Sanderson Still Pays Dividends

The Angels never bothered getting into a bidding war for starter Scott Sanderson, and probably would have merely shrugged their shoulders if he had rejected their offer and gone elsewhere.

These aren’t the glory days when the Angels swooped up any free agent of their choosing. They offered a meager $500,000 to Sanderson--less than half of the average salary for major league players these days. Simply, it was take it or leave it.

Sanderson took it, and after watching him perform again Tuesday during a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels probably wonder how they would survive without him.

Sanderson (5-1, 2.98 earned-run average) has been in the major leagues for 14 years, but few would have imagined that only Jack McDowell of the Chicago White Sox would have more victories than Sanderson at this point in the season.

“Where would we be without him?” said Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president/baseball operations, who signed him. “I’ll tell you where.

“We’d be in the outhouse.”

Said Angel Manager Buck Rodgers: “What can you say, he’s been absolutely outstanding. Scott Sanderson has shown us how you can pitch in the major leagues, and win. He doesn’t have a 90-m.p.h. fastball and doesn’t overpower people, but believe me, he makes the most out of it.”

It wasn’t Sanderson’s most spectacular game of the season. He yielded nine hits and 12 baserunners in 6 1/3 innings, but frustrated the Twins inning after inning.

Most important, he shut down the Twins during the third inning, when they had the opportunity to blow the game open.

“That was the ballgame right there,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said. “We needed one hit, that’s it, and we couldn’t get it. Sanderson got the outs when he needed to.”

The third inning was set up when Pat Meares hit a leadoff single to center, Gene Larkin doubled to left, and Sanderson hit Chuck Knoblauch with a 2-and-2 pitch.

The bases were loaded, and Sanderson was facing the heart of the order: Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Dave Winfield and Brian Harper.

Puckett hit a pop-up into shallow right-center. Second baseman Damion Easley drifted back, appeared to call for it, and then suddenly darted ahead as if center fielder Chad Curtis would catch it. The move caught Curtis by surprise, and the ball dropped in between them for a run-scoring single.

Instead of kicking the mound in disgust, or glaring at his teammates, Sanderson calmly asked for the ball and focused in on catcher John Orton’s target. He acted as if nothing happened.

“That’s what you’ve got to do in those situations,” Sanderson said. “Those things will happen. It’s not like they were trying to do it.

“I don’t quit on my teammates, just like I don’t want them to quit on me when I give up a homer.”

Hrbek came within a few feet of hitting a grand slam, the ball reaching the warning track for a sacrifice fly. Winfield popped up to Easley for the second out. And Harper ended any further damage by fouling out to third baseman Rene Gonzales.

“That was the ballgame right there,” Rodgers said.

The Angels’ bullpen did the rest by shutting down the Twins over the final 2 2/3 innings, with Joe Grahe pitching two innings for his third save.

“It may not look pretty all the time,” Rodgers said, “but the bullpen is doing the job.”

The game, highlighted by two runs batted in apiece by the Chili Davis and Easley, nearly turned ugly for the Angels during the ninth. With two out and Knoblauch on first base, Puckett hit a line drive to left field.

Luis Polonia never saw it. He was blinded by the lights the moment the ball left Puckett’s bat.

Suddenly, Polonia saw a shadow. He stuck out his glove, and backhanded the ball behind his ankles.

“I sure hope he lost that ball and didn’t do it on purpose,” Rodgers said.

Said Polonia: “You kidding me? I didn’t see a thing. I just didn’t panic. I saw a reflection and went for it.

“That was some catch, huh?”