LACKEY, ANGELS OFF TO IMPRESSIVE START 5-1 OPENING BEST IN TEAM HISTORY.

Byline: BEN VILLA

Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- In spring training, there were whispers about John Lackey having a chance to win the Cy Young award.

After his pitching performance Saturday night, that talk could soon grow louder.

Lackey won his second game of the season, striking out six in seveninnings as the Angels defeated the Oakland Athletics 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 44,007 at Angel Stadium.

The Angels' 5-1 start equals the best mark in club history (1970).

"Having this kind of success early is different for me," Lackey said. "Normally I need one or two starts to get my feet wet, but I was hoping to get off to a better start.

"Right now, we're playing good baseball and we need to. Last year, we got off to a slow start and that cost us the playoffs. After July, we had the best record in baseball but it didn't matter because we were in too big of a hole to climb out of."

Lackey threw 109 pitches, 69 of them for strikes, scattered seven hits and didn't issue a walk. In his two starts, he's allowed just one earned run.

"I thought John did a terrific job tonight," manager Mike Scioscia said. "The A's offense is very disciplined but John managed to hit his spots well."

The A's took a 1-0 lead when they scratched out a run in the third inning on a two-out, RBI single by Jason Kendall that scored Travis Buck.

The Angels came right back in their half of the third to tie the score. Gary Matthews Jr. led off by drawing a walk from A's starter Dan Haren. Orlando Cabrera followed with a double, sending Matthews to third. Matthews came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Vladimir Guerrero.

The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when Garret Anderson doubled off Haren to lead off the inning. Casey Kotchman followed with a grounder up the middle that was fielded by A's shortstop Marco Scutaro.

Scutaro couldn't get much on the throw, firing wildly to first base, where the ball got past Nick Swisher, allowing Anderson to score the go- ahead run. Kotchman was thrown out trying to go to second on the play.

The game went into the top of the ninth inning with the Angels holding a slim 2-1 lead, and Scioscia gave the ball to Scot Shields, filling in for closer Francisco Rodriguez, whom Scioscia wanted to give the night off.

Shields gave up a leadoff single to Mike Piazza, but then got Eric Chavez to ground into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Shields then made quick work of Nick Swisher, who struck out swinging to end the game.

"I threw a good slider to Chavez, and we did a good job of turning the double play," Shields said. "We were fortunate to get that. Frankie has had a heavy workload to start the season, but I was glad I got the chance to come in and do the job tonight.

"Our owner Arte Moreno and our general manager Bill Stoneman have put together a good bullpen, and I think you're seeing that to start the season. We have a lot of depth down there and any one of us can get the job done."

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Angels pitcher John Lackey delivers during the first inning against Oakland.

(2) Oakland's Marco Scutaro makes the tag at second base on the Angels' Howie Kendrick as he tries to steal.

Michael A. Mariant/Associated Press