IT'S THE GOOD AND BAD FROM THE ANGELS' VLAD HITS 2 HRS, BUT HIS ERROR IS COSTLY OAKLAND 8, ANGELS 4.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- The multiple personalities of Vladimir Guerrero were on display Friday.

The powerful slugger continued his resurgence with two more home runs to give him four in two nights. The awkward defender also appeared, with an error that helped the Oakland Athletics put together a winning rally.

The A's rallied for an 8-4 victory with a five-run eighth inning as the Angels' American League West lead fell to 2(bul) games over the Seattle Mariners.

The dramatics all unfolded in the eighth inning. Guerrero's second home run of the night gave the Angels their first lead at 4-3. The solo shot off A's reliever Santiago Casilla was Guerrero's 18th home run of the season.

Reliever Scot Shields came on in the bottom of the eighth inning and got Jack Cust to hit a 399-foot flyball out to Gary Matthews Jr., to the base of the wall in center. After Mike Piazza got things started with an infield single, he was replaced by pinch runner J.J. Furmaniak.

Marco Scutaro followed with a single toward the foul line in left field that sent Furmaniak to third base. Guerrero retrieved the ball but looked undecided on where to throw it, finally deciding to fire it to Robb Quinlan standing near first base.

Quinlan was unable to handle the short hop on Guerrero's laser throw and it bounced toward the middle of the infield allowing Furmaniak to score the tying run.

Casey Kotchman typically is brought in late in games that Quinlan starts at first, but manager Mike Scioscia didn't make that change this time.

Quinlan batted in the eighth inning against the right-handed Casilla.

"We were short on players," Scioscia said. "If there was an offensive spot to use Casey, we obviously would have looked at that. We talked about it but felt we'd be OK there."

The A's broke things open after that as Dan Johnson's double gave the A's a 5-4 lead. Donnie Murphy also had an RBI hit while Travis Buck added a two-run double.

"Everything was right, the ball just skipped and I missed it," said Quinlan, who was surprised when Guerrero first looked at second base and then fired what looked like a hurried throw toward first base. "It could have gone either way. The bottom line is we didn't get it done."

Shields was tagged for five runs on four hits in his two-thirds of an inning. He has struggled since the All-Star break with a 9.64ERA in 91/3 innings, after putting together a 1.70 ERA before the break.

"I feel fine," Shields said. "The ball is coming out of my hand fine. I had an infield hit and a bloop hit and then I started getting hit around around a little bit. I pitched like (crud). You can write whatever the (heck) you guys want because I deserve it."

Shields looked to be even more upset on the field after the tying run scored. He pounded his glove and stalked back to the mound before the A's started to lay into him.

"I was (mad) but it didn't affect me," he said. "Of course I'm going to be upset but as soon as I get back on the rubber, I don't know if anybody saw it, I took a deep breath and I was fine. Dan Johnson went with a pitch and hit a double pretty hard."

It was the second time Guerrero has had back-to-back two-home-run games, also accomplishing the feat in 2000 in consecutive days against the New York Mets and Florida Marlins.

The last Angels player to have consecutive multi-home-run games was Jeff DaVanon, who did it in three consecutive games in 2003.

"Vlad came out in a big way (the past two games)," Scioscia said. "Unfortunately we couldn't take advantage of it. He's amazing. When he gets locked in, he's capable of doing the things you're seeing."

Dustin Moseley pitched well but ended up with nothing to show for it. The right-hander gave up three runs on four hits in 61/3innings, allowing all of his runs in the third inning.

His outing likely earned him another start Wednesday at home against Boston.

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Vladimir Guerrero hit two homers Friday, but his eighth-inning error led to Oakland's rally.

Marcio Jose Sanche/Associated Press