EVERYTHING STARTS TO COME TOGETHER FULLMER, WASHBURN KEY ANGELS WIN ANGELS 6, CLEVELAND 2.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

CLEVELAND - As the Angels got strong starting pitching to key their record 99-win season last year, designated hitter Brad Fullmer struggled for the better part of five months.

As Fullmer found himself this April, putting together what he called the best month of his career, that consistency from Angels pitchers suddenly disappeared.

But the past two nights at Jacobs Field, a productive Fullmer and strong pitching converged, and the results offer hope the Angels might yet have something special in them this season.

Jarrod Washburn took a shutout into the eighth inning Wednesday to key the Angels' 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on a night where Fullmer hit his fourth home run and ensured he'd end April as the leading hitter in the American League.

Fullmer started the season as the Angels' part-time designated hitter, an afterthought amid the crowd of postseason heroes in their clubhouse. But as Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus and Adam Kennedy battled injuries and first baseman Scott Spiezio struggled, Fullmer has emerged as an indispensable part of their lineup.

Wednesday, for just the second time this season, he started against a left- handed pitcher. In an even bigger show of faith, manager Mike Scioscia let him hit away on a 3-0 count against Brian Anderson.

Fullmer rewarded his manager by hitting a two-run home run to give the Angels a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

Fullmer has five hits in nine at-bats in the series, putting him atop the AL with a .392 average. Not that a batting title is in the back of his mind.

``Dude, I have no comment, no idea about that,'' said Fullmer, whose 18 RBI are second on the team to Garret Anderson. ``Leading the league in hitting is being locked in and getting breaks. That's all new for me. There's so many at-bats left this year.''

But Fullmer is already ahead of the game. He hit .219 last April, which he said was a carry-over from 2001. He said he was so enamored with his 32-home run season in 2000 that he tried to do it again in '01.

The result was a .274, 18-home run effort for Toronto, which traded him to the Angels the next offseason. Fullmer said he ``bottomed out'' last season, but he said struggling was good for him in the long run. It forced him to shorten his stroke.

``The fact I struggled so bad at the start last year has made me better mentally,'' he said. ``I wouldn't trade that for nothing.''

Washburn also struggled at the outset last season before posting an 18-win season. This April wasn't kind to him, either, but he righted himself Wednesday.

A hit batter, a double and a walk loaded the bases for Cleveland in the second, but Washburn got Brandon Phillips to ground out to end the inning. In the third, Washburn issued a leadoff walk to Omar Vizquel, and at that point he'd thrown as many balls as strikes.

Washburn responded, however, by getting not one, but two, double-play balls. The first wasn't completed because Shawn Wooten missed the bag while trying to finish a 3-6-3 double play.

No matter. After Ellis Burks singled, Washburn got Shane Spencer to ground to shortstop, where David Eckstein started the inning-ending double play.

Washburn, usually a flyball pitcher, used a sinker more often Wednesday to great effect. He struck out Phillips to start the eighth but gave up an infield single to Vizquel and then a two-run homer to Matt Lawton, dashing any chance at his first career shutout or nine-inning complete game.

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Photo:

The Angels' Bengie Molina watches his two-run homer in the fourth inning of Anaheim's 6-2 victory Wednesday over the Cleveland Indians.

Ron Schwane/Associated Press