Hawkins strikes out Vladgo

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Cubs thought they had scored enough

runs to hold off the stubborn Angels. That was before Anaheim kept

chipping away at a very vulnerable Chicago bullpen.

Even a five-run lead in the eighth wasn't safe until LaTroy

Hawkins came in and struck out Vladimir Guerrero with the bases

loaded to help preserve a 10-5 victory Saturday night.

Hawkins, in his first save opportunity since Joe Borowski went

on the disabled list last Sunday with a shoulder injury, retired

all four batters he faced for his fifth save in seven chances after

relieving Kent Mercker.

"You hate to see Guerrero up there at any time, especially with

men in scoring position," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "When

you don't have Joe, you have to do some things that you're really

not crazy about doing because it changes the form of our bullpen

without Borowski.

"So I went to LaTroy out of necessity, and he came through."

Todd Walker homered and drove in three runs, and Todd

Hollandsworth and Aramis Ramirez also hit home runs for the Cubs,

who scored in double digits for the 10th time this season.

"We have a good offense, but we have to find a little more

consistency," Derrek Lee said. "It seems like we either score 10

or one. We need to find a way to scratch out five or more runs more

often."

Glendon Rusch (3-1) allowed two runs and six hits in five

innings in his sixth start since replacing the injured Kerry Wood

in the Cubs' rotation. He struck out six and walked none.

Francis Beltran inherited a four-run lead from Rusch before the

Angels closed to 6-5 with three runs in the sixth. Pinch-hitter

Casey Kotchman hit an RBI single, Tim Salmon scored on Jose

Molina's groundout and Adam Kennedy greeted Mike Remlinger with an

RBI single.

"It got tight there, but I was definitely confident that the

guys were going to hold them down," Rusch said. "We're deep in

the pen, as far as quality relief."

The Cubs increased the margin to 9-5 with a four-run eighth.

Kevin Gregg gave up consecutive RBI doubles to Jose Macias and

Walker, followed by Michael Barrett's RBI single. Ramirez capped

the rally with a sacrifice fly.

Bartolo Colon (4-5) was charged with six runs and nine hits in

six innings, and was booed off the mound following Chicago's

three-run fifth.

"I don't think he was locating his fastball like he wanted to,

but he was still throwing hard and had good movement," Lee said.

"He usually hits the outside corner pretty good, but tonight he

was getting the ball over the heart of the plate. But in my mind,

he's still one of the top pitchers. We got him tonight, but I'm

saying he's going to turn it around."

The portly right-hander, who signed a four-year, $51 million

contract with the Angels last December, is 0-3 over his last six

starts -- having allowed 32 earned runs in 32 innings during that

stretch.

"The first half last year with the White Sox is very similar to

what I'm going through right now," Colon said with Angels Spanish

language broadcaster Jose Mota translating. "Every pitcher I know

goes through tough situations like this. I'd like to get out of it,

find myself again and get back into a rhythm."

The three homers against Colon increased his total to 19, tying

St. Louis' Matt Morris for the most allowed in the majors. Last

season with the White Sox, Colon surrendered a career-worst 30

homers.

"I don't know the answer to that," Colon said. "I'm trying

really hard, but things are just not going my way right now. I

expect to be back to form, regardless. This team got me for a

reason. It keeps kind of piling on, but I've got to stop this

somehow. I know what the fans expect from me and I know what my

teammates expect of me."

Ramirez opened the scoring with his 13th homer leading off the

second. Guillen thought he had a homer leading off the bottom of

the inning, but was sent back to second base because of fan

interference. He scored two outs later on Molina's single.

Guillen's slicing drive toward the right-field pole was touched

by a fan reaching over the short fence. First-base umpire Dale

Scott initially ruled it a homer, but then reversed his call after

Baker and first baseman Lee persuaded him to confer with the other

umps.Game notes
This was only the third game that Hollandsworth (2-for-4)

has started as a designated hitter in his 10-year career --

including Friday night (2-for-4) and one game last season with

Florida (1-for-4). ... Rusch entered with an 0-3 record and 10.13

ERA against the Angels.