Halfway Home, They’re 41-40

The best-selling mystery that is the Angels’ 2003 season reached the midway point in appropriate fashion Tuesday, when a defensive breakdown nearly ruined a 7-5 victory over the Texas Rangers at Edison Field.

The Angels appeared comfortably on their way to victory -- a six-run lead with two out and nobody on in the eighth inning -- when first baseman Shawn Wooten momentarily hesitated after fielding a ground ball off the bat of Donnie Sadler wide of the bag.

Sadler beat the slow-footed Wooten to first for an infield hit, and Michael Young followed with a two-run homer, his second off Angel starter Jarrod Washburn.

No big deal, it seemed at the time.

Except that Mark Teixeira extended the inning with a single and scored on Alex Rodriguez’s two-run home run to center off Washburn that trimmed the Angel lead to 7-5.

Reliever Brendan Donnelly retired Juan Gonzalez to calm the crowd of 26,715, and Troy Percival pitched a perfect ninth to get his fourth save in five games and 17th of the season.

The most satisfying development for the Angels was that Washburn rebounded from four consecutive defeats to display the form that made him an 18-game winner last season.

Although he gave up three homers and has given up 22 this season -- most in the American League -- Washburn (7-9) might have finished the game had the Rangers not benefited from Wooten’s mistake.

The left-hander threw only 88 pitches through seven innings and gave up only four hits before the Rangers tacked on four more in the eighth.

“I didn’t throw as well as I’d like, but for the most part I improved in all areas,” said Washburn, who has given up 13 homers in his last five starts. “I’d say I took a step forward.”

Said Darin Erstad: “Wash is our man. He’s been through a little tough stretch but went out there and battled and did a fine job. We really need him.”

The Angel offense backed its ace with more runs than it had scored since June 14, as Bengie Molina belted a three-run homer, Garret Anderson doubled in a run and Troy Glaus hit his first homer in 62 at-bats.

Erstad made two spectacular defensive plays, including one in which he robbed Todd Greene of an extra-base hit in the fifth by extending his glove near the top of the center-field wall to snare the ball.

Through 81 games, the Angels (41-40) have more closely resembled the longtime mediocre entity that Orange County has grown accustomed to over the years than last season’s World Series champions.

But their struggles haven’t kept the fans away, at least not yet.

Tuesday’s crowd pushed the Angels’ season total over 1.5 million, a half-million more fans than the team had drawn through the midway point last season, even though it is 11 1/2 games behind first-place Seattle in the American League West.

“Obviously, we haven’t lived up to our hopes,” pitcher Kevin Appier said. “You see general signs everywhere that we might get on fire soon.

“It’s going to have to happen for a long duration or a series of real hot times if we’re going to be able to catch up and pass the Mariners or Oakland.”