ANGELS `BREAK' COMES EARLY BIG INNING DOOMS LACKEY SEATTLE 6, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The All-Star break is just a day away, a chance for players to get a little R&R, spend time with family and just relax. By all outward appearances, it seems the Angels have extended their time off by a few days, going on vacation just a little early.

For the third night in a row, the Angels were thoroughly outplayed by the last-place Seattle Mariners, Saturday's 6-3 loss cutting the Angels' American League West lead to six games over the Texas Rangers. It's their smallest lead in the division since being up by 5 1/2 games on June 25.

The Angels had not lost three games in a row in two months, when they lost two to the Tigers and one to the Indians June 7-9. It's also their longest losing streak of the season. The Angels haven't been swept in a series all season, but need a victory today to avoid maintain that streak.

Starting pitchers Bartolo Colon and Jarrod Washburn struggled to get outs in the first two games of the series, and Saturday it was John Lackey's turn. Lackey (6-4) went seven innings, putting up six zeroes along the way.

The Mariners did all their damage in a five-run fifth, beating the Angels at their own game - with a persistent, unrelenting attack. The Mariners had 12 hits in the game, none of which were home runs and only two going for extra bases.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Jose Molina singled, when to third on Chone Figgins' double and scored on a groundout by Darin Erstad. The lead only lasted until the fifth, when Lackey was revisited by an old nemesis - the big inning.

Only a couple of hours before Saturday's game, Angels manager Mike Scioscia explained that Lackey could avoid the big inning by focusing pitch to pitch, and not looking too far ahead.

The Mariners got six hits during a seven at-bat stretch in the fifth inning, scoring five runs for a 5-1 lead. Mike Morse, Randy Winn and Raul Ibanez each had RBI singles and Richie Sexson added a two-run double in the inning, during which the Mariners batted around.

``Sometimes the big inning snowballs,'' Scioscia said before the game.

``He needed to start thinking about the next pitch and not four pitches ahead.''

Early on, Lackey was nearly unhittable. Starting with a strikeout of Sexson to end the first and ending with a strikeout of Ichiro Suzuki in the third, Lackey struck out six consecutive batters, but it also forced him to throw a lot of pitches - 59 by the end of the third inning.

Lackey managed to gather himself and go seven innings, making 114 pitches, but the five runs he allowed marked his third consecutive start in which he's allowed as many, raising his ERA to 4.22.

The Angels opened their half of the seventh inning with back-to-back walks against Mariners starter Ryan Franklin, and after pinch hitter Curtis Pride hit into a force play, the Angels had runners on first and third with one out.

That marked the end of the night for Franklin, but reliever Ron Villone escaped with minimal damage.

Adam Kennedy had an RBI single, but Chone Figgins hit into a double play to end the inning and the Angels threat.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy (2) can't make the tag as Seattle's Willie Bloomquist steals second in the fifth inning Saturday.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

(1) ANGELS vs. SEATTLE

- Joe Haakenson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC