ANGELS LOSE ON SOME CLOSE CALLS : OAKLAND 6, ANGELS 5.

Byline: Joe Haakenson

For once, Kenny Rogers didn't beat the Angels.

But it could be argued that Drew Coble and Gary Cederstrom played a big role in the Oakland A's 6-5 win before 8,377 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Coble and Cederstrom don't play for the A's, they were the first base and plate umpires, respectively, for Wednesday night's game. Rogers, the A's pitcher who has beaten the Angels more than any other team in his career, was out of the game and in line to lose when the A's rallied thanks to questionable calls by the umpires.

It was a tough way for the Angels to lose, considering they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Rogers, their long-time nemesis.

Angels starter Chuck Finley (1-1) took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh and retired Tony Phillips on a fly to center for the first out. That's when Jason McDonald hit a grounder to the hole at short, where Andy Sheets backhanded the ball and made the long throw to first.

The ball was in the dirt, but first baseman Darin Erstad dug it out. The throw was in time, but Coble gestured that Erstad pulled his foot off the bag. Replays showed Erstad's foot was on the bag.

The next batter, Jason Giambi, appeared to strike out on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt. However, Cederstrom ruled Giambi got a piece of it to stay alive. Replays showed Giambi missed the ball by nearly a foot.

Giambi walked on the next pitch, and Finley was yanked.

Then the Angels bullpen, which had been good so far this season, couldn't throw the ball over the plate.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in to face John Jaha, and walked him to load the bases. Mike Magnante entered the game and walked Matt Stairs on a 3-2 pitch to force in McDonald with the tying run. Olmedo Saenz followed with a sacrifice fly to give the A's a 6-5 edge.

``It could have changed (the outcome), yeah,'' Angels manager Terry Collins said of the blown calls. ``But you still have to come in and go after somebody and we didn't.''

While the Angels believe they were hurt by the bad calls, they wouldn't use it as an excuse.

``I've still got to come back and get Giambi out there,'' Finley said. ``What am I going to do? From where I was, he missed it by a foot. I don't know if that necessarily would have changed the game or not, but it might have made a difference.''

Catcher Charlie O'Brien said he has never seen an umpire miss a call like that during his long major-league career.

``He missed it by at least a foot, it wasn't even close,'' O'Brien said. ``I asked for help (from the third-base ump), but (Cederstrom) said he thought he tipped it.''

Cederstrom was unavailable for comment after the game, but Coble, the crew chief, spoke for him.

``I think he heard it,'' Coble said. ``You get used to hearing a couple of sounds. It's a reaction, a reflex.''

As for the call at first, Erstad shrugged.

``He called him safe, that's baseball,'' he said. ``That's his discretion, his ruling. If he says he's safe, he's safe. I asked him why, because I knew the throw beat him. He said I pulled my foot, and I said `What?' That was it.''

The Angels rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the seventh inning by making the most out of a little. A bloop single, a sacrifice, an infield single and an error led to one run. Erstad's third hit of the night off Rogers drove in the second run of the inning to give the Angels a 5-4 lead.

Notes: Jim Edmonds was examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum Wednesday, who reported the center fielder's right shoulder is improving. However, the shoulder - which has a cyst in the muscle and wear and tear to the labrum - does not feel good enough for Edmonds to swing a bat without pain.

Edmonds, whose medication and physical therapy program have been altered, won't be ready by the weekend for the Angels three-game series against the Mariners at Edison Field. Instead, Edmonds will be re-evaluated this weekend. . . .

In the ninth inning of Tuesday's game against the A's, Orlando Palmeiro mistakenly thought the hit-and-run sign had been put on when it was actually the bunt sign. So Palmeiro broke from first and was thrown out at second after the A's pitched out.

Collins was upset about it after the game, and Wednesday he did something about it.

``I don't want to confuse guys with signs, so they'll be changed today, Collins said. ``(The signs) are not real hard, but because we've missed some, we're going to change 'em. . . .