Angels Work From Stretch

What for weeks was a tense and taut American League West race is beginning to look more like the 1973 Belmont Stakes, with the Angels happily playing the part of Secretariat.

No more than two games separated the Angels and Oakland Athletics from Aug. 26 to Sept. 20, but the Angels have bolted down the homestretch, pushing their lead from 1 1/2 games six days ago to five games with Monday night’s pulsating 4-3 victory over the A’s in McAfee Coliseum.

Right-hander John Lackey, snapping off a variety of sharp curves to go with his fastball, limited the A’s to two runs and four hits in six innings; Francisco Rodriguez struck out two of three in the ninth for his 42nd save, and Steve Finley, about as frisky for the first five months of the season as an old nag, keyed the offense with his second clutch home run in three games.

And now, with a victory over Oakland tonight, the Angels, who have won nine of 10 games since a four-game losing streak Sept. 12-15 and have reduced their magic number to two with six games remaining, can clinch their second straight AL West title and third playoff appearance in five years.

It may not rival Secretariat’s remarkable 31-length victory to cap the Triple Crown 32 years ago, but to clinch the West with five games to spare, when most figured the race would go down to the wire, would be a considerable achievement, one that would allow the Angels to properly align their playoff rotation, a luxury they did not have in 2004, when they clinched on the final Saturday of the season.

“We’re playing good baseball at the right time,” Lackey said. “In 2002 we got hot toward the end of the season and carried that through the playoffs. Hopefully we can get the same thing going now.”

Finley’s resurgence has mirrored that of the Angels. His average hovering around .215 all season, his power stroke having all but disappeared, the 40-year-old Finley was benched at the end of August, his playing time limited to occasional starts against right-handers.

But Finley provided a huge hit Saturday night, a three-run home run that keyed the Angels’ 7-3 win over Tampa Bay, and Monday night he followed Bengie Molina’s two-out single in the fourth by lining a 2-and-1 fastball from starter Joe Blanton over the right-field wall for his 12th homer of the season and a 4-0 lead.

“This is the time of year you want to contribute when you have the opportunity, and God knows I’ve had plenty of opportunities where I haven’t come through,” Finley said. “Hopefully, the odds are in my favor now.”

Manager Mike Scioscia said Finley “is certainly one of the guys we’re counting on heavily. If he can give us a boost by getting us into the playoffs, you never know what can happen.”

Finley is thankful for the chance.

“I appreciate Mike sticking with me as long as he has,” he said. “He’s given me the opportunity, and it’s starting to pay off a little bit more.”

The Angels needed every bit of the cushion Finley provided, because the A’s scored twice in the fifth, on Jason Kendall’s two-run double, and once in the eighth, when Eric Chavez blasted a solo home run off Kelvim Escobar to make it 4-3.

But Rodriguez, whose last McAfee appearance ended in disaster -- the closer missed catcher Jose Molina’s return throw to the mound, allowing Kendall to race home with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 A’s win -- navigated the ninth with a little help.

First baseman Darin Erstad made a nice scoop of third baseman Chone Figgins’ one-hop throw on Jay Payton’s leadoff grounder. Pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty struck out on a questionable check-swing call, and home-plate umpire Mike Everitt, whose liberal interpretation of the strike zone frustrated both teams, called out Nick Swisher looking at a breaking ball that appeared up and away.

A’s shortstop Bobby Crosby’s throwing error on Vladimir Guerrero’s grounder to open the second paved the way for two unearned runs. Erstad knocked in Guerrero with a double off the center-field wall, and Juan Rivera added a two-out single to center for a 2-0 lead.

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Magic number: 2