Angels Win AL West Title; A’s Eliminated

By The Associated Press

The Angels are in, Oakland is out and four teams are fighting for three remaining playoff spots.

With the American League races coming down to the wire, every contender squandered a tantalizing opportunity Tuesday night – except Los Angeles.

Behind the solid pitching of poised rookie Ervin Santana, the Angels wrapped up the AL West title with a 4-3 victory over the Athletics in Oakland. Los Angeles won its second consecutive division crown and became the first AL team to clinch a postseason berth this year, knocking the A’s out of contention altogether.

"You got to get to the party before you can play," owner Arte Moreno said. "We’re at the party now."

The Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox and Indians are close, too, but none did anything to help themselves Tuesday night. All four lost to a team with a losing record, leaving Boston and New York tied atop the AL East and Cleveland two games behind first-place Chicago in the AL Central with five to play.

The Red Sox did beat Toronto in the opener of a day-night doubleheader, so they and the Yankees are 92-65, also even with Cleveland for the wild-card lead.

One thing is now sure: The AL East championship will be up for grabs when New York visits Fenway Park for a three-game series this weekend to close the regular season.

"We’d be kidding ourselves if this weekend wasn’t going to determine the outcome of this season," Boston outfielder Johnny Damon said. "It’s going to come down to this weekend. It’s the master plan. God’s way. Yankees-Red Sox. We just need to win some games before that series starts."

In other AL games, it was: Baltimore 17, New York 9; Detroit 3, Chicago 2; Tampa Bay 5, Cleveland 4; Minnesota 3, Kansas City 1; and Texas 3, Seattle 2 in 11 innings.

Boston beat Toronto 3-1 in the first game of their doubleheader, and the Blue Jays won the nightcap 7-5.

Bengie Molina homered and Santana (11-8) pitched 6 2-3 strong innings to win his third straight start, helping the Angels reach the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history.

Los Angeles arrived in Oakland on Monday needing two wins in the four-game series to wrap up the division crown, and quickly took care of business. The Angels won the opener 4-3, then came back from an early deficit Tuesday and enjoyed a champagne celebration in the clubhouse.

"It could have turned the other way in a heartbeat," manager Mike Scioscia said between swigs of bubbly straight from the bottle. "This team had to play very well to beat that club over there. It’s good we didn’t let it drag on. … They were in grind mode all year and got this first step done."

Now the Angels get to relax a bit during their final five games. Last year, they clinched the West by winning in Oakland on the final weekend of the season.

Juan Rivera added an RBI double, Robb Quinlan singled in a run and Chone Figgins had an RBI single as the Angels won the fifth division title in club history with their 10th win in 11 games.

Francisco Rodriguez allowed a leadoff homer to Marco Scutaro in the ninth but earned his 16th straight save and 43rd overall.

Joe Kennedy (3-5) lasted only 3 2-3 innings.

Orioles 17, Yankees 9

At Baltimore, Gary Sheffield hit two homers, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs for New York, but the Orioles took advantage of a dreadful pitching performance by Mike Mussina and the Yankees’ bullpen to end a nine-game losing streak in an ugly affair that lasted 4 hours, 16 minutes. It was only New York’s third loss in 16 games.

Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 1, 1st game

Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 5, 2nd game

At Boston, Russ Adams hit a sacrifice fly to break an eighth-inning tie and Toronto rallied to win the second game of the doubleheader. Curt Schilling blew a pair of three-run leads for the Red Sox. Tim Wakefield (16-11) pitched seven strong innings to give Boston a victory in the day game.

Devil Rays 5, Indians 4

At Cleveland, Scott Kazmir (10-9) allowed one run in six innings and Julio Lugo hit a three-run homer to prevent the Indians from gaining ground.

Former Cleveland pitcher Danys Baez earned his 40th save by getting Ronnie Belliard to ground into a game-ending double play with the potential tying run on third, handing the Indians consecutive losses for the first time since Sept. 3-4. Scott Elarton (11-8) fell to 0-3 against the Devil Rays this season.

Tigers 3, White Sox 2

At Detroit, Omar Infante and Craig Monroe homered, sending the struggling White Sox to their 12th loss in 19 games. Chicago won three straight before dropping the first two of its four-game series in Detroit.

Twins 3, Royals 1

At Minneapolis, Johan Santana (15-7) pitched seven strong innings and Joe Nathan got his 40th save as Minnesota snapped a four-game skid.

Rangers 3, Mariners 2, 11 innings

At Seattle, Esteban German doubled home Mark Teixeira from first base in the 11th in his first at-bat this season. Francisco Cordero earned his 36th save.

Mariners rookie Felix Hernandez was one out from his first major league complete game when the Rangers tied it on Kevin Mench’s RBI single.