Thursday, July 25, 2002
Angels 5, Athletics 1
The Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Angels haven't had much success beating Tim Hudson, who hasn't had much success getting out Anaheim super-sub Orlando Palmeiro.
Hudson was in his usual groove against the Angels on Wednesday night before Palmeiro broke open a close game with a three-run double in sixth inning, and Anaheim went on to beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1.
“My job is to be able to give these other guys some time off,” said Palmeiro, who started in right field while Tim Salmon spent the night as the DH. “I do the best I can when I'm in there, and I'm glad the manager has the confidence in me to put me in there.”
Palmeiro drove a 3-1 pitch to the wall in right-center for a 5-0 lead after the Angels loaded the bases with none out. Garret Anderson started the rally with a sharp single off shortstop Miguel Tejada's glove, Troy Glaus was hit by a pitch and Brad Fullmer singled to center.
“The guys in front of me loaded up the bases, and that obviously made my job a little bit easier,” Palmeiro said. “When he got to 3-0, I was told to take, and then I was given the green light. He's got a great sinker, so I had to be aggressive. He threw a ball that I could handle, and I'm glad it dropped in.”
Palmeiro's two hits made him 12-for-28 lifetime against Hudson. Palmeiro has no explanation for it.
“I don't know, either,” Hudson said. “I wish somebody would figure it out and let me know. He's a scrappy hitter. He's patient and he battles the pitcher. He's always a tough out, and he probably doesn't get the credit that he deserves.”
Aaron Sele (8-7) scattered six hits, walked none and struck out four over seven innings. The only run the right-hander allowed came in the seventh, when Tejada led off with his 22nd homer and 117th of his career — breaking Eddie Joost's record for most home runs by an Athletics shortstop in the franchise's 102-year history.
Tejada also owns the single-season club mark for homers by a shortstop with 31 last year.
Hudson (7-9) lost to the Angels for the second time in eight days, allowing five runs and eight hits in seven innings with five strikeouts. The right-hander entered the game 9-2 lifetime against Anaheim, and 6-0 with a 2.08 ERA in six career starts at Edison Field.
“I've never gone out and dominated that team,” Hudson said. “Just because I've had a good record against them, most of the games have been pretty close, low-scoring games, and they've been battles. They've gotten big hits when they needed to against me the last two times.”
Hudson was one of two pitchers who were 5-0 last season against the Angels. The other was Seattle's Freddy Garcia, who lost 15-3 at Anaheim last Friday and surrendered six runs on 11 hits over 4 2-3 innings.
“I think we've taken another step towards playing this way all the way through September and winning, which is something for us to prove,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “Beating him, and Freddy Garcia when Seattle came into town, that puts us a step closer. If we can play well against pitchers like that, it'll keep us close.”
Kennedy, who failed to make it to second base on an extremely high popup that was dropped by Tejada in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the A's, was back in the starting lineup — and hustled to set up the game's first run.
Kennedy led off the second with a bunt single up the third-base line, beating the throw from Eric Chavez with a head-first slide. David Eckstein followed with an RBI triple and came home two pitches later on Hudson's seventh wild pitch, the most on the Oakland staff.
Only two Oakland batters reached base in the first five innings. Scott Hatteberg singled in the first and was erased on a Tejada's double-play grounder. John Mabry led off the third with a bloop single, but catcher Jorge Fabregas threw him out at second as Greg Myers struck out.
The Angels' defense, which entered with the second-fewest errors in the majors, sparkled during a 1-2-3 second inning.
Palmeiro made a leaping catch of David Justice's extra-base bid just in front of the 18-foot wall after a long run. Glaus made a nice backhanded stab of Chavez's grounder toward the third-base line, and Eckstein went deep into the hole to backhand Jermaine Dye's hard grounder to shortstop before throwing him out.
Notes: Wally Pontiff, a third baseman the Athletics drafted out of LSU in the 21st round of the June draft, died at his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. He was 21. ... Justice's next home run will make him the 95th player in major league history with 300 regular-season homers. ... LHP Ted Lilly, who has made just two starts for Oakland since being acquired from the Yankees on July 5, was placed on the 15-day DL because of an inflamed shoulder. RHP Aaron Harang was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento, one day after being optioned to the minors when reliever Jeff Tam was recalled.
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Angels 5, Athletics 1 
