Angels Settle the West

An Angel team that seemed so deficient for so long, that exasperated fans with an arid attack that often failed to support its starting pitching, that spent all season searching for some kind of offensive identity, only to find it didn’t really have one, became the first of the American League contenders to clinch a division title.

They lack power, they struggled to fill the black hole that has become the No. 5 spot in the batting order, they had a deceiving lack of bullpen depth for months, and their general manager made no moves before the July 31 trade deadline to improve a sagging club.

But the Angels did not lack resolve, the grit to grind through their dry spells and bullpen blips, and they got hot just at the right time, in late September, providing a climax for their finishing kick with Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the Oakland Athletics to clinch their second consecutive AL West championship and fifth title in franchise history.

Rookie right-hander Ervin Santana, pitching with the poise of a salty veteran, gave up two runs in 6 2/3 superb innings, Scot Shields threw 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief and closer Francisco Rodriguez, after giving up a leadoff home run to Marco Scutaro in the ninth, retired the next three batters for his 43rd save.

When Bobby Kielty’s lazy fly ball nestled in the glove of left fielder Juan Rivera for the final out in McAfee Coliseum, the Angels converged near the mound to form a huge bouncing ball of humanity, exchanging high-fives and bear hugs.

The celebration then moved into the visiting clubhouse, where players doused each other with champagne, beer and tequila and lit up victory cigars, the mixture of booze and smoke and sweat creating that pungent smell of baseball achievement.

“This is just a preview, man,” shortstop Orlando Cabrera said, one bottle of champagne in hand, one in his back pocket, a pair of goggles on his forehead. “I think we can do more than this. Up to now, it’s been a nice season, and we’re going to the playoffs, but hopefully we can go all the way to the World Series and win it.”

The Angels, who were swept in the division series by Boston last October, will open the first round of the playoffs Tuesday against Chicago, Cleveland, Boston or New York.

With 10 wins in 11 games, the Angels pushed their division lead over the A’s to six games with five to play, but there are no plans to cruise to Sunday’s finish line. The Angels trail Boston and New York by one game and could secure home-field advantage over the Red Sox and Yankees by finishing with a better record.

“We achieved our first goal,” pitcher Jarrod Washburn said, “but we want to make a better showing than we did last year.”

Tuesday’s win followed the usual script: There was outstanding starting pitching -- the Angel rotation leads the league with a 3.77 earned-run average -- solid defense and just enough offense, much of it provided by catcher Bengie Molina, who doubled and scored on Rivera’s double in the second inning and hit a solo homer in the fourth.

“It was very important to get this done early, to win these two games, to not give Oakland a chance to come back,” Molina said. “It’s a great feeling for me because I did it for the team.”

Santana, who is 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in four starts against Oakland this season, barely flinched amid the pressure of a division clincher. The 22-year-old right-hander came up from double-A Arkansas to replace the injured Kelvim Escobar in May, and all he did was go 11-8 with a 4.58 ERA in 22 starts.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate to have some young guys step into pennant races and not blink,” Washburn said. “We had that with Frankie [Rodriguez] and [John] Lackey in 2002, and now with Ervin. It’s pretty special.”

Santana left with runners on second and third and two outs in the seventh, and Shields retired Mark Ellis on a slow roller to third to end the inning.

The first four batters in the Angel order -- Chone Figgins, Cabrera, Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero -- combined to go two for 31 in the first two games of the series, but Figgins came through with a clutch two-out, run-scoring single against reliever Justin Duchscherer in the fourth to give the Angels a 4-1 lead.

Five innings and a few tense moments later, the Angels were again ruining the carpet in the visitor’s clubhouse in McAfee Coliseum, site of last year’s pennant-clinching party.

“I’m a veteran of these, but it’s not getting old,” Washburn said, taking in the wild clubhouse scene. “This is as good as the first one.”

This is how most figured the Angels’ regular season would end when they won 13 of 16 in late June and early July, building a commanding 8 1/2 -game lead in the West on July 6, their record at 52-32.

But the Angels, heavy favorites to win the division, spent most of the second half in this strange funk, never playing well enough to build any momentum but not playing poorly enough to suffer a complete collapse.

They muddled through July and August, underachieving at a .500 clip while the A’s got hot. A four-game losing streak dropped the Angels into a first-place tie Sept. 15 and set off another round of introspection.

But just when the Angels seemed to be buckling under the weight of their expectations, they reeled off an eight-game winning streak on their last homestand, coming from behind in seven of the victories.

They may have underachieved for long stretches, they may not be favorites to win the World Series, but at least the Angels are in a position to get there.

“You have to get to the party before you can dance,” Angel owner Arte Moreno said, “and now we’re at the party.”

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Take five

The Angels clinched their fifth AL West division title Tuesday by beating Oakland, 4-3. Previous division winning teams for the Angels with records, top batters, pitchers and closers:

*--* * 1979 Record: 88-74 2nd place: Kansas City (85-77) Top batter: Don Baylor (.296, 36, 139) Top pitcher: Nolan Ryan (16-14, 3.60) Closer: Mark Clear (11-5, 14 saves) * 1982 Record: 93-69 2nd place: Kansas City (90-72) Top batter: Reggie Jackson (.275, 39, 101) Top pitcher: Geoff Zahn (18-8, 3.73) Closer: Luis Sanchez (7-4, 5 saves) * 1986 Record: 92-70 2nd place: Texas (87-75) Top batter: Wally Joyner (.290, 22, 100) Top pitcher: Mike Witt (18-10, 2.84) Closer: Donnie Moore (4-5, 21 saves) * 2004 Record: 92-70 2nd place: Oakland (91-71) Top batter: Vladimir Guerrero (.337, 39, 126) Top pitcher: Bartolo Colon (18-12, 5.01) Closer: Troy Percival (2-3, 33 saves) Note: The 2002 Angel team that won the World Series finished second in the AL West.

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Researched by Houston Mitchell