ANGELS BATTER ORIOLES GUERRERO BREAKS OUT WITH 2 HOMERS ANGELS 10, BALTIMORE 1.Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer ANAHEIM - It probably wasn't a coincidence that the Angels' lone losing month this season also happened to be the worst month, statistically, of Vladimir Guerrero's career. But July is behind the Angels now, occupying roughly the same spot in their rearview mirror as the hard-charging Oakland Athletics “Philadelphia Athletics” redirects here. For other uses, see Philadelphia Athletics (disambiguation). The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. , and Tuesday night, they went about the business of defending a divisional lead that could have been erased to nothing. Not surprisingly, Guerrero was the driving force who ensured that didn't happen. He slammed a pair of towering two-run home runs - one to right field, one to left - off Baltimore Orioles This article is about the contemporary American major league baseball team. For other uses, see Baltimore Oriole (disambiguation). The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. starter Sidney Ponson Sir Sidney Alton Ponson (born November 2, 1976, in Noord, Aruba) is a baseball pitcher who last played for the Minnesota Twins. Prior to signing with the Twins, Ponson played most of his career with the Baltimore Orioles. , spearheading the Angels' 10-1 rout in front of an announced crowd of 43,643 at Angel Stadium. Oakland's 5-2 victory at Minnesota earlier Tuesday forced the Angels to win or surrender sole possession of first place in the American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. for the first time since June 7. The Orioles, a dispirited dis·pir·it·ed adj. Affected or marked by low spirits; dejected. See Synonyms at depressed. dis·pir  it·ed·ly adv.Adj. bunch after losing nine of their past 10 games and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro Guerrero was a part of that funk. He hit .208 in July, his worst full month ever, and recently suffered through a 5-for-50 slide. But two healthy swings off Ponson produced two homers, four runs driven in and and made what could have been a tough night for Angels starter Bartolo Colon a breeze. Guerrero's first homer followed Darin Erstad's one-out double in the third and made it a 3-0 game. It was Guerrero's 20th homer, the eighth consecutive season he's reached that mark. Garret Anderson Garret Joseph Anderson (born June 30, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball left fielder who has played his entire career for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. followed with a solo homer Noun 1. solo homer - a home run with no runners on base solo blast home run, homer - a base hit on which the batter scores a run for a 4-0 lead. And after two suffocating suf·fo·cate v. suf·fo·cat·ed, suf·fo·cat·ing, suf·fo·cates v.tr. 1. To kill or destroy by preventing access of air or oxygen. 2. To impair the respiration of; asphyxiate. 3. last-inning losses at Yankee Stadium • • [ , the Angels and Colon breathed much easier. ``That road trip, having every pitch mean something, got to us,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``The bullpen had been used so much I told them, I need to do something for you guys. When we went up 4-0, I took it on myself.'' Colon, who is 7-1 when pitching after an Angels loss, labored but made big pitches when necessary. He gave up 10 hits in his seven innings of work, but got Miguel Tejada Miguel Odalis Tejada (born May 25, 1976 in Baní, Dominican Republic), nicknamed "Miggi", is currently the shortstop of the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball team. to hit into an inning-ending double play with two on in the fifth. He stranded nine runners and struck out seven. Guerrero took the heat off Colon by the fifth. He followed Erstad's leadoff walk by hitting a sky-high fly to left field. Eric Byrnes gamely scaled the wall but came up inches short as the ball landed safely in the Angels bullpen for a 6-1 lead. When Orlando Cabrera piled on with a two-run single for an 8-1 lead in the sixth, it brought on a welcome sequence of garbage time. The Angels' miserable road trip featured four walk-off losses and three extra-inning losses, so a healthy cushion was all the more timely. Every starter reached base at least once, and the Angels banged out 14 hits and cracked the double-digit runs mark for the first time since June 27. ``They scored 10 runs and that's something we hadn't seen in a while,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``It was nice not to have to use some of those guys in the bullpen.'' Meanwhile, Oakland won for the 10th time in 11 games Tuesday, keeping the Angels' margin rail-thin. But the Angels can take solace in the fact that their starting pitching has rarely wavered in a season that once saw their lead balloon to 8 1/2 games. Colon continued that trend Tuesday. He completed seven innings for the third consecutive start, and this time he had an offensive feast supporting him. Guerrero led the way, as MVPs often do. ``A guy like that you're not going to keep down long,'' Erstad said. ``When he's struggling, the one thing that's nice is you know he'll come out of it.'' Gabe Lacques, (626) 962-8811 gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): photo, 4 boxes Photo: Angels starter Bartolo Colon pitches seven innings and Vladimir Guerrero provides the offense Tuesday night in a 10-1 rout of Baltimore. Danny Moloshok/Associated Press Box: (1) ANGELS vs. BALTIMORE - Gabe Lacques (2) GAME RECAP (3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED (4) ALMANAC almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. |
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