Marcum continues to impress as Blue Jays edge Angels <h3>TORONTO 2, LA ANGELS 1</h3>TORONTO (Ticker) -- Shaun Marcum continued to perform like oneof the best pitchers in the American League. Marcum pitched effectively into the eighth inning and VernonWells knocked home an important insurance run as the TorontoBlue Jays held on for a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angelsof Anaheim on Wednesday night. Alex Rios had three hits for the Blue Jays, who have won thefirst two contests of the three-game set behind stellarpitching. Ace Roy Halladay threw an impressive four-hitter inthe series opener on Tuesday night. The 25-year-old Marcum (10-4) has won five starts in a row andhas allowed three runs or less in 15 of 18 starts this season.The righthander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Friday,allowing a single at Kansas City, leaving with a leg crampafter 6 2/3 frames. On Wednesday night, Marcum yielded one run and four hits whilestriking out six and walking one in seven frames. He was pulledafter issuing a leadoff walk to Erick Aybar in the eighth. Toronto's bullpen made it stand up - barely. Casey Janssen came on and promptly picked off Aybar at first,struck out Reggie Willits before walking Chone Figgins andOrlando Cabrera with two outs - bringing up dangerous sluggerVladimir Guerrero. The hard-throwing righthander then overpowered Guerrero, blowinga 1-2 fastball past him to end the threat. Jeremy Accardo notched his 23rd save in the ninth thanks to somegood fortune. Garret Anderson ripped a base hit to lead offthe ninth, but Gary Matthews Jr. followed by drilling a linedrive right at first baseman Lyle Overbay, who doubled offAnderson. Casey Kotchman grounded out weakly to end the game. Dustin Moseley (4-2) surrendered two runs and nine hits in fiveinnings while striking out two and walking one for Anaheim(69-49), which remained three games ahead of the SeattleMariners (66-52) in the American League West. The Blue Jays got on the board in the second. Frank Thomas andTroy Glaus started the frame with back-to-back clean singles,and Aaron Hill reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Gregg Zaun then grounded into a double play to make it 1-0. Toronto added a run in the fifth on Wells' RBI single. MattStairs started the inning with a booming double and afterOverbay struck out, Rios and Wells put together back-to-backhits. The Angels cut the lead in half in the sixth thanks to Cabrera,who fisted a two-out single to left and stole second. It was agutsy move by the shortstop, who risked ending the frame justmoments after Figgins was thrown out trying to swipe the samebag. Guerrero then knocked him in with a sharp single to center tomake it 2-1.
Marcum continues to impress as Blue Jays edge Angels <h3>TORONTO 2, LA ANGELS 1</h3>TORONTO (Ticker) -- Shaun Marcum continued to perform like oneof the best pitchers in the American League. Marcum pitched effectively into the eighth inning and VernonWells knocked home an important insurance run as the TorontoBlue Jays held on for a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angelsof Anaheim on Wednesday night. Alex Rios had three hits for the Blue Jays, who have won thefirst two contests of the three-game set behind stellarpitching. Ace Roy Halladay threw an impressive four-hitter inthe series opener on Tuesday night. The 25-year-old Marcum (10-4) has won five starts in a row andhas allowed three runs or less in 15 of 18 starts this season.The righthander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Friday,allowing a single at Kansas City before leaving with a legcramp after 6 2/3 frames. On Wednesday night, Marcum yielded one run and four hits whilestriking out six and walking one in seven frames. He was pulledafter issuing a leadoff walk to Erick Aybar in the eighth. "I'm very satisfied," Marcum said. "That's one of the things asa starter you want to do, be consistent. The key to pitchingis trying to get ahead and Doc (Halladay) did a great job lastnight of keeping the ball down. I think watching him, I tooksome of that into my game plan tonight." Toronto's bullpen made the lead stand up - barely. Casey Janssen came on and promptly picked off Aybar at first andstruck out Reggie Willits before walking Chone Figgins andOrlando Cabrera with two outs, bringing up dangerous sluggerVladimir Guerrero. The hard-throwing righthander then overpowered Guerrero, blowinga 1-2 fastball past him to end the threat. "Yeah, it was big situation," Janssen said. "I was a littlefrustrated with the walks, but to be able to hold the lead andhand it over to (Jeremy) Accardo is huge." Accardo notched his 23rd save in the ninth thanks to some goodfortune. Garret Anderson ripped a leadoff base hit, but GaryMatthews Jr. followed by drilling a line drive right at firstbaseman Lyle Overbay, who doubled off Anderson. Casey Kotchmangrounded out weakly to end the game. Dustin Moseley (4-2) surrendered two runs and nine hits in fiveinnings while striking out two and walking one for Anaheim(69-49), which remained three games ahead of the SeattleMariners (66-52) in the American League West. "It was good to get through five," Mosely said. "The one thingI was pleased with is that I kept that one big inning to justone run tonight, where before I was giving up three or four andthat took us out of the ballgame." The Blue Jays got on the board in the second. Frank Thomas andTroy Glaus started the frame with back-to-back singles, andAaron Hill reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Gregg Zaun then grounded into a double play to make it 1-0. Toronto added a run in the fifth on Wells' RBI single. MattStairs started the inning with a booming double and Rios andWells put together back-to-back one-out hits. Wells said it all starts with the pitching. "Shaun did a great job, and has pretty much done that every timehe steps on the mound," Wells said. "He's fun to play behindand it's been a pleasure to watch. Tonight we only scored tworuns, but that's all we needed because of Shaun." The Angels cut the lead in half in the sixth thanks to Cabrera,who fisted a two-out single to left and stole second. It was agutsy move by the shortstop, who risked ending the frame justmoments after Figgins was thrown out trying to swipe the samebag. Guerrero then knocked him in with a sharp single to center tomake it 2-1. Cabrera's three stolen bases tied a career high. Figgins, who finished the game 1-for-3, and who has now hitsafely in 26 of his past 29 games, was quick to praise Marcum. "He (Marcum) kept the ball out of the hitting zone," Figginssaid. "You do that and gets guys swinging through them, he'stough to hit." Toronto moved to a season-best three games above .500 for thefirst time since April 17 (8-5) with the victory.
