ANGELS BEATEN BY A'S IN NINTH TEJADA DRIVES IN GAME-WINNER OAKLAND 4, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

OAKLAND - Miguel Tejada spent much of Monday night muttering to himself, unable to understand why he kept swinging at balls in the dirt. The Oakland Athletics shortstop struck out twice swinging at sliders thrown by Angels starter John Lackey that bounced, but in the ninth inning he could forget about it.

With a Network Associates Coliseum crowd of 22,326 chanting ``MVP, MVP,'' Tejada bounced a single up the middle off reliever Al Levine to score Ray Durham from second base and give the A's a 4-3 victory and a tie with the Angels atop the American League West.

The loss ended the Angels' winning streak at six games. It was only their second loss in their past 18 games, but both have come against the A's and both were by one run.

``It was just another tough game with these guys,'' Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy said. ``It's going to come down to the wire.''

Levine entered the game in the ninth with the score tied at 3 and retired the first batter. But Durham, who homered to tie the game in the seventh, singled to center to get the rally started.

Pinch hitter David Justice hit a hard grounder up the middle that Kennedy was able to knock down. He picked it up but his throw to first was too late to get Justice, who was credited with an infield single.

Up next was Tejada, who was held to two hits in 14 at-bats in last week's four-game series in Anaheim and 1 for 4 Monday going into his ninth-inning at-bat. Levine was looking for a groundball that could be a double play and he got it, but it found a hole up the middle allowing Durham to score easily.

``It really doesn't matter,'' Levine said of getting groundballs in the inning. ``They might as well have been (expletive) lightning bolts. It (expletive) cost us the game.''

The Angels went into the game shorthanded. Left fielder Garret Anderson was in Monday's lineup originally, but after taking batting practice he was scratched because his sore right hamstring still bothered him. Anderson suffered the injury Saturday and sat out Sunday's game in Anaheim.

Troy Glaus was moved up from the sixth spot to take Anderson's cleanup spot and took an immediate liking to it. With two on and one out in the first inning, Glaus launched his team-leading 28th home run of the season over the fence in right-center for a 3-0 Angels lead.

Following his three-homer game Sunday, it was Glaus' fourth homer in as many at-bats, tying the major-league record accomplished numerous times, including three other times this season - by Mike Cameron, Shawn Green and Andruw Jones.

With a chance to make history, Glaus struck out looking in his next at-bat. But he wasn't the only Angel who stopped hitting after the first inning. After Glaus' homer, the Angels added only one more hit until Tim Salmon's one-out double in the seventh, as A's starter Cory Lidle settled into a groove.

``He did the same thing he's been doing for the last couple months,'' Kennedy said. ``He's throwing a lot of offspeed pitches for strikes.''

In the meantime, the A's worked their way back into it.

Lackey gave up two runs (one earned) and four hits in five innings, struggling throughout his performance but able to work his way out of some tough situations.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Troy Glaus hits a three-run homer in the first inning Monday night, his fourth homer in as many at-bats, for the Angels' only runs of the game.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Box:

STANDINGS