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Closer Look Angels' back-to-back big innings crush reeling GiantsPosted: Wednesday October 23, 2002 3:04 AMUpdated: Wednesday October 23, 2002 12:13 PM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com SAN FRANCISCO -- The fear or the hope, depending upon which colors you wear, was that the Anaheim Angels' offense would die a slow, impotent death in the swirling winds, chilly air and spacious outfield of Pacific Bell Park. Then came the third and fourth innings of Game 3 of the World Series, when we all were reminded that a team that can hit is a team that can hit anywhere. The Angels became the first team ever to bat around in two straight innings in a World Series game when they did a number on San Francisco's pitchers in a 10-4 drubbing of the Giants on Tuesday night. The Angels sent nine men to the plate in the third inning and scored four runs, nine more in the fourth for four more runs and, just like that, suddenly became the Series favorites. It was an awe-inspiring display of timely and aggressive hitting, gutsy base running and pure relentlessness that helped push the Angels to a 2-1 lead in this first-to-four Series. Even the Giants had to take notice. "They're tough hitters, man," Giants catcher Benito Santiago said. "They don't strike out at all. They just put the ball in play." The Angels had used the long ball effectively in the first two games of the Series, smacking four homers in the two games at Anaheim's Edison Field. Tuesday, in their first game at Pac Bell in this Series, they didn't hit one out at all.
But they pounded out 16 hits -- through the infield, over the infield, in the gaps, down the lines -- and are knocking San Francisco pitchers around to the tune of .353 in this Series. San Francisco's ERA for the three games is 7.27. Things went so well for the Angels on Tuesday that they scored 10 runs and still left 15 men on base. "They were hitting. They've been hitting the last two games," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "I don't know. Hopefully, they hit themselves out." San Francisco starter Livan Hernandez, unbeaten in postseason play before Tuesday night, had cruised through the top of the first, throwing only 10 pitches, and had escaped a dicey second inning without giving up a run. He threw 25 pitches in facing six batters in the second, though. That might have been a hint of things to come. In the third, the parade began. Leadoff man David Eckstein walked on six pitches. Darin Erstad doubled. Tim Salmon reached when a bad hop to Giants third baseman David Bell was charged as an error. That tied the score at 1-1, and the Angels were just getting started. By the time their half of the third ended, the Angels had four runs on three hits. They added four more in the fourth on four hits, and the game, effectively, was over. Even another Barry Bonds home run could not stop what the Angels had going. "It felt like Adam Kennedy -- I don't know why he sticks in my mind -- it felt like he got every hit tonight," said Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia, who also homered. "They've got a great offense. They've shown it the whole Series. They get ahead in the count and they take advantage of the strikes that have to be thrown." Of the seven hits in their two big innings Tuesday -- the Giants also walked four in those two innings -- only one came with the hitter behind in the count. That one was a two-out single by second baseman Kennedy in the fourth on an 0-1 pitch off reliever Jay Witasick. That made the score 7-1. The Angels were clutch, too. They had three two-out RBIs in the two innings (Scott Spiezio, Kennedy and Bengie Molina, all in the fourth) and went 7-for-14. That marked the fifth and sixth times this postseason that the Angels have sent at least nine men to the plate in an inning. The two innings provided a laundry list of bizarreness, including: • Shortstop David Eckstein led off both innings and, of course, the next, giving him the first at-bat in the inning four times in the game (including the start of the game). • Pitcher Ramon Ortiz struck out to end each of the big innings. • San Francisco starter Hernandez threw a whopping 42 pitches in the third counting an intentional walk to Molina. • Only one Anaheim batter got a hit in both innings: first baseman Spiezio, who had a two-run triple in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth. • Besides Ortiz, the only Angels batter not to reach base in those two innings was left fielder Garret Anderson, though Anderson did knock in a run with a groundout in the fourth. "We're all doing our little part. That's how we come up with so many hits," Anderson said. "Sometimes they put the ball over the plate, sometimes we find holes. It puts pressure on the pitcher when we keep hitting line drive after line drive." It's a pressure the Giants are going to have to figure out a way to stop. Or they won't be playing anywhere in a couple of days.
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