ANGELS NOT IN MERCIFUL MOOD KANSAS CITY GETS NO PITY IN SERIES OPENER ANGELS 9, KANSAS CITY 4.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - No, it wasn't quite the same as staring down Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, etc., and sweeping the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium.

But the Angels, fresh off their weekend dismantling of the Yankees, showed they would not take last-place Kansas City lightly, even a Royals lineup that featured David DeJesus, Ruben Gotay and Abraham Nunez.

More important to the Angels is how they're playing, not who they're playing, and on Monday night it all came together in a 9-4 victory in front 40,717 at Angel Stadium.

It was the Angels' sixth win in a row and their 14th in 18 games. At 24-14, the Angels are tied with the Oakland Athletics for the best record in the American League since the All-Star break.

The Athletics also won on Monday, so the Angels remain a half-game out of first place in the AL West. But the victory moved them ahead of Texas and into a tie with Boston for the wild-card lead.

Angels starter Bartolo Colon (13-9) continues to lead the pitching staff, winning for the eighth time in his past nine starts. He was almost unhittable through seven innings before surrendering two home runs in the eighth.

Colon gave up three runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings.

The Angels had 13 hits, including three each by David Eckstein and Jose Guillen. They also flexed their muscles, and not only during batting practice, when Troy Glaus - recovering from shoulder surgery - impressed many with a display of his power.

Vladimir Guerrero and Guillen hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, turning a 1-0 game into 5-0.

The Angels added four more runs in the sixth thanks to four singles, a walk and some shoddy Royals defense, but it was really overkill with the way Colon was pitching.

DeJesus led off the game with a single to left-center but was thrown out by center fielder Garret Anderson trying to stretch it to a double.

Had DeJesus known baserunners would be so few and far between, he might have thought twice about taking such a chance.

Abraham Nunez singled with one out in the second, but the Royals didn't get another hit until Calvin Pickering hit a two-run homer in the eighth. In between, Colon retired 16 of 17 batters, allowing only a one-out walk to Joe Randa in the fourth.

The Angels took a few innings to get started against Royals starter Darrell May, but they finally got it going in the fourth.

Guillen led off the fourth with a single and advanced to third on two flyouts before scoring on a single by Chone Figgins.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

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Photo:

Reliever Kevin Gregg (63) is congratulated by catcher Jose Molina and first baseman Darin Erstad after closing out the Angels' 9-4 win over the Royals on Monday night at Angel Stadium.

Ric Francis/Associated Press

Box: ANGELS 9, ROYALS 4