecutive game and also made two outstanding catches. Shortstop David Eckstein, the Angels’ leadoff man, had three hits, including a run-scoring double in the fifth inning, and also scored a run and played solid defense.

“Our challenge is to really do this every game,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said.

They had not done it for a while against the A’s. Oakland went into the game having won nine consecutive games against the Angels, who had had not defeated Oakland since July 5.

Appier set the tone Sunday.

He gave up a fourth-inning home run to Eric Chavez that tied the score, 1-1, but was otherwise in control. He threw 108 pitches, 65 for strikes, and benefited from two spectacular catches by Anderson.

With a runner on in the sixth, Anderson ventured far to his left and extended his body to nab a sinking line drive hit by Scott Hatteberg.

He also leaped to catch a fly ball hit toward the left-field fence by Mike Colangelo with a runner on in the seventh.

“Every win is great, but after the way things have been going, we were searching for something to turn things around,” said Appier, who lowered his earned-run average to 2.37. “This is only one game, but the way the guys played out there was incredible and hopefully this is the start of a real good streak.”

Anderson went into the game with seven hits in 18 at-bats against Zito (0-1), who had won his last nine regular-season decisions. Anderson’s success against the former USC All-American continued when he smacked a 2-and-1 pitch into the right-field seats in the second inning.

Chavez hit his American League-leading sixth home run in the fourth to tie the score, but the Angels answered with a run when Troy Glaus drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a two-out single by Bengie Molina and scored on Spiezio’s hit to left field. Spiezio, who struck out in the second inning, was 0 for 8 against Zito before the single.

The Angels extended the lead on consecutive doubles by Jeff DaVanon and Eckstein in the fifth. Eckstein, who is batting .340, put the Angels ahead, 4-1, when he scored from third base on a nubber hit back to the mound by Glaus.

“Eck comes out and plays the same style of game no matter the circumstances,” Scioscia said. “Offensively, he sets the tone.”

The A’s threatened in the eighth after Cook replaced Appier. With one out, Cook walked Jeremy Giambi and Frank Menechino. Hatteberg then hit a foul pop-up that was caught by Glaus in front of the Angel dugout.

That brought up Chavez, who hit a 1-and-0 pitch to the center-field wall where Darin Erstad made the catch to end the inning.

“One win can’t do a lot,” Anderson said. “But it does set in our minds that we can win against good teams.”