HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SKIPPER ANGELS GIVE INTERIM MANAGER ROENICKE A GIFT: HIS THIRD WIN ANGELS 9, SEATTLE 7.

Byline: BEN VILLA Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Ron Roenicke celebrated his 50th birthday Saturday night and, even though the Seattle Mariners threatened to blow out his candles, the Angels managed to give their acting manager the best present of them all: another win.

Maicer Izturis hit his fifth home run of the season and Garret Anderson went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored as the Angels held on to beat the Mariners 9-7 in front of 44,106 at Angel Stadium.

The win was Roenicke's third straight managing the Angels while manager Mike Scioscia was serving a three-game suspension for a bench-clearing brawl in Texas on Wednesday.

Scioscia will return to the dugout today when the Angels go for a four-game sweep against the Mariners. Roenicke, who's normally the bench coach, will serve his one-game suspension today for his part in the melee.

The Angels needed to win to stay 4 1/2 games behind Oakland for first place in the AL West. Earlier Saturday, the A's defeated the Royals 7-2.

``Even when you win ugly, they still count and it was nice to go 3-0,'' Roenicke said. ``Offensively, we played classic baseball tonight. We got guys on, and we got them in. It was really textbook, and fortunately for us, we kept swinging the bats all game long because we really needed the runs tonight.''

At the beginning, it looked as if the Angels would win going away, as they took an early 4-0 lead against former teammate Jarrod Washburn.

Washburn had not lost to the Angels in his three previous starts this year, winning twice. But the Angels got to him for two runs in the first inning, with Orlando Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero each driving in a run.

In the second inning, they scored another run on a RBI groundout by Mike Napoli. In the fourth, Howie Kendrick came through with a triple that scored Juan Rivera.

But Angels starter John Lackey couldn't hold it.

Lackey, who has been struggling after a brilliant July, for which he was named the AL Pitcher of the Month, hasn't won a game since July 30. He couldn't make it out of the fifth inning.

The Mariners sent nine batters to the plate in the inning, scoring five runs, highlighted by a two-run home run by Ben Broussard that gave Seattle a 5-4 lead.

Lackey was replaced by Hector Carrasco after he gave up a double. Lackey went 4 2/3 innings, and allowed 12 hits and five earned runs.

``I fell behind hitters, and I didn't locate quite as well,'' Lackey said. ``The Mariners take comfortable swings against me. It has to make you wonder. I don't know if I'm tipping my pitches, but they look comfortable, and it's something that I'm going to have to look into.''

The Angels got Lackey off the hook when they rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead for good on an RBI single by Anderson, who later came around to score on a clutch two-out, RBIsingle by Napoli against Mariners reliever Mark Lowe.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Angels seemed to break the game open.

Izturis led off the inning by hitting a 1-1 pitch over the right-field wall for a home run, and with two out, Juan Rivera doubled.

Mariners left-hander George Sherrill was then brought in to face Anderson, but the strategy didn't work.

Anderson doubled down the right-field line for his third hit of the game, scoring Rivera with the Angels' eighth run.

Robb Quinlan followed with an RBI triple of his own down the right-field line and the Angels led 9-5.

Carrasco wound up being the unsung hero, pitching 2 2/3 innings while scattering three hits to earn his fourth win.

The Mariners made things interesting in the top of the ninth inning, thanks to some shoddy Angels defense. With Adrian Beltre at first base, Guerrero dropped a fly ball off the bat of Raul Ibanez to put runners on first and second. It was the Angels' fourth error of the night.

After Scot Shields struck out Richie Sexson, he allowed an RBI single to Kenji Johjima. Francisco Rodriguez was brought in from the bullpen to close the game.

Rodriguez gave up an RBI double to Broussard that cut the Angels lead to 9-7, but with the tying run at second base and just one out, the right-hander came back to strike out Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Snelling to end the game. It was Rodriguez's 34th save and the 10th loss in a row for the Mariners.

``(Saturday night) was nerve wracking,'' Scioscia said. ``The last two games, I had already changed into street clothes at the end, but tonight the game was so close, I never had a chance to get out of uniform.

``You normally don't win when you make four errors and give up 18hits, but we held on.''

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Photo:

Seattle's Kenji Johjima stands by as the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero scores on Garret Anderson's single.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

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ANGELS vs. SEATTLE

- Ben Villa