ANGELS' BATS DISAPPEAR SEATTLE'S HERNANDEZ SHUTS OUT L.A. TO END LOSING STREAK SEATTLE 2, ANGELS 0.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA  Staff Writer

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners snapped their 20-game losing streak in the American League West and might have broken the Angels' backs in the process.

The Mariners' 2-0 victory ended what had been an unprecedented losing streak. It was not only the longest losing streak within a division, it was tied for the longest against any division.

Yet there the Mariners were Monday, in control of the Angels while the Oakland Athletics were beating the Boston Red Sox. The defeat put the Angels 6 1/2 games behind the A's with just over a month to play.

While that might sound like enough time, consider this: if the A's finally cool off and somehow go 16-15 down the stretch, the Angels will have to go 22-8 just to tie for the division lead.

The Angels went 20-8 from July1-Aug. 1, so maybe this group has that kind of run in them. But the A's are showing no signs of turning back into a .500 team again.

``It's always a race until the last game of the season,'' Angels infielder Howie Kendrick said. ``We finish up with (Oakland) and we're not going to lay down for anybody. We're a team here and we want to win ballgames and we want to go to the playoffs.''

While the Angels bats had come alive over the weekend against the New York Yankees with 26 runs and 43 hits, it was a 20-year-old that had their number Monday.

Felix Hernandez entered the start with a 1-3 record this month and a 5.72 ERA. He gave up seven runs in his previous start to match a season high.

Hernandez (11-12) gave up five hits with no walks in his first career shutout and finished off the Angels in 1 hour, 51 minutes. It was about half the length it took the Angels to play each game over the weekend against the Yankees.

He threw a first-pitch strike to 22 batters and had a three-ball count to just one batter, Chone Figgins to lead off the sixth inning.

``What he did was absolutely crush the strike zone early,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``For the most part, he was making pitches and going back after us to where we had to start squaring balls up and we weren't able to do that.''

Hernandez's complete game took 95 pitches and 15 of them were out of the strike zone. He had one pitch in the ninth inning register at 96 mph and when he struck out Vladimir Guerrero in the sixth, the scoreboard radar gun read 100 mph.

Angels starter Kelvim Escobar was nearly efficient as he went the full eight innings, the seventh complete game of his career and first that he lost. Escobar threw 106pitches, a tidy sum considering he had nine strikeouts.

Escobar's only trouble came in the fourth inning, and even then the Mariners were having their problems with the right-hander.

Adrian Beltre started off the rally with an infield single while Raul Ibanez singled to right-center. Richie Sexson crushed a ball off the left- field wall for a run-scoring double and Kenji Johjima drove in the second run on another infield single.

``I had a bad break right there (in the fourth inning),'' Escobar said. ``I think the only time they hit the ball hard was the double. I made some good pitches to Ibanez and even the ground ball by Beltre was a good pitch.''

It was just another in a string of hard-luck games for Escobar this season as he has a 9-12 record with a 3.79 ERA. The Angels have scored three runs or less in nine of his 12 defeats this season.

``It's happened to me before, so it didn't really surprise me,'' Escobar said. ``I'm happy with the way I threw tonight. I was out there for eight innings and I kept the team in the ballgame. That's all you can do. You can't control the rest.''

The Angels also can't control what the A's do until the teams play seven times over the last 10 days of the season.

``We have to be close because, I don't think that's a team that's going to lose every single game against us,'' Orlando Cabrera said. ``It makes you think about yourself realizing it's only up to you to win regardless of what they do. They don't care. They keep winning.

``We just have to keep playing our game and win every night as much as we can and wait for them to fall.''

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Angels pitcher Kelvim Escobar threw a complete game, but was outdueled by Seattle's Felix Hernandez.

Kevin P. Casey/Associated Press

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ANGELS at SEATTLE

- Doug Padilla