Yes, They Are: Angels in First

Yes, they can.

The Angels completed a dizzying and magical ascent Friday, shoving the Seattle Mariners aside and seizing a share of first place from the defending division champions. In their first visit here since the Mariners seemingly left them for dead three months ago, the Angels made up the last of the 10 1/2 games that then separated the teams in the American League West.

Even the “Yes We Can” Angels of 1979--the first division champions in club history--would not have found victory this improbable, or this sweet: The Angels moved into a tie for first place behind John Lackey, a rookie who was supposed to spend the summer in triple-A, and Scott Spiezio, who was not supposed to hit well enough to play first base for a contending team.

But Lackey pitched eight shutout innings and Spiezio drove in three runs as the Angels pounded the Mariners, 8-0. Shawn Wooten drove in a run by drawing his first walk of the year with the bases loaded, and Tim Salmon homered and doubled as the first-place Angels silenced a sellout crowd of 45,559 at Safeco Field.

“Long time coming,” Salmon said. “It’s nice to finally feel caught up, but here’s where the work starts.”

For the first time since April 11, the Mariners do not have sole possession of first place. The Angels had not occupied first place, shared or alone, this season. They have not occupied first place this late in a season since 1998.

“It’s a much nicer spot to be in,” Spiezio said. “It feels good. I don’t think we feel we’re where we need to be, but we feel as if we’re going in the right direction.”

Said Manager Mike Scioscia: “We understand the challenge. We’re not raising any pennants now.”

Yes, they can? Why not? In addition to tying the Mariners for first place, they jumped three games ahead of the Oakland Athletics in the AL West and two ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the wild-card race.

And the Angels appear to have found the antidote to the Mariners’ “Sodo Mojo,” and whatever other spells Seattle might have cast over them. The Mariners won 15 of 19 games from the Angels last season and the first six games between the teams this season. But the Angels and Mariners have played four times in the past eight days; the Angels have won all four and outscored Seattle, 36-14.

In his sixth career start, Lackey scattered six hits, all singles. He made 114 pitches, with Al Levine working the ninth inning to complete the shutout.

The Angels weren’t surprised that Lackey, who made his first major league start in front of a hometown crowd in Texas and his second start before a sellout crowd against the Dodgers, did not wither under pressure. They were pleased that Spiezio robbed the Mariners of two hits with fine defensive plays, that second baseman Adam Kennedy stole another hit with a leaping catch and left fielder Garret Anderson erased yet another with a nice running catch.

But they were thrilled that Lackey pitched with such effectiveness that the Mariners did not get a man into scoring position for the first six innings, and with such poise that he pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out mess in the seventh.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I want to make the most of this opportunity so I can hang around here.”

When the Angels were last in Seattle, they were 6-14, the worst start in franchise history. Now they’re on pace to finish with the best winning percentage in franchise history.

“I don’t think it feels like a different season,” Scioscia said, “but we absolutely feel like a different team.”

And how about first place? Big series, you know.

“I think it’s too early to pin ‘pivotal series’ or ‘must-win’ or ‘sending messages’ on these games,” Scioscia said.

So when do the games become pivotal?

“When you start counting magic numbers and games behind,” he said.

Today, the Angels’ number in the “games behind” column is zero. A magic number indeed.