Candiotti, Dodgers Cruise Past Angels : Freeway Series: Pitcher doesn’t give up a hit until the seventh inning. Karros and Piazza hit home runs.

It doesn’t mean anything that on one night, in one exhibition, the Dodgers looked like the 1927 Yankees and the Angels did not.

Still, the Dodgers can hope, while the Angels can hope not.

Looking nothing like the team that found 99 ways to lose in 1992, the Dodgers opened the Freeway Series with a game that should be iced and thawed some day in the heat of a pennant race.

Pitching, hitting, defense? The Dodgers rolled it all out Friday night in a 6-0 victory over the Angels before a crowd of 39,726 at Dodger Stadium.

“This is a little different club, the one last year and the one you saw tonight,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Let him count the ways:

--On the mound, knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti, who entered the game with an exhibition season earned-run average of 1.23, baffled the Angels, giving up one hit and two walks in seven magnificent innings of work.

Candiotti retired the first 13 Angels he faced and did not allow a hit until Chad Curtis singled to left to open the seventh inning.

Candiotti reacted by striking out his sixth, seventh and eighth batters before retiring for the night.

“The knuckleball was moving great all night,” Candiotti said. “I’ve been in that zone, it’s been like that all spring. I just wish I could have saved this one for the first start.”

--At the plate, the Dodgers collected 11 hits and two home runs, putting the game away early with three runs in the second and two in the third.

Catcher Mike Piazza, who continues to prove he is more than some manager’s godson, continued his torrid spring with a solo home run to right-center in his first at-bat.

--In the field, center fielder Cory Snyder, filling in for Brett Butler, robbed J.T. Snow of an extra base hit with a running catch near the wall in the fourth inning.

In the sixth, second baseman Jody Reed made a nice glove stop while skidding to his left to deprive Greg Meyers of a hit.

The Angels?

Well, it’s still early.

Starter Mark Langston was roughed up for three runs in two innings of work, allowing consecutive homers to Eric Karros and Piazza in the second.

Chuck Finley took over for Langston in the third and finally silenced the Dodger bats after giving up three runs (two unearned) in his first two innings.

Finley finished strongly, shutting the Dodgers out in his final four innings.

Finley ended up giving up one earned run on eight hits in six innings, striking out five while walking one.

Finley was the one bright spot on a night of darkness for the Angels.

“He threw 85 to 90 pitches,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “He needed that.”

There wasn’t much to say about the Angels’ one hit.

“We didn’t get to see much of anything tonight,” Rodgers said. “We didn’t get anyone on base. It was a Dodger night to watch. All we could do was sit back and watch.”

Freeway Series Notes

Matt Young, released by the Boston Red Sox earlier this week, threw for the Dodgers before Friday night’s game and was asked to return today to pitch to batters.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” Dodger Vice President Fred Claire said. Young, a left-handed reliever, cleared waivers Friday and can be obtained by any club for $109,000. The Red Sox are responsible for the remainder of his $1.7 million contract this season.

The Dodgers are searching for another left-hander to join Steve Wilson in the bullpen. “At this point, there’s not a whole lot they can say,” Young said after his workout. “They either like what they see or didn’t like what they see. Nobody wants to make a commitment right now.

Claire said he also spoke Friday with the agent of Toronto reliever David Wells, another left-handed relief prospect. . . . The two-game series moves to Anaheim tonight, with the Dodgers’ Pedro Astacio scheduled to face Scott Sanderson.