ANGELS DRAW A BLANK ZITO, A'S CLIMB INTO 2ND PLACE OAKLAND 3, ANGELS 0.Byline: Greg MacDonald Staff Writer ANAHEIM - The Angels' Paul Byrd Paul Gregory Byrd (born December 3, 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Cleveland Indians. Byrd attended Louisiana State University where he pitched as part of the Tigers baseball team that won the 1991 and Oakland's Barry Zito Barry William Zito (born May 13 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He previously played seven seasons with the Oakland Athletics. each brought four-game winning streaks. And for almost five innings Wednesday, both showed why they have been so successful recently, pitching well in a scoreless struggle. Then Byrd blinked. The Angels right-hander gave up a two-run home run to Mark Ellis Mark Ellis is the name of:
The A's moved into second 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. , 6 1/2 games behind In sports, the phrase games behind, often abbreviated as GB in tables, is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division. the Angels, after Texas lost 8-4 to the New York Yankees  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. The Rangers remain seven games behind the Angels.
Byrd, who limited Oakland to two hits in the first four innings, seemed to be cruising through the fifth before he gave up a two-out single to Nick Swisher Nicholas Thompson Swisher (born November 25, 1980) is a first baseman and outfielder for the MLB club Oakland Athletics. Swisher is a switch hitter who throws left-handed. . Ellis, the Athletics' No. 9 hitter, then followed with a shot over the left-center field wall to give Oakland a 2-0 lead. Mark Kotsay Mark Steven Kotsay (born December 2, 1975) is an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics. A native of Whittier, California[1], Kotsay was selected by the Florida Marlins the 9th pick of the Amateur Draft in 1996 out of Cal State Fullerton. led off the top of the sixth inning against Byrd (9-6) with his ninth home run of the season, increasing the A's advantage to 3-0. It was all Zito (8-8) needed. The Athletics' left-hander allowed five hits in seven scoreless innings while striking out six and walking two. Zito, who starred at Pierce College In 2006 the Library won a national Excellence award. Academics Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. and USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. , has won five consecutive games and evened his record against the Angels to 1-1 this season. Zito lost to the Angels 6-1 on April 15. Justin Duchscherer held the Angels scoreless in the eighth inning, and Huston Street pitched the ninth to convert his seventh save. Bengie Molina gave the Angels their best opportunity to score a run against Zito when he led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the left-field line. Juan Rivera struck out looking, Steve Finley grounded out to second, and Adam Kennedy, after Orlando Cabrera drew a walk and stole second base, struck out swinging to end the threat. The Angels, who dropped to 12-14 against left-handed starting pitchers this season, had plenty of early chances. In the bottom of the second, Molina, who went 4 for 4 to equal his career high for hits in a game, singled sharply to left field with one out. Rivera then followed by walking on a 3-2 pitch. But Finley could not drive in a run for the Angels, grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. Chone Figgins singled with two out in the bottom of the third and stole second - his 31st steal of the season - on Zito's second pitch to Darin Erstad. Figgins was stranded at second when Erstad grounded out to second. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Garret Anderson hit a line drive that whistled past Zito and into center for a single. As Anderson was running on a 3-2 pitch, Molina slapped the Zito offering into left for a single to put runners on first and third. The rally abruptly came to an end when Rivera grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the fifth, Cabrera was hit by a pitch with one out. Adam Kennedy grounded out to second as Cabrera was running, so Figgins stepped to the plate with a runner in scoring position. But Figgins could not bring Cabrera home, grounding out to short to end the inning. Brendan Donnelly pitched a scoreless seventh, and Esteban Yan allowed only one hit in the eighth and ninth to keep the Angels within striking distance. Greg MacDonald, (626) 962-8811 greg.macdonald(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 5 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) Former Pierce College and USC star Barry Zito throws seven shutout innings against the Angels. (2) A's shortstop Bobby Crosby throws to first after getting a force at second. Jeff Gross/Getty Images Box: (1) ANGELS vs. N.Y. YANKEES - Greg MacDonald (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. (5) STORY LINES |
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