ANGELS SHOW RIVAL HOW TO MOVE ON.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

The Angels held off the Dodgers again on Saturday afternoon with one arm tied behind their backs. Actually, with a couple of arms tied behind their backs. Also a shoulder, a hamstring and a quadriceps.

The middle game of this weekend's Battle for Los Angeles was the one the slumping Dodgers were supposed to be able to win.

So although they made it closer than the blowout of the night before, they succeeded only in confirming the gap between L.A.'s ballclubs.

``These things happen,'' Jeff Kent said of the Dodgers' slide to third place. ``Good teams get over it and move on.''

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the best example of getting over it and moving on was being provided by the Angels.

The Angels went into their 3-1 victory in front of 53,631 fans at Dodger Stadium without their two .300 hitters, Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson, and their bullpen ace, Francisco Rodriguez.

Guerrero went onto the 15-day disabled list after hurting his left shoulder diving into home plate on Friday night. Anderson (Kennedy High of Granada Hills) sat out a third game in a row because of tightness in his right hamstring. K-Rod was completing a week on the sidelines caused by a forearm strain.

Then there's Kelvim Escobar, who's on the DL with a bone spur in his pitching elbow; Jarrod Washburn, who left Friday's start with a stiff forearm but doesn't expect to miss an appearance; and catcher Bengie Molina, still not 100 percent 10 days after his return from a thigh strain.

The result of all this was that as they got ready to face Brad Penny on Saturday, the Angels tacked up a batting order made up entirely of guys hitting .265 and below. The Angels' lineup came into the game with a total of 17 home runs. Barry Bonds has that many by himself at this point in a healthy season.

The Angels didn't just talk about getting over it and moving on.

They went out and won for the sixth time in eight games since Escobar's injury in a loss to Cleveland began this run on the trainer's room.

``Over the last couple of years, there's just kind of an expectation here,'' Angels starter John Lackey said.

``We know if somebody goes down, somebody needs to step up. ... You can't do anything about (injuries). You just handle your own business.''

Lackey knew he might not have much room for error Saturday with Steve Finley (.201) batting cleanup in place of Guerrero (.303) in a lineup that hasn't been scoring a lot of runs anyway.

The right-hander moved on and continued his sharp pitching of the past month by striking out nine of 11 hitters in the middle innings.

It helped that Lackey faced a team that has the occasional breakout game but has largely forgotten how to push runs across the plate.

A Milton Bradley double and an Antonio Perez single made it 1-1 in the seventh. On either side of that, the Dodgers went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

``We've gone through these things on every team I've been on,'' Kent said. ``These are good learning experiences for good teams. You have to suck it up.''

Which is more or less what Angels Mike Scioscia was saying before the game after enumerating the Angels' injuries.

``This happens to ever major-league team in the course of a season,'' Scioscia said. ``Your depth is always going to be tested. We have a strong bench that we're confident in.''

Of course it wasn't the bench alone that produced the Angels' runs on Saturday.

Jose Molina, giving his brother a day off, homered to make it 1-0 in the third and singled to start the go-ahead rally in the eighth.

Then Scot Shields, in Rodriguez's role as closer, stopped the Dodgers in the eighth and ninth.

The Angels could afford to have one closer tied behind their back, since the Dodgers don't even use theirs these days.

Since Eric Gagne came off the disabled list seven games ago, the Dodgers haven't presented him with a save opportunity.

For the past month, these have been two teams going in opposite directions on Interstate 5. The Angels are 18-10 since starting 7-7. The Dodgers are 10-18 since starting 12-2.

But this was one the Dodgers were supposed to win and the Angels were supposed to lose.

Rodriguez is due back in the bullpen, and Anderson and Bengie Molina are scheduled to be back in the lineup today as the Angels go for the sweep.