Angels Close Out the Mets, 4-3

As Marlon Anderson strode to the plate Sunday afternoon, Angel closer Francisco Rodriguez had one thought in mind.

“Strike him out,” Rodriguez said. “Get a little payback.”

Not quite, though the end result was just fine with the Angels.

Anderson, pinch-hitting for Mike Cameron in the bottom of the ninth inning with two out, lined to second baseman Adam Kennedy, and the Angels held on for a 4-3 interleague victory over the New York Mets in front of an announced 43,582 in Shea Stadium.

“I wanted to go at him, attack him, put him away,” said Rodriguez, who picked up his 12th save.

And the need for payback?

The previous evening, Anderson had a pinch-hit, score-tying, inside-the-park home run against Rodriguez with one out in the ninth. The Mets then broke the Angels’ hearts in the 10th inning when Cliff Floyd hit a walk-off three-run homer.

“It’s great for us to bounce back,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Our guys turned the page well.”

And they did it against three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez, who was staked to a 3-0 lead after four innings.

Martinez, coming off a two-hitter against the Houston Astros, gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings. He walked four batters and struck out three. He also had a run-scoring single, his first run batted in since Aug. 2, 1996, when he played for the Montreal Expos.

“You can’t try to do too much [against Martinez],” said Darin Erstad, who had two hits, pushing his hitting streak to 13 games. “Obviously, he’s one of the best to ever play this game. If you swing from your heels, he’ll eat you up.”

The Angels scored their first run when Kennedy’s fifth-inning single brought home Orlando Cabrera, who had tripled.

In the sixth, the Angels tied the score, Steve Finley’s double to left field driving in Erstad and Vladimir Guerrero coming home on Dallas McPherson’s groundout to second base.

With Angel starter John Lackey tiring in the bottom of the sixth inning -- consecutive walks to Miguel Cairo and Martinez, almost hitting the pitcher twice -- Scioscia summoned his bullpen, which retired 10 of the next 11 batters.

Joel Peralta struck out the batter he faced, Scot Shields (5-3) worked two scoreless innings and Rodriguez closed things out.

“Joel got us to a point where we could line our bullpen up,” Scioscia said.

But the Angels still had work to do with their bats, which they did in the ninth inning against Braden Looper (2-2).

The Angels scored the winning run in the ninth when third baseman David Wright misplayed Erstad’s hopper, allowing pinch-runner Robb Quinlan to score from third base.

Scioscia said it should have been ruled a hit.

“I don’t care,” Erstad said. “The run scores, we win. Who cares?”

The Angels’ closing a 12-game, four-city trip with a victory made things all the more palatable.

Especially because the Angels extended their American League West lead over Texas from half a game to 2 1/2 games despite a 6-6 trip.

The Mets played most of the game without catcher Mike Piazza, who was ejected in the first inning by plate umpire Eric Cooper for yelling from the dugout after he was called out on strikes.

The Angels, meanwhile, have seemingly found a groove with their bats. They are hitting .310 in the last 15 games, averaging 6.7 runs.

“We just have to clear our minds every day,” Rodriguez said. “Make our memories fresh and get ready to go.”