WASHBURN LOSES DUEL WITH JAYS' HALLADAY ANGELS' NINTH-INNING RALLY FALLS SHORT TORONTO 3, ANGELS 2.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

TORONTO - Pitchers have been known to say they don't get any more or less fired up to face a highly-regarded opponent.

Pitchers also have been known to lie on occasion.

Jarrod Washburn and Roy Halladay spoke the honest truth Thursday night after Halladay got the upper hand in the latest classic between the two pitchers as the Toronto Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of the Angels with a 3-2 victory at SkyDome.

The Angels (29-18) got swept here because they frittered away a 10-hit rocking of Toronto starter Justin Miller in a 6-5 loss Monday night, then blew a 5-2 lead and lost 6-5 Wednesday even though pedestrian Pat Hentgen was gone after five innings.

So after letting the Blue Jays win on nights they started two marginal starters, the Angels had to beat the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner to avoid the sweep. Halladay (5-4) delivered, retiring 19 consecutive batters entering the ninth and coming within one out of a shutout.

Washburn realized what he was up against.

``I enjoy matching up with the best in the game,'' he said after yielding three seventh-inning runs to ruin what had been a three-hit shutout through six. ``When you go into a game against a guy like Halladay, you have to match him pitch for pitch. I was able to do that for a while.''

That's nice, Halladay said, but it's not as if the Angels started a back-of-the-rotation guy.

``Jarrod's 7-1,'' Halladay said after ensuring Washburn would fall to 7-2. ``I don't feel terribly bad for him. I've always enjoyed games like that. It does bring out the best in you when you have to compete.''

The game evoked memories of a July 2002 tussle here, when Washburn breezed through eight shutout innings on 87 pitches and Troy Percival closed out a 1-0 victory. The lone tally off Halladay came on a David Eckstein home run that eased over the wall in the left-field corner.

It was one of Washburn's career-best 18 wins that season, a year followed by an injury-plagued 2003 campaign in which he won just 10 games. It's becoming more apparent he's rebounded from that year.

Thursday's outing was his sixth quality start in his past seven outings, and through six innings, he didn't allow a runner to reach third base.

In the seventh, Alexis Rios' first major-league hit, a one-out single, and another single by Chris Gomez created his first jam. Washburn nearly got out of it when Dave Berg chopped a possible double-play ball to third, but Shane Halter had trouble getting the ball out of his glove and settled for a fielder's choice.

Reed Johnson followed with an RBI single for a 1-0 lead. That brought up Frank Menechino, who last faced Washburn in Arizona, when he led off five times in a minor-league spring game in an effort to get at-bats while he was still with the Oakland A's.

The familiarity probably helped - Menechino drove a ball over center fielder Chone Figgins' head for a two-run triple and a 3-0 lead.

That hit loomed large in the ninth. Halladay gave up a leadoff single to Eckstein but was ready to claim his sixth career shutout three batters later when Jose Guillen bounced a two-out chopper to Berg.

Berg threw wide of first, Guillen reached on the error and Vladimir Guerrero scored. Jeff DaVanon followed with an RBI single to pull the Angels within 3-2 and chase Halladay, who tried to wave manager Carlos Tosca back to the dugout.

``He probably made the right decision,'' Halladay said.

Jason Frasor ensured as much, getting Casey Kotchman to fly out to left on the first pitch to end the game.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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