Even a Rocket Can’t Slow Down Angels

It counts as only one victory in the standings, but as the Angels will attest, their 2-1 triumph Sunday night over the Boston Red Sox might prove to be the most important of the entire season.

This was not merely another game. This was a gut-check. They were facing Roger Clemens, in front of 39,795 at Anaheim Stadium and a national TV audience.

“This is the game I’ve been waiting for,” said Angel left fielder Luis Polonia, who made the game-saving play by throwing out Mo Vaughn at the plate in the ninth inning. “I’ve seen Clemens for seven years, so it was no big thing for me. But I wanted to see how our young guys would react.

“Maybe we didn’t score seven or eight runs off him, but we finally beat him, man. We beat the guy. We beat the great Roger Clemens.

“Now he knows, and everyone in this world knows, we are not going to be intimidated.”

The Angels (12-4), winning their sixth consecutive game and equaling the best start in franchise history, beat the three-time Cy Young winner for the first time since May 17, 1989. They ended a four-year drought in which they had lost nine consecutive games to Clemens, and had not scored a run on a base hit off him in 45 innings.

Most important, they not only beat the best pitcher in the game, but beat him at his own game--intimidation.

“We proved to everyone tonight,”’ center fielder Chad Curtis said, “that we are not going to be intimidated. Not even by Clemens.”

Clemens, the master of intimidation, tried the act on the Angels at the game’s outset. After Curtis hit a one-out single in the first, Clemens picked him off first and screamed at him. Curtis glared back while running back to the dugout.

Rookie J.T. Snow then stepped to the plate. After hearing all about Snow’s exploits, Clemens decided to welcome him into the league. He sent a 94-m.p.h. fastball screaming over his head to the backstop.

“I’ve been waiting for something like that to happen,” said Snow, who eventually struck out. “I’m sure he was thinking, ‘Here’s a rookie. He’s getting too comfortable. Let me intimidate him.’ ”

Starter Scott Sanderson (3-0), who outdueled Clemens--yielding five hits and one run, and striking out eight in seven innings--sent his own message to Clemens.

Sanderson’s first pitch to Andre Dawson in the second inning: a fastball, up and over his head, to the screen.

Sanderson refused comment on the pitch, but said: “Let me just say I respect Andre more than anybody in baseball. I mean, we were teammates in Chicago. I hope that Andre understands.”

Certainly everyone on the Angels did.

“Did that ever show me a lot,” Snow said. “I couldn’t believe he’d do that for me. It was great.”

Said Torey Lovullo, whose fifth-inning homer off Clemens was the first by an Angel since May 26, 1989, spanning 87 1/3 innings: “That’s Roger’s style. He wanted to show J.T. he was ready for a challenge, and Sanderson didn’t let him get away with it. It was awesome.”

Still, even after Sanderson yielded only one run through seven innings, and Lovullo and Tim Salmon hit solo homers off Clemens, it all came down to the ninth inning.

Reliever Joe Grahe struck out Dawson but then gave up consecutive singles to Mo Vaughn and Ivan Calderon. With runners on first and second, Scott Cooper hit a blooper to left. Vaughn hesitated, and although Polonia fielded the ball cleanly, third-base coach Rick Burleson waved Vaughn home.

Polonia’s throw hung in the air for what appeared to be an eternity, catcher John Orton caught it on the first-base side of home plate, slapped the tag, and Calderon was ruled out. Polonia jumped up and down in delight, Grahe pumped his fist into the air, and the crowd went into a frenzy.

“I just had the feeling Luis was going to throw him out,” Grahe said. “I probably should have been backing up the play, but I stood to the side, wanting to get a good look at the plate.

“It’s getting more amazing by the day, isn’t it?”

Grahe recorded the final out when John Valentin grounded to Lovullo at second, and the crowd stood and cheered.

The Angels, recording their first consecutive sweeps at Anaheim Stadium since 1982, have been in first place longer this season than the last three years combined.

“I know we’re still going to go through some growing pains,” Lovullo said, “but we proved a lot to ourselves tonight. It’s hard to explain, but there’s something special about this team.”

Angel Attendance

Sunday: 39,795

1993 (11 dates): 295,707

1992 (11 dates): 284,848

Increase: 10,859

Average: 26,882