They had a fighting chance, and they took it

SEATTLE -- Five to nothing. Where have Angels fans heard that before?

Five to nothing. Haven’t Angels fans felt that before?

Five to nothing, rowdy deficit, dead dugout, little hope, hmmm.

OK, OK, I won’t do it. I won’t go there. I absolutely will not jinx the remainder of this increasingly wondrous Angels season by reminding everyone that on the most important night in Angels history, they trailed, 5-0, in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series.

I will not recall how, that night, Scott Spiezio hit a three-run homer that began arguably the greatest elimination comeback in World Series history, a 6-5 win that led one night later to a world championship.

I won’t do it, because Tuesday night, the Angels did something vaguely like that again.

They came back from 5-0 and hopeless again. They beat a top contender again. They did it with quick jabs and stunning uppercuts and breathtaking knockdown punches again.

I won’t do it, because this is an entirely different era, different team, a completely new set of Angels who came back to beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-6, in a divisional showdown.

But, goodness, it’s fun to imagine, huh?

After Tuesday, the Angels can perhaps start to imagine.

These Angels aren’t just good, they’re fighting good, they’re furious good, they’re flattening good.

They beat the Mariners after trailing, 5-0, in the first inning, still trailing, 5-0, entering the top of the third inning, their starting pitcher gone and their offense sleeping and the Safeco Field crowd rocking.

In this space Tuesday, I wrote that the Mariners were as invisible as those mythical monsters under your bed.

Suddenly, Tuesday, that monster was real, and the Angels were reeling and this was one of those road games where visiting teams just fold quickly and shower hurriedly and prepare for the next day.

Except these Angels aren’t that team.

Under Mike Scioscia, they have never been that team.

As summer slowly works its way to fall, you get the feeling that they may be a team like few others, maybe a team unlike any others.

Trailing, 5-0, they entered the third inning against a pitcher, Jeff Weaver, who had thrown only eight balls in 28 previous pitches.

And they started pounding, and pounding, and pounding.

Right jab.

Howie Kendrick stood still for three straight balls and eventually walked.

Left jab.

Kendrick flew around second base on Jeff Mathis’ bloop single to right field and, unlike most runners, he ignored strong-armed Mariners outfielder Jose Guillen and sprinted toward third. Guillen’s throw skipped past third base and Kendrick scored to make it 5-1.

Too early for a big deal? No, a very big deal, with Guillen fuming in right field. They had given up a run on a walk and a bloop, and they were starting to worry.

Weaver retired the first two batters in the fourth, but the Angels started pounding again.

Left hook.

Gary Matthews Jr. sweated through an eight-pitch at-bat before launching a ball into the right-center field seats.

Right hook.

Weaver, exhausted from Matthews, lasted only two pitches before Kendry Morales hit another homer.

With Dustin Moseley working his way back into the rotation after replacing Ervin Santana, the Angels set up the Mariners for the first knockdown blow in the fifth inning.

Left uppercut.

With Mathis on second base after a leadoff double, Reggie Willits battled through a foul bunt and four more pitches to hit a fly ball to right field to move Mathis to third.

Right uppercut.

Weaver, clearly spooked by now, allowed a single by Orlando Cabrera on the next pitch . . . and a double by Vladimir Guerrero on the next pitch . . . and is removed from the game.

First knockdown.

Against reliever Eric O’Flaherty, Garret Anderson fell behind 0-and-2 yet still managed to hit a fly ball to score Cabrera to tie the game.

By now, the fans were booing, but the Angels were just getting started.

Second knockdown.

In the seventh inning, after Mathis walked, Willits laid down a rare and extremely difficult 0-2 sacrifice bunt to move him to second. From there, he scored on Guerrero’s double to give the Angels the lead.

The Mariners tied it in the bottom of the seventh, but then the Angels scored the eventual winning runs in the eighth after, well, what else?

Matthews walked, stole second and raced home on a double by Morales.

The Mariners stood around while the Angels scored three more times. The Mariners stood around until the end, when Ichiro Suzuki stood at home plate and watched a Scot Shields’ fastball fly across for game-ending strike three.

For the Angels, there was no championship celebration, just the usual handshake line.

But for the Angels, it is now officially OK to starting dreaming that this ending was just a beginning.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.