Angels Riding on Cloud Nine

The Angels won their ninth consecutive game Wednesday night, a sparkling 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers before 16,570 in Anaheim Stadium that kept the Angels 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

Rookie catcher Todd Greene hit two homers, Chuck Finley (7-6) pitched seven strong innings for his fourth consecutive victory, and Troy Percival struck out three of four in the ninth for his 13th save, as the Angels continued to shed their reputation as overachievers and adopt the label of legitimate division contenders.

Which brings up a good question: Who needs Mark McGwire, anyway?

There has been much speculation surrounding a possible deal for the Oakland slugger, but the Angels are doing just fine without him, and don’t think Angel President Tony Tavares hasn’t noticed.

While the Angels may bid for McGwire as a free agent this winter, Tavares said it’s highly unlikely the team will deal for the A’s first baseman before the July 31 trade deadline.

“Why give up the boat now?” Tavares said. “I’m not going to shake up the core of this team when we’re 9-0 and playing real good baseball for the past month. We need a pitcher. I’d rather use that [money] to go after an ace.”

McGwire, who homered twice Wednesday to bring his major league-leading total to 34, could command as much as $10 million a year this winter, but Tavares said the Angels might be better off pursuing free-agent pitchers such as Houston’s Darryl Kile, Milwaukee’s Ben McDonald and Boston’s Tom Gordon.

As for McGwire, it appears the A’s asking price--they are believed to be interested in at least one of the Angels’ front-line outfielders, Jim Edmonds, Garret Anderson or Darin Erstad, and a pitching prospect--is too steep now.

But what if the price dropped later this month and the A’s, looking to dump McGwire for whatever they could get, just wanted a few prospects?

“It would depend on the prospects,” Tavares said, “but I’d still rather wait [until he becomes a free agent].”

The Angels may have another big decision regarding a future Hall of Famer in the next week or so. If Greene continues to hit like he did Wednesday, it will be extremely difficult for veteran Eddie Murray, who began a rehabilitation assignment at Class-A Lake Elsinore Wednesday, to earn his roster spot back.

Greene, who hit 25 homers in 63 games at triple-A Vancouver after being demoted in April, lined a bases-empty shot to left in the fourth and another solo blast to left-center in the sixth, both off Tiger starter Brian Moehler.

“I just wanted to get back here,” said Greene, the Angels’ third catcher. “I had a choice in April. I could go down and get focused to get back here or I could go down and be disappointed. I’m just trying to do something to stay in the lineup.”

Moehler had shut out the Angels, 2-0, in Anaheim on April 26, but any thoughts the Tiger right-hander had of blanking the Angels Wednesday ended in the first inning.

Tony Phillips opened with a walk and Darin Erstad, who had three hits, singled. Edmonds walked to load the bases, and Tim Salmon, who entered batting .382 with runners in scoring position, lined a two-run single to left. Salmon is batting .462 (six for 13) with 17 RBIs when the bases are loaded.

The Angels made it 3-0 in the second when Luis Alicea walked, stole second, took third on Gary DiSarcina’s grounder to second and scored on Phillips’ sacrifice fly.

Detroit pulled to within 3-2 when Phil Nevin, the former El Dorado High and Cal State Fullerton star, singled and Melvin Nieves homered, the first homer Finley had given up in four starts.

But Greene got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth when his liner cleared the wall in left just above the glove of a leaping Nevin. After Travis Fryman homered in the sixth, pulling the Tigers to within 4-3, Greene gave the Angels another two-run cushion with a homer that made it 5-3.

Finley, who was 3-6 with a 5.71 earned-run average three weeks ago, gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out eight, lowering his ERA to 4.66. He didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season.

Kevin Gross pitched a scoreless eighth, helping the Angels to their longest win streak since they won 10 in a row from April 11-21, 1979, the year the Angels won their first division title.