SPLIT PERSONALITY COSTS ANGELS IN OAKLAND OAKLAND 2, ANGELS 0.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

OAKLAND - One step forward, one step back is hardly the sort of pennant march the Angels had in mind when they reconvened for an eight-game trip after the All-Star break.

Technically, their journey took them to Kansas City and Minnesota before concluding here, where the Athletics quieted the Angels 2-0 Thursday night behind ace Barry Zito.

In reality, however, the Angels never left Splitsville.

The Angels won two and lost two in Kansas City. They won one and lost one in Minneapolis and did the same here, and it doesn't take a baseball historian to know that's no way to conduct business in what figures to be a fierce three-team pennant race in the AL West.

But this was no ordinary trip. The Angels left fairly intact physically but are limping home, losing closer Troy Percival, catcher Bengie Molina and reliever Dennis Cook to the disabled list. They played without center fielder Darin Erstad for the last three games, endured the worst outing of starter Ramon Ortiz's career and, without Percival, saw the bullpen blow a six-run lead in a loss Monday at Minnesota.

Thursday, they nearly stole one despite Zito's 7 1/3 dominant innings.

Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson hit singles to lead off the ninth against Oakland closer Billy Koch. Troy Glaus followed with a shot to the wall in right field that Jermaine Dye gloved on the dead run for the first out.

Shawn Wooten followed with a shot to the left-center-field gap that had game-tying double written all over it, but the usually shaky Terrence Long ranged into the gap and made a sliding catch. Koch then struck out pinch hitter Adam Kennedy on three pitches to end it.

The loss means the Angels come home pretty much where they were when they left. They're now four games behind Seattle instead of three, with the suddenly human Mariners arriving at Edison Field for a three-game series beginning tonight.

The Angels slipped back into a tie for second place with the Athletics but managed a split in Oakland even though they threw their two least effective starters, Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele.

Appier did enough to beat Tim Hudson on Wednesday. Sele, per usual, gave up his share of hits Thursday but kept the Angels in the game, giving up two runs in seven strong innings of work.

Still, he was no match for Zito (13-3), who set an Athletics record with his 16th consecutive home victory. He gave up four hits and two walks, becoming the third 13-game winner in the American League.

Zito was most impressive when the Angels loaded the bases in the fourth inning. It started with a leadoff walk to Orlando Palmeiro. Salmon and Anderson singled, with Palmeiro stopping at third after Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis dived to keep the ball in the infield.

That set up a USC-UCLA showdown against Glaus, the former Bruin. Glaus managed just a weak tapper back to the mound, and Zito was so excited he nearly misplayed the ball after leaping off the mound. He gathered himself in time to start a home-to-first double play, which kicked off a span of 11 consecutive batters Zito set down.

The streak ended in the eighth, when Benji Gil reached on a soft comebacker Zito couldn't glove. Scott Spiezio followed with a walk. After Jose Molina sacrificed, setup man Chad Bradford (1.55 ERA) got David Eckstein to pop out and Palmeiro to ground to second, where Ellis made a nice play on a short hop to end the inning.