Angels 2, Phillies 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) The Anaheim Angels' starting rotation is gradually catching up to the team's talented bullpen.

John Lackey took a 6.14 ERA into his first start against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night and allowed one run over 6 1-3 innings. Brendan Donnelly and Troy Percival shut the door the rest of the way to preserve the 2-1 victory.

When the game began, the Angels' bullpen ERA was an AL-best 2.91, compared with a 4.92 mark by the starters the second-largest gap in the majors.

``A lot of the statistics with our starting pitching are skewed because of a horrible start for some guys, and other guys being banged up a little bit,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``But I don't think it's reflective of the way they can pitch. Our bullpen is pitching to the level that they can, but our starting pitching has just started to really pitch the way they can''

Scioscia has used seven different pitchers in a starting role because of injuries to Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele.

The Angels began the day a season-worst 11 games out of first place before shaving a full game off that deficit with their victory and Seattle's loss to Montreal.

``Standings are kind of your report card, and right now we're getting a bunch of C's, I guess,'' Scioscia said. ``But I think we've been playing better baseball the last two weeks.''

The Angels' largest deficit last season was 10{ games, which was too much to overcome for the AL West title despite a franchise-record 99 wins. They finished four games behind the Oakland A's, but earned the wild-card berth and went on to win their first World Series title.

``It doesn't matter if we're 30 games out. We're still going in the same direction trying to win every game,'' first baseman Scott Spiezio said. ``There's nobody on this team that's saying we can't win the division or we can't get the wild card. I would never count this team out.''

The Angels scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when Tim Salmon hit a leadoff triple over the head of fleet-footed center fielder Marlon Byrd and scored two batters later when Brandon Duckworth (3-2) threw a wild pitch to Troy Glaus.

``I was trying to get a popup there or possibly make him swing through that pitch, but I tried to do too much with it and the ball took off on me,'' Duckworth said. ``I didn't know what the ball was going to do from one pitch to the next, especially with my fastball.''

Lackey (4-5) struck out the side in the sixth to tie his previous career high of eight strikeouts. He also made a daring throw to third base on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Tomas Perez, with Glaus applying the tag on Pat Burrell to choke off the potential tying run in the seventh.< ^Notes:@ Jimmy Rollins, who popped up an attempted sacrifice bunt with two on and none out in the sixth inning of Monday night's win, did it again trying for a two-out hit with runners at second and third to end the seventh. ... The Angels went over the 1 million mark in home attendance in their 29th home game, matching the club record set in 1983 the year after the Angels won their second division title. ... Donnelly ended the eighth by slipping a called third strike past Burrell with runners at first and second. Percival finished up for his ninth save in 10 chances. ... Duckworth, who had the best run support of any Phillies starter at 5.9 per game, allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings. ... The only run against Lackey came on David Bell's RBI single in the second. Adam Kennedy tied it in the bottom half with a sacrifice fly.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)