VLAD POWERS ANGELS TO VICTORY OFFENSE SLOWS STREAKING A'S ANGELS 9, OAKLAND 2.Byline: Keven Chavez Staff Writer OAKLAND - A forceful, twisting swing of the bat by Vladimir Guerrero Vladimir Alvino Guerrero (born February 9, 1976 in Don Gregorio, Nizao, Dominican Republic), and known in his native Dominican Republic as Miquéas (Spanish for Micah), is a Major League Baseball right fielder who plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. is enough to send a chill down the spine of even the pitchers. One mighty swing by the Angels outfielder on Tuesday was more than enough to put baseball's hottest team on ice. The Oakland Athletics “Philadelphia Athletics” redirects here. For other uses, see Philadelphia Athletics (disambiguation). The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. , winners of 37 of their previous 45 games and surprising co-leaders of the American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. , bumbled through the opening innings like the team they supposedly left behind in May. Then Guerrero brought back memories of last September with a second-inning grand slam grand slam n. 1. The winning of all the tricks during the play of one hand in bridge and other whist-derived card games. 2. Sports The winning of all the major or specified events, especially on a professional circuit. that silenced an enthusiastic crowd of 40,774 at McAfee Coliseum For other uses, see Coliseum. • • and propelled the Angels to a 9-2 victory in the opening game of a critical three-game series. The victory gave the Angels sole possession of first place in the AL West by a game over the A's and evened the season series with Oakland at 5-5. ``It's obviously big to get Vlad up there in that situation,'' said Angels manager Mike Scioscia The Angels were spotted an early 3-0 lead thanks to some shaky Oakland defense, then Guerrero opened the floodgates when he turned on an 0-2 offering from A's starter Rich Harden James Richard ("Rich") Harden (born November 30, 1981) is a Canadian pitcher for the Oakland Athletics. Pre-MLB Harden was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He graduated from Claremont Secondary School (Victoria, BC) in 1999, and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in , muscling the ball over the left-center-field fence for his second grand slam of the season. ``I was fouling back fastballs,'' Guerrero said through an interpreter, ``then a splitter stayed up. ... I was just trying to make hard contact and put the ball in play.'' Guerrero went 2 for 4 with five RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in , including a run-scoring single in the first inning. He has three homers and 15 RBI in seven games this month. Guerrero hit 15 home runs from August until the end of the regular season last year. It was true playoff form all around for the Angels, including a sparkling catch in left field by Garret Anderson Garret Joseph Anderson (born June 30, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball left fielder who has played his entire career for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. , an unusual 9-6 assist from right field by Guerrero and some excellent pitching by starter John Lackey John Derran Lackey (born October 23, 1978, in Abilene, Texas) is a major league baseball starting pitcher from Abilene, Texas. He has played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim his entire career. , who waltzed to his fourth consecutive victory. Lackey (10-4) scattered five hits through seven shutout innings and struck out six. ``It's always nice to come out to a big lead,'' said Lackey, who for the third time in his past five starts did not allow an earned run earned run n. Baseball A run scored without the aid of an error, used in computing earned run averages. Noun 1. earned run - a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team . ``It's definitely surprising against Harden. He's having a great year and he's a great pitcher. Being able to get to him was big for us.'' Harden (9-5) was dominant just three weeks ago in Anaheim, coming one out shy of a shutout win in the A's 3-1 victory. This time the Angels jumped on the right-hander early. Chone Figgins led off the game with a double just inside the bag at first, and Orlando Cabrera followed with a solid single to right. Oakland stumbled in the field as second baseman Mark Ellis booted a sure double-play grounder by Darin Erstad for an error and Figgins scored from third. Guerrero then dropped a single into left which scored Cabrera for a 2-0 Angels advantage. Angels center fielder Steve Finley led off the second inning by swinging at a third strike in the dirt, but advanced to first when the wild pitch skipped away from A's catcher Jason Kendall. An Adam Kennedy hit-and-run single moved Finley to third, then one out later, Cabrera followed with a hard bunt back to Harden on a seemingly busted squeeze play. But Harden bobbled the ball, allowing Finley to score and Cabrera to take first. Erstad singled to load the bases, then Guerrero unloaded them with his 22nd home run of the season. Guerrero also offered up an impressive defensive play. In the fifth inning with Oakland's Bobby Kielty on first, Guerrero charged to his right but dropped a sinking line drive by Jay Payton. Guerrero, however, picked up the baseball and rifled a one-hopper to Cabrera to force out Kielty at second base. Athletics third baseman Eric Chavez broke up the potential shutout with a two-run home run in the eighth inning off Angels reliever Joel Peralta. Keven Chavez, (626) 962-8811 keven.chavez(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 4 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) Vladimir Guerrero (27) is greeted after hitting a second inning grand slam against Oakland's Rich Harden on Tuesday. Ted Jacobsohn/Getty Images (2) Angels starter John Lackey was impressive Tuesday, pitching seven shutout innings to earn his fourth consecutive victory. Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Box: (1) ANGELS at OAKLAND - Keven Chavez (2) GAME RECAP (3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED (4) ALMANAC almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. |
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