ANGELS SPIN THEIR WHEELS OPPORTUNITIES KNOCK, BUT AREN'T ANSWERED ANGELS VS. TORONTO, LATE.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The Angels were in a giving mood Thursday, squandering opportunities while creating others for the opponent.

The Angels appeared to have it won in the ninth inning of a 4-4 tie. A Chone Figgins infield single and stolen base was followed by Tommy Murphy's bunt single.

With nobody out, it seemed a preface to victory until Adam Kennedy flew out to short left field, Orlando Cabrera popped out and Tim Salmon struck out looking after Vladimir Guerrero was walked intentionally.

Figgins didn't even start, the first time in 41 games he had been held out of the starting lineup. Mired in both offensive and defensive slumps, Figgins didn't enter the game until the seventh inning as a pinch runner for Robb Quinlan.

The Angels were trying to win a series for the first time in seven tries. The last time the Angels had won a series was May 24-26 against the Detroit Tigers, who just moved into first place in the American League Central.

At the time of their last series success, the Angels were in first place themselves with a slim lead in the AL West, but all that is a memory now.

This one turned into a mess because of a botched play at first base that led to a dropped fly ball in the outfield to let the Blue Jays score a run.

There was also the decision to have rookie Mike Napoli try a suicide squeeze bunt in a tie game in the eighth inning even though he had three hits in his first three at-bats. He popped up the bunt back to the pitcher for an inning-ending double play.

Napoli has been prone to the strikeout as his 29 in 78 at-bats at Triple-A Salt Lake earlier this season would attest. He had five strikeouts in 22 major-league at-bats before Thursday.

The Angels were unfazed by Halladay in the third just after the Blue Jays had taken a 1-0 lead. Napoli started things with a leadoff single and after Quinlan and Murphy struck out, they put together three consecutive hits for three runs.

Kennedy gave the Angels their first run with a double to right-center and Cabrera followed with an RBI single to center for a 2-1 lead. Guerrero made it three consecutive hits, but not until after he hit the dirt.

Halladay came inside on Guerrero with a fastball under his chin and he fell to the dirt as he spun away. Cabrera advanced to second on the wild pitch. On the very next pitch, Guerrero punched a single through the right side of the infield to score Cabrera for a 3-1 lead.

The Blue Jays tied the game 3-3 in the sixth inning off Angels starter John Lackey on back-to-back RBI doubles from Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios.

With Lackey gone in the seventh inning, reliever Brendan Donnelly ran into some bad luck, or rather bad defense by his teammates.

Reed Johnson opened the inning with a double and moved to third on a one-out single by Vernon Wells that came about only because Donnelly and first baseman Quinlan tried to field a slow roller with nobody covering the bag.

Troy Glaus followed with a popup to short right field that Guerrero ran under but then dropped. Johnson scored for a 4-3 Blue Jays lead and Guerrero avoided an error only because he was able to get a force out on Wells at second.

Napoli got the Angels back into the game 4-4 with a home run to right- center off Halladay to start the Angels' half of the seventh inning. It was Napoli's second career home run and first since he hit one May 4 in his first career at-bat.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Vladimir Guerrero, left, tries to catch a fly ball hit by Toronto's Troy Glaus that scored a run in the seventh.

(2) Angels starter John Lackey walked five and gave up three runs in his six innings Thursday vs. Toronto.

Francis Specker/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS at DODGERS

- Doug Padilla