ANGELS LOCK UP WEST FOR A'S SALMON'S 11TH-INNING HOMER ERASES MARINERS' TITLE CHANCES ANGELS 2, SEATTLE 1.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - As Randy Winn's RBI single off Troy Percival trickled up the middle and into center field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday, a small but boisterous group of Seattle Mariners fans at Edison Field roared with relief.

In the press box, general manager Pat Gillick stopped his pacing and exhaled momentarily. The Mariners were still alive in the American League West race.

Alive for another 45 minutes or so.

All Winn's hit did was spoil the victory for Scot Shields, who pitched eight shutout innings, and delay the Mariners' inevitable elimination. That occurred in the 11th inning, when Tim Salmon ripped a home run to left-center field off former teammate Shigetoshi Hasegawa to give the Angels a 2-1 victory in front of 37,645.

The Mariners' loss, combined with Oakland's 4-3 victory over Texas, eliminated the Mariners from the AL West race, and they're 3 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card chase.

The Angels, meanwhile, recorded their second walk-off victory of the season and saw Shields' up-and-down audition as a starter take another upward tick.

Like a volatile stock or celebrity marriage, Shields' future seems to take unpredictable dips and turns with every passing week.

After giving up 39 hits in a 25-inning, five-start span recently, Shields seemed destined to regain the long-reliever-for-life tag that's followed him since he reached the big leagues for good last June.

But now, on the cusp of an Angels offseason that will determine the future of several fringe Angels, Shields has rallied again. On Tuesday, he pitched eight shutout innings only to see Percival blow the win by walking two and giving up Winn's single.

For the second consecutive start, Shields pitched more than well enough to win. Tuesday's three-hit, nine-strikeout performance came on the heels of an eight-inning, four-hit performance, an outing in which he nearly outdueled Oakland's Barry Zito.

Most significantly, he finished strongly. For a pitcher whose biggest concern is durability, Shields struck out two in his final inning of work. He finished by striking out Ichiro Suzuki on a fastball with his 110th pitch, then practically bounced off the mound into the dugout.

It was a far cry from a five-start stretch that culminated in a four-inning, four-homer debacle in Oakland, after which Shields said he couldn't blame the Angels if they pursued every available free agent starter from Chicago to Culiacan.

In two starts since, Shields has chewed up 16 innings and given up just seven hits, striking out 15.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com