ANGELS COME BACK TO DEFEAT ROYALS ANGELS 9, K.C. 8.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - One ghastly inning from the Kansas City Royals - the worst team in baseball - was enough to undo eight innings of ineptitude by the Angels and give them the opportunity to pull off their most stunning, stirring victory of the year.

It ended with one swing of Dallas McPherson's bat, when the struggling rookie third baseman hit his second game-winning home run in as many nights: a one-out, solo homer to center field off Royals reliever Mike MacDougal to give the Angels a 9-8, 10-inning victory in front of a crowd of 40,834 that went from boo-crazy to disbelieving in a matter of minutes.

The giddy mosh pit that engulfed McPherson at home plate celebrated with greater intensity than usual, because this was far from your garden-variety walkoff win.

One minute, the Angels were down 8-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, and left fielder Garret Anderson was hearing a barrage of boos after a ball skipped by him, a disastrous three-base error that enabled three runs to score.

A five-run rally, with all the runs scoring before Kansas City recorded an out, gave the Angels new life. An inning later, McPherson ended it with a vicious cut off MacDougal.

And a club that has yet to spend a day out of first place, yet somehow felt like a band of underachievers, had a rallying point they likely won't soon forget.

``I've been on teams where it seemed like there was that one game we look back on and said, 'That's the game that got us going,''' starting pitcher Paul Byrd said. ``This might be that one.''

If it is, the Angels might want to vote Royals shortstop Angel Berroa a playoff share.

After Anderson's gaffe, much of the crowd got up and left. The Angels' anemic offense had gone 37 innings without producing more than two hits in an inning, and a loss that would drop them to second place for the first time this season sure looked inevitable.

Those who departed missed a wild comeback.

It began innocently enough, when Juan Rivera drew a leadoff walk from reliever Mike Wood, and Bengie Molina bounced a harmless grounder in the hole to Berroa. The ball clanged off Berroa's glove for an error that, it turned out, was a preview of the impending disaster.

McPherson slapped an RBI single to left, making it 8-4. Orlando Cabrera singled, and then Adam Kennedy hit a potential double-play grounder to Berroa. But the third-year shortstop fired his throw wide of second baseman Ruben Gotay.

The ball trickled into no-man's land down the right-field line. Three runs scored. The crowd - or what was left of it - roared. Kennedy chugged into third. It was 8-7.

Chone Figgins' single tied the score, completing the Angels' biggest ninth-inning comeback in five years, before Wood and MacDougal got out of the inning.

After Scot Shields pitched a clean 10th inning, McPherson crushed a MacDougal pitch to end it.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Dallas McPherson (23) is greeted at home by delirious teammates after his 10th-inning homer completed the Angels' amazing comeback.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

(1) ANGELS vs. KANSAS CITY

- Gabe Lacques

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC