Angels Get Out of Tight Spot

Even with a five-run lead in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game against the Oakland Athletics, the Angels felt about as comfortable as a claustrophobe in a crowded subway car.

The way these teams play, you knew the A’s wouldn’t go quietly, and sure enough, left fielder Nick Swisher’s fifth-inning grand slam off Angel starter Jeff Weaver pulled Oakland within a run.

But two relievers who have endured their share of misery in McAfee Coliseum helped stifle the A’s over the final three innings, and the Angels held on for a 5-4 victory, the 13th time in 23 games that one run has separated these American League West rivals.

“They don’t quit -- they don’t stop playing until the game is over,” said Angel left fielder Garret Anderson, who hit a fourth-inning home run and three singles and is batting .444 (16 for 36) with three home runs and eight runs batted in on the trip. “They could have easily rolled over today. They kept playing the game.”

Anderson expects no less from the team that has fought the Angels down to the wire in the last two division races and is expected to do the same in 2006.

“Oakland has a very good team,” Anderson said. “You’d love to hate them, but you respect the great players they have.

“We have to deal with them all the time. They have a real good bunch of guys. They play like we do, and that makes it fun.”

Pitching is a strength for both teams, and the Angels were a little stronger Saturday, Weaver making only one big mistake over six innings to earn his first victory as an Angel and relievers Brendan Donnelly, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez blanking Oakland on one hit in the final three innings.

Rodriguez had a classic McAfee meltdown here last Aug. 11, when the closer muffed catcher Jose Molina’s throw back to the mound, allowing Jason Kendall to race home from third with the winning run.

Saturday, Rodriguez struck out two of four in the ninth, whiffing Dan Johnson on a nasty slider to end the game and notch his sixth save.

McAfee has also been a house of pain for Shields, who had an 0-5 record and 4.43 earned-run average in this stadium through 2005, but Shields was dominant Saturday, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts in the eighth. The setup man has given up one earned run and three hits in 10 2/3 innings over eight games for an ERA of 0.84.

“I knew the name and knew the numbers he put up, but to see him up close ... it’s filth,” Weaver said of Shields. “You can tell by the swings guys take and don’t take. He’s dialed in, and it’s fun to watch.”

Weaver was having a blast Saturday until the fifth inning. Vladimir Guerrero’s RBI single in the first, Anderson’s solo shot off Dan Haren in the fourth and a three-run fifth, which included Adam Kennedy’s RBI double and Tim Salmon’s RBI single, staked Weaver to a 5-0 lead.

Weaver shut out the A’s on two hits through four innings, mixing his fastball and slider with a near-underhand breaking ball that Manager Mike Scioscia called a “Frisbee” pitch.

But Jay Payton’s leadoff single in the fifth, Kendall’s walk and Dan Johnson’s infield single loaded the bases. Weaver struck out Mark Ellis, but Swisher smacked a hanging slider over the wall in right, pulling the A’s within 5-4.

“That was his only mistake all day,” Scioscia said. “Jeff did a great job. He moved the ball in and out and changed speeds. ... When he was younger he had a power arm, and he’d get away with mistakes because of the stuff he had. Now, his stuff is not quite as dynamic, but his command is much better.”