Angels Ignore Problems

The Angels used to crumble at the mere sight of one of their front-line players going on the disabled list for an extended period.

Remember 1995, when the Angels lost shortstop Gary DiSarcina to a thumb injury in early August and proceeded to blow an 11-game lead in the American League West? And 1998, when they lost Darin Erstad for much of August and September because of hamstring injuries and faded in the division race?

Now look at them: No Erstad, no Garret Anderson, no Troy Glaus, no Tim Salmon, no Brendan Donnelly? No problem for the Angels, who continued to defy logic with Saturday night’s 7-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in front of 40,275 at Camden Yards.

The Angels are without four players who were expected to be major offensive contributors and an All-Star reliever, and they have the best record (25-12) in baseball.

They’ve been without Anderson, their most productive hitter the last four years, for more than three weeks, without Salmon for two weeks and Erstad for one week, and they’ve won 18 of their last 22 games.

Their lineup has regularly included players such as Chone Figgins, Jeff DaVanon, Shane Halter, Casey Kotchman and Robb Quinlan, and the Angels are averaging 6.8 runs and 10.6 hits in the last 22 games, they’ve scored three runs or more in an inning 31 times, and they lead the major leagues with 224 runs.

“I’ll be honest with you -- it’s a little bit surprising,” said left-hander Jarrod Washburn, who improved to 7-1 with an eight-inning, three-hit, two-run effort. “No one would have expected us to lose Anderson, Salmon, Erstad and Glaus and still be scoring runs like we are.

“These guys are stepping up, filling holes and doing the job. This is not something you want to do all year long, but the experience these guys are getting is huge.”

It hasn’t hurt to have a crusher such as Vladimir Guerrero. The Angel right fielder smashed a solo home run -- his eighth of the season -- in the second inning Saturday and singled twice during the Angels’ six-run fourth, providing a strong response to the constant boos that have rained down from Oriole fans who felt Guerrero jilted them when he spurned Baltimore to sign with the Angels.

“I can hear them, no question,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “But it’s not my fault we didn’t come to an agreement with Baltimore. That’s the way business goes. When I get booed, it makes me concentrate more and do a good job.”

Jose Guillen has provided good protection behind Guerrero in the lineup, but without Anderson and Glaus, many thought the aggressive-swinging Guerrero would get fewer pitches to hit.

“I don’t think pitchers have changed, because I spread the zone myself,” Guerrero said. “Whatever they throw up there, I’m swinging at.”

In the fourth-inning rally in which all six runs scored with two out, Halter had a two-run homer, Figgins a two-run single, and Jose Molina and Alfredo Amezaga had RBI doubles.

Washburn, backed by the best run support in the American League -- the Angels have averaged nine runs in his eight starts -- gave up a two-run home run to Miguel Tejada in the fourth but then retired 15 in a row. He didn’t walk a batter for the second straight start and struck out five.

The victory came with a few more tense moments. One night after the Angels blew a nine-run lead and squeezed out a 10-9, 10-inning win, Ben Weber replaced Washburn to start the ninth and gave up a home run to Melvin Mora to make the score 7-3.

Tejada reached on Halter’s error, Rafael Palmeiro doubled to right, and Angel Manager Mike Scioscia summoned closer Troy Percival, who had blown a three-run lead in the ninth Friday night.

Javy Lopez reached on an infield single, Tejada scoring to make it 7-4, but with the tying run at the plate, Percival got Luis Matos, who had homered off him Friday, to ground into a game-ending double play.