Angels Are Showing Some Signs of Life

If his results matched his effort, Benji Gil would be batting at least .300.

But a quick check of the reserve infielder’s statistics Wednesday night revealed an unimposing .141 average when he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning with the Angels clinging to a one-run lead.

“Lately I’ve been swinging the bat better but not getting any results,” said Gil, only playing because a stomach virus sidelined David Eckstein. “In Florida I swung the bat real well and it wasn’t happening.”

It happened for Gil in his third at-bat Wednesday.

He hammered a 1-and-0 fastball from Brett Myers over the wall in left-center, capping a four-run sixth inning as the Angels rallied for a 5-3 interleague victory over the Philadelphia Phillies before 31,130 at Edison Field.

“I got a pitch I could handle, and fortunately I could help out the team,” said Gil, whose first homer since last August raised his average to .151. “I’m a better hitter than I’ve been able to show this year.”

Said Manager Mike Scioscia: “He’s been struggling, but he gave us a big lift tonight.”

Gil’s homer, preceded by a key two-run bloop single off the bat of Bengie Molina, did more than lift his early-season doldrums. It helped move the Angels (33-30) three games over .500 for the first time this season, allowing them to close within nine games of the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

The Angels trail the New York Yankees by only 2 1/2 games in the wild-card race.

“It’s too early to focus on the standings,” Scioscia said. “I think we’re starting to see a lot of good things happen over the last two to three weeks, and we need that to continue.”

The victory wasn’t accomplished without some late-inning drama. The Phillies scored a run in the eighth inning and put the tying runs on base before reliever Brendan Donnelly struck out Marlon Byrd to avoid further damage.

Ben Weber (2-0) struck out all three batters he faced to record the victory and Troy Percival pitched a scoreless ninth to register his 10th save.

The Angels went ahead to stay in the sixth, when Garret Anderson led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on Brad Fullmer’s one-out single to left.

After Adam Kennedy walked to load the bases, Molina singled just over the glove of leaping shortstop Jimmy Rollins to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.

Kennedy was thrown out when he tried to move from first to third, but Gil more than made up for the mistake with his homer as the Angels broke out of an offensive funk with nine hits.

Not all of the news was good for the Angels. Starter Kevin Appier was pulled after 5 2/3 innings, breaking a stretch of eight consecutive games in which Angel starters had lasted at least six innings.

Appier gave up both of his runs in the fifth but escaped what could have been a disastrous inning.

David Bell drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Byrd’s double to right-center. Rollins hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Troy Glaus, who got his glove on the ball but couldn’t field it cleanly. Shortstop Gil attempted to barehand the ball because he might have had a play at the plate but dropped it, allowing Bell to score.

Byrd then scored on Placido Polanco’s single, giving Philadelphia a 2-1 lead, and Jim Thome drew a full-count walk to load the bases.

But Bobby Abreu couldn’t capitalize, hitting a line drive to first baseman Scott Spiezio, who stepped on first for an inning-ending double play.

The Angels scored their first run in the third, when Spiezio homered to right, his sixth hit over the last three games.

But the big blast came off the bat of Gil.

“Tonight,” he said, “I finally came through.”