Around the bases

Angels bring hot bats to Pac Bell, knock around Giants

Troy Glaus chipped in with two of the Angels' 12 singles. AP

By Stephen Cannella, Sports Illustrated

SAN FRANCISCO -- A perfect storm rocked Pacific Bell Park on Tuesday night, and it had nothing to do with the cool mist that fell incessantly during Game 3 of the World Series. It was the Angels' offense once again drowning their opponent in a deluge of seeing-eye hits and scampering baserunners.

For the second game in a row, a Giants starter made an unpleasantly premature exit; this time it was right-hander Livan Hernandez, who gave up six runs and failed to make it out of the fourth inning. What was his problem? "I don't know if it was the cold weather," said San Francisco manager Dusty Baker, "or their hot bats."

Uh, Dusty, it was the latter.

This postseason the Angels have blooped and dinked the Yankees, the Twins and now the Giants to death indoors and out, on the West Coast and the East, during the day and late at night. How do the they prepare for their performances? By practicing their foul ball swings in the clubhouse? Reminding one another to be as pesky as possible in every at-bat?

"If you could see our starting lineup in here before the game -- it's like the calm before the storm," says right fielder Tim Salmon. "We're not a real talkative team."

They just leave opposing pitchers talking to themselves.

It's easy to say that the Angels' attack is a dose of National League ball from an AL team, but it's an anachronism for both leagues in this era of bloated sluggers and home run-driven rallies. They make contact, move runners well, run from first to third with abandon and pressure defenses into mistakes. They scored 10 runs in Game 3 without hitting a ball over the fence. They batted around in the third and fourth innings -- no other team in World Series history has done so in consecutive innings.

They had runners in motion so often (manager Mike Scioscia put the hit-and-run on at least four times) that the infield began to look like a carnival carousel. This is how active the Angels have become on the bases: When he's on first base and a speedster like David Eckstein or Darin Erstad is on second, the leadfooted Salmon turns his body toward second base as he takes his lead and crouches like a sprinter settling into a starting block. He does this so he can get a good jump in case the runner ahead of him takes off on a double steal. (He and Erstad pulled one off in the fourth, sparking a four-run rally that put the game out of reach).

The relentlessness of the Angels' offense this postseason -- the long counts, the flare hits, the endless innings -- has nearly become comical. It's also fun to watch, unless you're trying to get them out.

"[Opposing pitchers] think they're making good pitches and they get fouled off," said hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. "Any pitcher in baseball would get frustrated with them."

 

Related information

Stories

Relentless Angels take 2-1 World Series lead

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video