Angels remain in full swing

The Angels offense, criticized in recent years for its lack of power, seems to take as many hits as it delivers, but for those who still think of this team as Vladdy and the Eight Dwarfs, you might want to check out the box score from Thursday night’s game.

With Vladimir Guerrero watching from the dugout -- the slugger was scratched because of an inflamed right triceps, an injury that is not believed to be serious -- the Angels pounded out 15 hits and cooled the hottest team in baseball in a 10-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Angel Stadium.

The Angels batted around during a game-altering four-run rally in the fifth inning and pulled away with five runs in their last three at-bats to extend their American League West lead over Seattle to eight games, equaling their largest cushion of the season, and reduce their magic number for clinching the division to 16.

Those rolling blackouts during the recent heat wave didn’t affect Garret Anderson, whose power surge continued with a run-scoring single in the fifth, which gave him RBIs in a franchise-record 11 consecutive games, and a two-run home run in the eighth.

Anderson also had an infield single in the fourth and is batting .415 (27 for 65) with nine home runs and 31 runs batted in over his last 18 games. He has a major league-leading 56 RBIs since the All-Star break.

Casey Kotchman capped the fifth-inning rally with a two-run double and added an RBI double in the seventh, and Gary Matthews Jr., Orlando Cabrera, Kendry Morales and Reggie Willits each had two hits for the Angels, who went seven for 13 with runners in scoring position.

“When people talk about our team, they always talk about Vlad, and sometimes the rest of the guys don’t get the credit they should,” said Kelvim Escobar, who gave up three runs and eight hits, striking out eight and walking three, in 5 2/3 innings to gain the win and improve to 16-7.

“Vlad is one of the best hitters in the league, but at the same time, we’re playing good baseball right now. This was a team effort. We have a lot of weapons that a lot of AL teams don’t have.”

Anderson, finally sound after suffering from various back, leg and foot injuries the last three seasons, is their most lethal one at the moment.

With the Angels trailing, 3-1, he came up with two on and two out in the fifth inning and rifled an RBI single past Cleveland starter Paul Byrd and into center field, breaking the previous club record of RBIs in 10 consecutive games, set by Wally Joyner in 1986 and Fred Lynn in 1984.

The American League record of consecutive games with an RBI is 13, by Kansas City’s Mike Sweeney in 1999 and Chicago’s Taffey Wright in 1941.

“It’s not as simple as being healthy, but that’s on top of the list,” Anderson said when asked to explain his hot streak. “I don’t have to worry about anything other than hitting the ball. Nothing is bothering me. Nothing is taking my thoughts in other places.”

Morales followed Anderson’s hit with an RBI single to tie the score, 3-3, and Maicer Izturis walked to load the bases. Byrd jumped ahead of Kotchman with a 1-and-2 count but hung a breaking ball that Kotchman drove into right-center for a two-run double, ending an 0-for-12 slump and giving the Angels a 5-3 lead.

The Angels were just getting warmed up. Jeff Mathis doubled and scored on Cabrera’s single in the sixth, Kotchman (double) and Howie Kendrick (single) drove in runs in the seventh, and Anderson crushed his homer to right field off left-hander Juan Lara in the eighth.

Darren Oliver replaced Escobar in the sixth and threw a scoreless inning, Justin Speier added 1 1/3 hitless innings, and Scot Shields, whose recent struggles cost him the setup role he held for three seasons, struck out two of three in a hitless ninth. AL Central-leading Cleveland lost for only the second time in 13 games.

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