Glaus’ Homer Lifts Angels, 7-5

Those sizzling days of May are well behind the Angels.

Now comes the hard part: the rest of the season.

The Angels won Wednesday when Troy Glaus launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 7-5 victory over the Texas Rangers in front of 15,301 at Edison Field.

The Rangers’ Ismael Valdes outpitched Jarrod Washburn. But it was Washburn who was beaming in the end.

Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez hit long--make that very long--home runs. The Angels hit three in the last two innings, by Glaus, Tim Salmon and Brad Fullmer.

The Rangers took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the 10th. The Angels took home the victory. It wasn’t pretty, but ...

“It doesn’t matter how you get it, whether it’s little ball or someone blasts a home run, the important thing is to get the win,” Washburn said.

Adam Kennedy doubled off closer Hideki Irabu to lead off the 10th. David Eckstein bunted for a base hit. Darin Erstad’s weak grounder plated Kennedy with the tying run. Glaus then hammered a 2-and-1 pitch to center for the Angels’ fourth walk-off home run this season.

“It’s easy when you are leading the whole game and every one is playing great,” Washburn said. “But to be the great team that we want to be and that we think we are, these are the games you have to win. Someone gets the big hit or makes the key play. This was a step forward for us tonight.”

Irabu was the one who had the footprints on his back. The Rangers were headed for a 4-2 victory when he took the mound in the ninth. He got one out, then watched back-to-back pitches leave the ball park. Fullmer homered to right and Salmon to left.

“That what is great about this team,” Eckstein said.

“We have guys who can change the game with one swing.”

For Salmon, this was another sign of resurgence.

His double and homer Wednesday extended his hitting streak to eight games. Salmon is 15 for 30 during the streak and has raised his average from .229 on May 28 to .270.

“My track record says that I’ve always been this way,” Salmon said.

“I have started slow every season. But last season brought everything into question. Hopefully, at the end of the season, we’ll be saying it was just another typical year for me.”

The Angels have vaulted into the American League West race--two games behind Seattle--by feasting on lesser teams.

They went 19-7 in May while playing only two teams with winning records.

The Rangers fall into that “lesser” category, as they are 10 games under .500 and 13 1/2 games out of first place in the West. Their main objective right now is avoiding their second last-place finish since signing shortstop Rodriguez to a hefty contract before the 2001 season.

Washburn was 5-0 in his last eight starts and his earned-run average has plummeted like the Dow Jones average in a bear market. He churned out another solid performance Wednesday, yet the things that had served him well went into hibernation at times.

Gonzalez tagged him in the second, burying the first pitch into the left-field seats for his 400th home run. He ranks 34th on the all-time list.

Rodriguez sent Washburn’s first pitch in the fourth well beyond the center-field fence for his league-high 20th home run to tie the score, 2-2.

“If I’m going to give up home runs, I’d rather they be solo ones,” Washburn said. “It’s quick, it’s painless and it’s over.”

Washburn gave up four runs, three earned, in 6 2/3 innings.

The Angels did little against Valdes, a pitcher they cast off after last season. He signed a one-year, $2.5-million contract with the Rangers, his fourth team in the last four seasons.

With a 3-5 record, Valdes’ cost-per-victory may be a bit extravagant thus far, but he has been money against the Angels.

He went seven innings, giving up two runs and five hits, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters. In three games against the Angels this season, Valdes has given up five runs in 22 1/3 innings.