Byrd Dominates With Soft Touch

Paul Byrd didn’t drive a wooden stake through the heart of the Texas lineup Monday night. It was more like the Angel right-hander tickled the Rangers to death, torturing them with a variety of soft breaking balls and floating changeups that kept baseball’s most prolific hitting team off balance all night.

Then there was right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who took a more direct approach, bludgeoning a handful of pitches with a blunt instrument -- his bat -- to drive in four runs and team with Byrd to lead the Angels to a 5-1 victory over their American League West rivals in front of an announced 41,007 in Angel Stadium.

Byrd, who was 0-3 with an 11.49 earned-run average in three career starts against Texas, threw his first complete game in nearly three years, limiting the Rangers to six hits, striking out four and walking none, throwing 92 pitches -- 64 for strikes -- and not a one over 90 mph.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone with the deception and the ability to put it all together like Paul,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He can throw any pitch in any count in any location. With that deception, an 87-mph fastball can look like 91. Combine that with the breaking ball, with changing speeds, and it’s quite a package.”

Contrasting Byrd’s finesse was the brute strength of Guerrero, who slammed a two-run home run in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third and a run-scoring double in the fifth, and is batting .439 (18 for 41) with four homers, 12 runs batted in and 10 runs in 10 games since returning from the disabled list.

If the Angels, who moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Texas, win the division for the second year in a row, the Rangers will point to the acquisition of Guerrero, who has a career .411 average (42 for 102) with 10 home runs and 20 RBIs in 26 games against Texas.

“For me, he’s the toughest guy to pitch to in baseball,” Texas catcher Rod Barajas said.

The Rangers are no treat to pitch to, either. They were leading the major leagues with 109 home runs, 375 runs and 254 extra-base hits, with No. 3 hitter Mark Teixeira leading the majors with 20 homers and 54 RBIs and No. 5 hitter Alfonso Soriano second in both categories, with 19 homers and 53 RBIs.

Add cleanup batter Hank Blalock’s 12 homers and 41 RBIs, and the third, fourth and fifth hitters combined for 51 homers and 143 RBIs. But Monday night, Byrd held the trio hitless in 12 at-bats, striking out Soriano twice, inducing two grounders to first base from Blalock and two infield popups from Teixeira.

“That’s probably the law of averages taking over,” said Byrd, who felt no ill effects from the tight triceps that bothered him in recent starts. “I’ve never had a good start against Texas. It’s never clicked for me.”

Byrd’s fastball rarely tops 88 mph, and he throws a slider and curve from different arm angles, but his most effective pitch Monday was a changeup, which kept hitters guessing and lunging. His only real mistake was a pitch David Dellucci hit for a home run in the third inning.

“That was a big key, because I don’t think they had the changeup on their scouting report,” said Byrd, who sat out the 2003 season because of elbow surgery and whose last complete game had been against the Detroit Tigers on Sept. 14, 2002.

“I’ve been struggling with the changeup lately, but Bud [Black, pitching coach] and I have been experiencing with a few grips. It gave me another pitch I could throw for strikes and kept the left-handed hitters off-balance.”

Said Ranger Manager Buck Showalter: “He did a good job of using our aggressiveness against us.”

The Angels’ offensive aggression resulted in 15 hits, including Darin Erstad’s first-inning single, which extended his hitting streak to 20 games, and a fifth-inning double. Erstad scored after each hit, on Guerrero’s homer to left field, his 11th, and Guerrero’s double to right field in the fifth.