Angels Go the Distance and Then Some to Win

His fans roared, to the accompaniment of celebratory fireworks. His teammates rushed out of the dugout, a figurative amoeba moving toward home plate to swarm him. And, as Orlando Cabrera circled the bases, he was finally an Angel.

Cabrera hit his first home run at Angel Stadium, capping a thrilling comeback and a 6-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night before 39,673. After Garret Anderson singled home the tying run in the ninth inning, Cabrera hit a game-winning home run in the 10th.

The fans could get to like this new shortstop. David Eckstein was enormously popular but Cabrera is, well, better.

“It’s hard to replace a guy the fans love -- and not only the fans,” pitcher Jarrod Washburn said. “We loved Eckstein too. But we knew right away this was an upgrade at shortstop. The fans, given time, will see that as well.”

Washburn dropped the Angels into a 5-0 hole after two innings, but the team rallied.

The Angels are 17 days into a sluggish season, yet they have not spent a day out of first place in the American League West.

With a victory tonight against the Oakland Athletics, the Angels will have their first three-game winning streak.

“We can play better baseball than we’re playing,” Cabrera said.

“When everybody starts hitting together, we’ll be the best team in the division. We should be.”

The Angels scored one run on a ground out, another on a sacrifice fly. Maicer Izturis stole second base to set up Jose Molina’s run-scoring single in the eighth, and the rally that tied the score off Cleveland closer Bob Wickman in the ninth was all small ball: Darin Erstad walked, Juan Rivera bunted him to second and Anderson singled home the run.

“We did the things we needed to do to stay aggressive and get back in the game,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said.

And then they hit the powerball to win, with Cabrera’s leadoff home run off Jason Davis in the 10th. Eckstein hit two home runs last year and three the year before; Cabrera hit two last September and three last August.

Relievers Esteban Yan, Brendan Donnelly, Jake Woods and Francisco Rodriguez combined for five shutout innings; the Angel bullpen has not given up an earned run in 19 innings.

Washburn, meanwhile, has yet to earn a decision. He has started four games; all have gone into extra innings.

Dallas McPherson singled once and struck out twice, and then Scioscia used Izturis, a light-hitting infielder, to bat for him.

This is not exactly what the Angels had in mind when they bid farewell to Troy Glaus and handed third base to McPherson, but for now Scioscia prefers that the rookie not bat against left-handers.

McPherson is one for 10 since arriving from triple-A Salt Lake, with six strikeouts.

“We feel really confident Dallas will achieve, and he’ll be an exclamation point instead of a question mark,” Scioscia said.

At some point, however, results matter.

“You have to temper it with patience,” he said, “but the performance of the team is the overriding factor in everything we do here.”