ANGELS' LONG BALL ONLY GOES SO FAR RETURN TO TYPICAL APPROACH BEATS A'S ANGELS 9, OAKLAND 4.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - It was almost as though the Angels wanted to try something new, use a different approach to score some runs.

Garret Anderson's three-run home run in the third inning induced fireworks, excited the sellout crowd and gave the Angels a lead. But after the Oakland A's scored four runs in the sixth inning to go ahead, the Angels offense went back to doing what it does best.

A single here, a single there, maybe a bunt and a sacrifice fly, and the next thing you know, the Angels had put up a five-spot in the bottom of the sixth Saturday on their way to a 9-4 victory over the A's in front of 43,449 at Edison Field.

It was the Angels' fourth victory in a row and put them back over .500 (6-5) for the second time this season, only one game behind the first-place A's (7-4). The winning rally consisted of five singles (including two infield singles), one sacrifice bunt and one sacrifice fly.

The big blow, such as it was, came from Eric Owens, who delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single to right field off Ricardo Rincon that snapped a 4-4 tie.

Owens, the only player on the club who wasn't with the organization last year, said he feels like he belongs now.

``As the new guy, you want to come in and make an impression early in the season,'' said Owens, who is hitting .267. ``I try to thrive on situational hitting and fortunately I got a hit. It was what we needed after they scored four runs.''

Indeed it was Owens who drew most of the postgame attention for an opposite-field single, while Anderson's blast, his first of the season, seemed secondary.

``Our offense definitely is built around the style we saw in the sixth inning, as opposed to the three-run home run,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``Three-run home runs are nice, but I don't think we sit back and rely on that part of the game.''

Angels pitcher Ben Weber (1-0) earned the victory with 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Mickey Callaway.

Callaway, whose place in the starting rotation is tenuous at best pending the return of the injured Aaron Sele, pitched well enough to win in his second start of the season. He threw six scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers on April 1 to get the win, and Saturday he held the A's scoreless for five innings. Thanks to Anderson's home run, Callaway and the Angels took a 3-0 lead into the sixth.

But in the sixth, the A's got a rally started on Miguel Tejada's broken- bat infield single. After a walk to Eric Chavez, Jermaine Dye singled to center to drive in Tejada, and Callaway had yielded his first run of the season.

That was all it took for Scioscia to go to his bullpen, summoning left- hander Scott Schoeneweis to face the left-handed-hitting Erubiel Durazo. Durazo singled to right field to score Chavez, and Terrence Long, another left-handed hitter, blooped a double to left to score Dye and tie the game at 3-3, all three runs charged to Callaway.

After an intentional walk to Ramon Hernandez, Scioscia went to Weber out of the bullpen and A's manager Ken Macha called on Ron Gant to pinch hit for Chris Singleton. Gant hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Durazo to give the A's a 4-3 lead.

Because of off-days, the Angels didn't need a fifth starter for a while, so Callaway had 10 days of rest between starts, which he said had an effect on his stamina. Fortunately for him, the offense was ready to roll.

``That (sixth) inning reminded me a lot of last year,'' Callaway said. ``It was great to see the Rally Monkey come out.''

Tim Salmon led off the sixth with a single and went to third on a single by Anderson. Troy Glaus, limping noticeably on his sore left hamstring, managed to leg out an infield hit to drive in Salmon and tie the game at 4-4.