ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Angels soared into the All-Star break, the Rockies reeled into the hiatus, and Darin Erstad maintained the only pace he has known all season -- blistering.

	Erstad

"I've said all along that we've yet to play our best ball, but it looks like we're headed in the right direction," said Erstad, who drove in two runs and scored three others as the Angels improved to 47-41.

"We'll have a bunch of fresh bodies come back from the break, and we'll try to continue to do things as we did the last week."

The Rockies hope to avoid that. They were atop the NL West before their losing streak, and now find themselves in third place, 4½ games behind Arizona.

Jeffrey Hammonds could claim Colorado's only highlight of the day, when he was informed of his selection to the AL All-Star team, replacing Ken Griffey Jr.

"It took a bit of the sting out of the game," said Hammonds, who joins teammates Jeff Cirillo and Todd Helton in Atlanta.

Erstad and third baseman Troy Glaus will represent the Angels.

Erstad would not discuss his own statistics, which are beginning to read like fantasy. He has 47 multihit games out of the 87 he has played, and it all adds up to a .384 average and 144 hits.

That's the most hits at the break since Atlanta's Ralph Garr had 149 in 1974 -- when the All-Star break came two weeks later in the season.

"This guy's a gamer, and what he does is contagious. Everyone feeds off it," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's been exciting, and a pleasure to watch."

Colorado manager Buddy Bell was as impressed, if less thrilled, to see Erstad lead the Angels' three-game sweep of the Rockies by going 8-for-14.

"He's a great player, and I've always liked him -- the way he goes about his business," Bell said. "And he's on fire, too."

Backed by a 13-hit attack that also featured two RBI by Mo Vaughn and Kevin Stocker, Kent Bottenfield (5-7) pitched 7 1/3 steady innings for his first victory since June 2. He allowed 10 hits and four runs.

The Angels snapped a 4-4 tie with a three-run rally in the fourth, with Erstad's single off Masato Yoshii driving in the tiebreaking run. Gabe White allowed Vaughn's RBI single and Troy Glaus' sacrifice fly as the Angels broke the game open.

Garret Anderson gave the Angels a 4-3 lead with a solo homer in the third. Anderson set the club record for most homers prior to the break. His 26th broke Leon Wagner's 1962 mark which was also matched this season by Troy Glaus.

Tom Goodwin's sacrifice fly scored Brent Mayne in the fourth to tie it at 4.

The Rockies wiped out Anaheim's early 3-0 lead with three runs in the second, on Hammonds' RBI double, a run-scoring single by Mayne and Goodwin's RBI grounder.

As they had in the first two games of the series, the Angels took a first-inning lead as Kevin Stocker and Vaughn delivered consecutive RBI doubles before Glaus' run-scoring single made it 3-0.

"We're gassed. We need a blow," said Bell, whose usually productive offense has not scored more than five runs in 11 consecutive games. "The break comes at a perfect time for us."

Yoshii (4-9) was battered for eight hits and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Stocker's run-scoring double in the sixth made it 8-4, and the Angels tacked on two runs in the seventh, when Mike DeJean's wild pitch scored Scott Spiezio and another run scored on Erstad's infield grounder.

As Erstad ran off the field after making his only out of the game, the Edison Field crowd of 23,820 gave him a standing ovation.

Game notes
White allowed his first run since May 6 on Stocker's sixth-inning double, snapping a franchise record scoreless streak at 29 1/3 innings. ... The Angels are 8-4 in interleague play, after entering this season with a 20-30 record against the NL. ... The Rockies have lost six consecutive games at Edison Field. ... Larry Walker's first-inning single was his first hit in 13 career at-bats as a DH, but he went 1-for-3 to finish the first half in a 2-for-22 slump. ... Erstad is hitting .552 (16-for-29) during an eight-game hitting streak.