STRUGGLING BULLPEN GETS THE BENEFIT OF LITTLE DOUBT.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

ANAHEIM - Gesturing toward the Angels Stadium bullpen, source of the Angels' worst problems, a press-box regular with New York roots remarked on how a bad outing by Frankie Rodriguez this week inspired nothing worse than a ballpark full of boos.

``If this was New York,'' the man said, and I swear he sounded nostalgic, ``people would be jumping off bridges.''

If this was Boston, people would be jumping off bridges, too, except that, on the way down, they'd manage to write 14 more books about the end of the Red Sox curse.

With the crisis-a-day Sox in town, trailed by the journalistic stand-ins for an ever-anxious public, it was hard not to notice how relatively calm the atmosphere around the Angels remained Saturday morning.

Let's see, their division lead had recently gone from eight games to zero in a 19-day stretch. Would-be center fielder Steve Finley was hitting .115 in August, another hole for a lineup that needs Garrett Anderson back now. And Scott Shields had had lost a big one to the Sox 12 hours earlier, making it an even two weeks since the bullpen last did its job of protecting ties and small leads.

Here in Southern California's sporting environment of perpetual sunny optimism, the urge to panic was overwhelmed by the belief that everything would be all right.

On Saturday everything was all right.

See what positive thinking can do?

Positive-talking Mike Scioscia said the relief corps would get out of its slump, and it did so in a way that boosted everybody's confidence, in a 4-2 victory over the Red Sox that might have been the Angels' best of the season.

Shields was tested. He replaced a brilliant but tiring Ervin Santana with two out in the eighth inning and immediately gave up a bases-loaded single to Edgar Renteria to spoil the shutout. But then he struck out David Ortiz with a 2-and-2 curveball.

Rodriguez was tested. He came in for the ninth and gave up a one-out single to Jason Varitek and bounced a two-out wild pitch. But he got Bill Mueller to bounce out to Adam Kennedy to end it.

In the clubhouse, Santana was about to answer reporters' questions when Shields walked by.

``Say the truth,'' Shields said. `` 'Shields bleeped up my shutout.' ''

The way the bullpen had been going, if that's all that was bleeped up, the Angels would take it.

The past 21 games produced nine blown saves, and the Aug. 9-19 stretch saw the bullpen fail to protect late-innings leads of one, one, two, two, and four runs. Except for the cushions of seven, seven and eight runs that the bullpen did manage to protect, no lead was safe.

The pressure fell on the still-reliable starting pitchers. Since Aug. 6, the Angels are 8-1 when their starter lasts into the seventh inning, 0-5 when he falls short.

Thus, it was huge that Santana, 22, facing the Red Sox for the first time, struck out five of the first six batters and had allowed only a pair of doubles before Kevin Millar and Mueller singled to start the seventh.

``They pitch a lot,'' Santana said of the relievers. ``We need to give them a break.''

Alas, it became necessary to call on Shields, loser in three of his previous six appearances, and Rodriguez, with an 8.22 ERA in his nine previous games. Given the ultimate chance to get well, facing the best hitting lineup going, they came through.

Shields got Ortiz, the man whose Fenway Park home run finished off the Angels in last year's playoffs. K-Rod got Manny Ramirez, the major-league RBI leader, to open the ninth to calm the few fans who had greeted him with boos.

``Today I felt way, way, way, way, much better,'' said Rodriguez, who blamed a mechanical problem for his recent wildness. ``I believe, myself, all the bad moments are in the past.''

A win over the World Series champs, giving the Angels a shot at a series victory today after a 13-4 win Thursday and 4-3 loss in 10 innings Friday. Another dazzler by Santana, as impressive as his shutout of the White Sox in May. Those were the headlines Saturday, but the most important thing that happened was the bullpen's first good day in a long while.

Not that anybody around here doubted for a second that the bullpen would come around eventually.

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Photo:

Francisco Rodriguez, who had been struggling with his mechanics, celebrates after notching his 28th save with a scoreless ninth inning.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press