ANDERSON'S BLAST BACKS ESCOBAR ANGELS CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS, STAY WITHIN 2 OF WEST LEAD ANGELS 5, SEATTLE 1.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

SEATTLE - This is how the Angels envisioned things all along.

It's mid-September, and well-paid and newly acquired starters Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar are practically unhittable. Garret Anderson is turning on the ball with authority. Vladimir Guerrero is contributing in ways both outlandish and subtle.

And now, the team that has seemingly underachieved most of the season was poised to pull within a game of first place.

Escobar, following Colon's lead, took a shutout into the seventh inning and Anderson hit a three-run homer as the Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-1 on an autumn-like evening at Safeco Field.

With Oakland beating Texas 7-6, the Angels stayed within two games of the Athletics by winning for the 25th time in 36 games, the sort of consistency they'd been searching for all season.

And in improving to 10-10 with a seven-inning, six-hit, seven-strikeout performance, Escobar helped the Angels staff reach a milestone of sorts.

He joined Colon (15-11), Jarrod Washburn (11-6) and John Lackey (12-11) in the 10-win department, the first time the Angels had four pitchers reach double-digits in wins since Jim Abbott, Chuck Finley, Mark Langston and Kirk McCaskill did so in 1990.

Of greater significance is the dominance Escobar and Colon have flashed of late.

Colon pitched seven shutout innings in Sunday's 11-0 blanking of the Chicago White Sox. Escobar took the baton Monday night and carried a shutout two outs into the seventh inning. That's when Seattle rookie shortstop Jose Lopez hit a solo homer to left.

But Escobar got Ichiro Suzuki, on pace to shatter baseball's single-season hit record, to ground to first to complete the handiwork.

In his past two starts, Escobar struck out 19 batters in 15 innings and gave up 11 hits and just two earned runs. That he had just one win to show for those efforts is typical of the poor run support - 3.86 per game - that plagued him entering Monday.

But Anderson got him nearly that many runs with one swing.

His three-run shot to right field off Seattle rookie Cha Seung Baek broke open a 1-0 game and enabled the Angels (82-61) to relax a little. Anderson, who has played in just 96 games this season, very quietly has driven in 67 runs, and he has accounted for the eventual winning run in two of their past three victories.

Despite his high profile, Guerrero also occasionally goes quietly about his business. His towering three-run homer Friday night was highlight-show fodder. Monday, he doubled in the first, singled ahead of Anderson's homer in the third and contributed an RBI single in the seventh for a 5-0 lead.

That run loomed large in the final two innings. Scot Shields walked a pair of batters in the eighth, necessitating the use of All-Star Francisco Rodriguez. He got Jolbert Cabrera to foul out to third baseman Chone Figgins, a ball that appeared to pop out of Figgins' glove when his arm hit the dugout railing.

In the ninth, Rodriguez gave up a single to Greg Dobbs and a walk to Jose Lopez with one out. But he got Suzuki to ground to first baseman Casey Kotchman, whose throw to Rodriguez just beat Suzuki. Rodriguez got Randy Winn on a grounder to shortstop, completing his 12th save.

Suzuki was held hitless for just the second time in his last 18 games.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Garret Anderson is congratulated in the dugout after belting a three-run homer Monday.

(2) The Angels' Casey Kotchman (35) is tagged out at home by Seattle catcher Miguel Olivo in the fourth inning. Kotchman was trying to score on a fly ball.

John Froschauer/Associated Press

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