ANGELS BLOODIED, NOT BROKEN PULL WITHIN ONE GAME OF AL WEST-LEADING A'S ANGELS 2, ATHLETICS 1.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - One by one, Angels players filed into the clubhouse conference room for a pregame meeting Wednesday afternoon. It was a meeting for non-pitchers - not so much a ``hitters' '' meeting, because if they were hitters, there would have been no need for a meeting at all.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia called off batting practice, allowing players to arrive at the ballpark later than normal, just as long as the position players were there for the meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes.

To say the meeting was productive might be pushing things a little, considering the Angels scored only two runs. But the two runs were enough because pitcher John Lackey was outstanding in the Angels' 2-1 win over the Oakland A's in front of a sellout crowd of 43,501 at Angel Stadium.

Lackey (11-5) threw seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits while striking out seven. He outdueled A's starter Joe Blanton (8-10), who gave up two runs and six hits in eight innings.

The Angels' win moved them to within one game of the first-place A's in the AL West and kept them one game behind the Yankees in the wild-card race.

Of the meeting, Scioscia said before the game the ``message was not generic, because everybody's different.'' But the overall package has been one of non-production, the club hitting just .238 and averaging 2.7 runs per game in the past week, which included a five-game losing streak.

Despite Scioscia's intentions, Wednesday's game was reflective of the entire season. Little hitting and solid pitching, Lackey getting help from Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez, who bounced back from Tuesday's loss to earn his 31st save with a scoreless ninth.

Lackey handed the ball over to the bullpen to start the eighth, but Shields promptly lost the shutout bid. Scott Hatteberg's two-out single scored Eric Chavez from second to make it 2-1, but Shields retired Nick Swisher with the bases loaded the escape with the lead intact.

The meeting looked like a good idea as the Angels loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first inning. But they came away empty after Darin Erstad struck out and Bengie Molina grounded out to second on an outstanding play by Mark Ellis.

The Angels broke through against Blanton in the fourth inning after Vladimir Guerrero singled and scored on Erstad's double. With two out, Erstad scored on Maicer Izturis' bloop single to center.

On the play, both Ellis and shortstop Marco Scutaro chased the ball into shallow center, leaving no one to cover second base. It became a race to the bag between Izturis and center fielder Jay Payton, who had fielded the hit. Izturis dived in head-first and Payton went in feet first, spiking Izturis on the right forearm and blocking him from the bag to get the out.

Izturis needed a bandage to cover the wound but remained in the game.

Meanwhile, Lackey made it look easy. Through five innings he allowed only two hits, both singles, and just one A's baserunner to get into scoring position. In the sixth, the A's loaded the bases on a hit-batsman, walk and infield single with two outs for Bobby Kielty, who won Tuesday's game with a home run.

Kielty worked the count full before grounding out to second to end the inning.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 5 boxes

Photo:

Bengie Molina, left, congratulates Vladimir Guerrero, who scored on an RBI single by Darin Erstad in the fourth inning against Oakland.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

Box:

(1) OAKLAND at ANGELS

- Joe Haakenson

(2) HERE TO STAY?

(3) GAME RECAP

(4) ALMANAC 

(5) HOW THE RUNS SCORED