ANGELS' PARTY ON HOLD FOR NOW SEATTLE 6, ANGELS 4.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

SEATTLE - While the Angels were playing the Seattle Mariners on Saturday afternoon, the attendants in the visitors' clubhouse prepared for a postgame celebration. A victory by the Angels would clinch their first playoff appearance in 16 years.

But after the Angels gift-wrapped a victory and handed it to the Mariners, those plastic sheets used to protect the players' belongings remained dry and were stuffed into the cracks above the cubicles and out of the way.

Third baseman Troy Glaus' throwing error in the fifth inning cost the Angels four runs and was the difference in a 6-4 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 45,784 at Safeco Field.

The Mariners remain alive, barely, trailing the Angels by seven games with seven to play. The Boston Red Sox also won Saturday and remain alive, trailing by 7 1/2 games.

The Oakland A's beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 to increase their lead over the Angels in the American League West to two games.

``We helped them a little bit,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``I'm not going to say we handed it to them, but we did push it along to them. We shot ourselves in the foot, but he had an opportunity to get back into it.''

The Angels entered the fateful fifth inning leading 1-0, created when Garret Anderson singled home David Eckstein in the first. Angels starter John Lackey held the Mariners scoreless until the fifth when the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk.

Jeff Cirillo's sacrifice fly tied the game and Ichiro Suzuki's RBI single put the Mariners ahead 2-1. But Lackey got Carlos Guillen to pop out for the second out before walking Edgar Martinez to reload the bases.

John Olerud followed with a grounder to the hole at short. Glaus fielded the ball, turned and threw wildly past second baseman Adam Kennedy. The ball rolled into foul territory along the right-field line and all three baserunners scored, with Olerud reaching third. Bret Boone followed with an RBI double, and suddenly it was 6-1.

``Adam's playing (Olerud) to pull and so he had a long way to go,'' Scioscia said. ``The ball was deep enough in the hole that Troy thought he had an easier play at second. It's a play we know we can make.''

Angels first baseman Scott Spiezio was expecting a throw to him to get the slow-footed Olerud, but it never came.

``It's a tough play,'' Spiezio said. ``It's in the hole and you've got to get rid of it quickly. We would have had a play at first, but I think we had a play at both bases. Sometimes it's not easy to pick up your target when your target's moving.''

After Boone's double, Lackey was finished. He went 4 2/3 innings and gave up six runs, but only two were earned. He hasn't gone more than five innings in his past three starts, but the Angels were encouraged with his outing.

``I felt good today,'' Lackey (8-4) said. ``Some things happened out there, and it didn't work out for us.''

The Angels' bullpen again came in and shut down the opposition, including another impressive performance by 20-year-old Francisco Rodriguez, who struck out both batters he faced. After the fifth, the Mariners didn't score again, allowing the Angels to creep back into it.

In the seventh, Bengie Molina hit a solo homer and Darin Erstad hit a two-run homer off Mariners starter Freddy Garcia (16-10) to cut it to 6-4.

In the eighth, the Angels had runners on first and second with two outs, but Spiezio was picked off. Spiezio was trying to steal third on the play and took off when reliever Jeff Nelson lifted his leg. Nelson, though, wasn't going home. He spun and caught Spiezio in a rundown between second and third.

Spiezio was called out at third even though third-base umpire Doug Eddings admitted to an arguing Scioscia he blew the call because he was out of position.

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