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Lackey hurls gem as Angels blank Athletics

Sep 29, 2007 - 5:47 AM By Tom Kent PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- John Lackey looks ready for the postseason.

Lackey pitched seven scoreless innings and Vladimir Guerrero homered and drove in both runs for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who defeated the Oakland Athletics, 2-0, Friday.

Lackey (19-9) was making his last start of the regular season for the Angels, who clinched the American League West Division with a victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. The righthander was stellar in that victory as well, scattering seven hits over seven innings, allowing just two runs.

"It think it's always important to pitch well," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "You want to keep that edge. He pitched great last time and followed it up with another good effort tonight. Hopefully he'll carry that momentum into the playoffs."

The Cy Young hopeful, who is getting ready to start in the divisional playoff series next week, yielded just two hits with two strikeouts against Oakland. He did not walk a batter and threw 47 of his 74 pitches for strikes en route to extending his career-high win total.

"I threw the amount of pitches that wanted," Lackey said. "I got up and down seven times and was feeling good. I should be ready to go."

With a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, Guerrero belted a 1-1 offering off Oakland starter Dan Haren over the left-center field wall for his 27th home run of the season, giving the Angels a 2-0 advantage.

Guerrero, who has started the last 14 games at designated hitter for the Angels due to an inflamed right triceps muscle, also plated Chone Figgins with a sacrifice fly to center in the first.

"We manufactured a run in the first and Vlad gave us the home run," Scioscia said. "We have some guy that are still searching offensively though."

Angels reliever Justin Speier worked a scoreless eighth and Francisco Rodriguez pitched around two walks and a wild pitch in the ninth to log his 39th save. Rodriguez got Mike Piazza to ground out to end the game with runners on first and second.

Haren (15-8), who ended a personal four-game losing streak with a victory over the Cleveland Indians in his last start on Saturday, allowed two runs and three hits in six innings while walking two and fanning six.

"I threw the ball well," Haren said. "I had good stuff for the most part and I made good pitches."

The righthander, who was the American League starter in the Midsummer Classic, finished the season with a career-high 15 wins, besting his old mark of 14 in each of the previous two seasons.

"I'm glad I finished the year throwing the way I did in the beginning of the year," Haren said.

Oakland fell to a season-high 10 games below .500 and 18 games behind Anaheim in the division. It is the largest deficit for the Athletics since they finished the 1997 season 25 games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners.