Jon Garland was superb in his seven innings, striking out eight - the most he's struck out in a game since 2003 - leading the Angels to a 5-3 victory over the A's.

The Angels now lead the A's by 5 1/2 games in the AL West.

Believe it or not, Garland ties the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang for the most victories since the start of the 2005 season with 52.

"It was like he was throwing invisi-balls," A's slugger Jack Cust said. "It's frustrating to feel like you are on a pitch and then miss it. A lot of guys in the dugout were saying the same thing. They were not really picking the ball up."

Count that as the main reason for Garland's eight strikeouts, the most he's had in a game since August 30, 2003, a span of 167 starts. That's the obvious reason he was so effective over seven innings in the Angels' 5-3 win, their seventh in a row, tying them with the Chicago Cubs for baseball's best record.

But, what made Garland so much better than his previous start was his efficiency. Needing 44 pitches to get through the first inning in his last start - and using 115 in five innings - Garland didn't throw his 44th pitch until the fourth inning.

"How about that?" he grinned. "The big difference was getting strike one."

He did that to 15 of the 26 batters he faced, allowing just one hit through his first six innings.

"What helped was throwing a strike with my off-speed stuff so they couldn't sit on one pitch," said Garland, now 6-3 with a 3.87 ERA. "I would throw my fastball and I think it jumped on them a little bit more than they were expecting."

Maybe this is a little bit more than the Angels were expecting when they traded Orlando Cabrera for Garland in November. While he had twice been an 18-game winner, he is pitching like "when he was at his best in Chicago," Manager Mike Scioscia said. Over his past seven starts Garland is 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA.

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