"The hitting was non-existent, the baserunning a little too risky and the defense just OK for the Angels on Wednesday against the Washington Nationals.

Details, details.

With Dan Haren on the mound - and some ominous shadows helping in the later innings - none of that mattered.

One run was good enough; four hits more than sufficient and a fourth-inning error was rendered meaningless in a 1-0 Angels win to complete a three-game sweep of the Nationals in front of 35,257 at Anaheim Stadium.

Haren was that good, hitching the Angels on his back while giving up just two hits over 73 innings and then handing it over to Scott Downs and Jordan Walden for the final five outs - with Walden striking out Michael Morse with the tying run at third base to finish off the sweep.

And before anyone says it's just the Nationals, keep in mind they'd won 13 of 15 coming into this series.

The Angels have now won 10 of their past 14 while claiming their past five series. In the process, they've climbed out of third place into second and moved from 52.

"We're playing good baseball," Haren said. "That feels good."

Haren was very good, winning for the 99 th time in his career and shaking free from a recent stretch of subpar outings in the process.

Haren started the season by giving up three or fewer runs in 10 of his first 11 starts, but struggled a bit over his past six."