ANGELS STAND GROUND BUT LOSE MOLINA SHOWS GRIT; OAKLAND WINS IN NINTH OAKLAND 6, ANGELS 5.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

OAKLAND - On the day he found out he was omitted from the American League's All-Star Game roster, Bengie Molina showed exactly why his Angels teammates think he should be on that team.

He stood his ground, absorbed a blow from 220-pound Oakland Athletics outfielder Jermaine Dye, held onto the ball and got the Angels out of the fourth inning. Four innings later, he hit a two-run home run to help them erase a four-run deficit.

But in the end, with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the Angels in their five-infielder crisis-management alignment, he could not make Jeff DaVanon's throw arrive any sooner from right field. And so Sunday's game ended at home plate, Molina tagging Eric Byrnes without the ball and the A's escaping with a 6-5 victory to salvage the final game of a three-game series.

In perhaps the wildest game the Angels have played this season, they got a game-tying two-run homer from Scott Spiezio in the top of the ninth, which, coupled with Molina's two-run shot in the eighth, erased a 5-1 Oakland lead.

But after tying the game, they gave it back almost immediately. Scott Schoeneweis (1-1) gave up a leadoff double to Byrnes in the bottom of the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt, the Angels brought Darin Erstad in from center field, ringed the infield with five infielders and summoned Francisco Rodriguez to face reigning AL MVP Miguel Tejada.

Rodriguez did his job, getting Tejada to ground to third base. But Troy Glaus committed his 15th error, the most in the AL, and Tejada reached. What's more, if Glaus fielded the ball cleanly, he probably could have caught Byrnes straying too far off third base.

Instead, there was just one out and runners at the corners. Erubiel Durazo lifted a flyball to fairly shallow right field. DaVanon, playing way in with a runner at third, scrambled back, got in position and made an excellent throw to the plate, but the speedy Byrnes, a UCLA product, sneaked around it to score the game-winner. Molina thrust his glove at Byrnes, but the ball had not arrived yet.

The Angels didn't win the game, but Molina definitely won the battle with Dye.

Molina not only took Dye's best shot, he was around in the end to make a difference. Dye will miss up to six weeks with a badly separated shoulder. He refused comment after the game.

While all were in agreement Dye's play was not dirty, Molina was miffed Dye went out of his way to collide with him instead of going for the vacated plate, as Erstad's throw home was to the left.

``Why do you have to do that when you're 4 feet up the line?'' Molina said. ``I went to get the ball. He came after me. That's all. He didn't do any damage.''

Molina said a few words to Dye, jogged off the field and continued on.

Unfortunately for the Angels, most of Oakland's damage was done by then. Starter Jarrod Washburn gave up a two-run double to Mark Ellis one batter before the Dye-Molina collision in the fourth inning. Later, Washburn gave up a solo homer to Hernandez, the seventh consecutive game Washburn has yielded a home run.

Hernandez, despite inferior offensive numbers, was voted by AL players and coaches onto the All-Star team ahead of Molina, who also won a Gold Glove last season. This year, Molina is hitting .292 with nine homers and 49 RBI; Hernandez is at .270, 11 and 37, though both trail Boston's Jason Varitek offensively.

The Angels stranded 10 runners, with All-Star Garret Anderson grounding out with the bases loaded in the seventh. Glaus and DaVanon could not bring Anderson home after he singled following Spiezio's game-tying homer in the ninth.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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Photo:

Oakland's Jermaine Dye, right, collides with Bengie Molina in the fourth inning. Dye separated his shoulder on the play.

Ben Margot/Associated Press