Ho, Hum, Angels Beat Twins Behind Langston, 15-Hit Attack : Baseball: Then players accept it as their due, refusing to celebrate season-opening victory.

There was no whooping and hollering. No one was going around back-slapping any of the game’s heroes, let alone exchanging cursory handshakes.

No one even bothered to turn on the clubhouse stereo.

If the Angels were exuberant over their 8-2 opening-night victory Tuesday over the Minnesota Twins, they sure had a funny way of showing it.

There was more laughter on the Chevy Chase Show than in the Angel clubhouse Tuesday. These were the same guys who were ready to spray champagne on one another after their opening-day victory a year ago, treating each ensuing victory as if they should follow it by a parade.

Oh, how times have changed.

“The difference now,” Angel starter Mark Langston said, “is that we expect to win. We had so many young guys last year, they treated each game like it was big.

“Now, ever since the last week of spring, everyone started to sense that feeling. That’s why you don’t see guys running around, yelling and going crazy.

“We expect to do this now.”

The Angels certainly did nothing to dilute their confidence in front of 41,012 quiet fans at the Metrodome, trouncing the Twins in every conceivable way.

It took nine pitches for the Angels to produce a 2-0 lead, and six minutes expired before they made an out. They wound up with 15 hits and 22 baserunners and made a mockery of any suspense.

“As soon as we made that last out,” said left fielder Bo Jackson, who drove in two runs, “I told everybody, ‘Let’s concentrate on tomorrow. This one’s over with.’

“If you believe you can win this division, you’ve got to act like it.”

The Angels, who raved all spring of their offensive prowess, quickly showed Minnesota . They owned a 2-0 lead after the first inning, and kicked themselves in anger for failing to blow the game open when they got no more after having the bases loaded with nobody out.

They straightened that out in the second inning, producing three consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits--including a two-run single by Chili Davis. Just like that, they had a 6-0 lead before Langston had faced his fifth batter.

By the time it was over, everyone in the Angel lineup but catcher Greg Myers had at least one hit. Six players had at least two hits. And five players drove in at least one run.

Twin starter Kevin Tapani was out of the game after 3 2/3 innings.

It was all enough to make Langston a happy man. He yielded eight hits in 7 2/3 innings, and became the first Angel since Frank Tanana in 1977-1978 to win consecutive opening-day starts.

“We didn’t even hit a homer tonight,” Langston said, “and look what we did. That’s a great sign. This lineup is going to be something.”

Tim Salmon and Davis, the heart of the Angel lineup a year ago, picked up where they left off. Salmon, showing no signs of an early sophomore jinx, reached base four times with two doubles and two walks. Davis, proving that he’s not ready for retirement, produced two hits and three runs.

“I wouldn’t be staying here if I didn’t think I could help this ballclub anymore,” said Davis, who drove in a career-high 112 runs last season. “And if I couldn’t help this ballclub, I guarantee you they wouldn’t keep me here.”

Perhaps the one player whose contributions were obscured in the Angel victory was the one who has been overshadowed all spring--Damion Easley. After missing 89 games last season because of inflamed shins, which eventually required surgery, Easley is trying to make up for lost time, going three for five with hits in each of his first three at-bats.

“It felt like it’s been forever since I played in a real game,” said Easley, who batted .400 this spring. “I was a little pumped up. I don’t feel like I’m the key to this offense, but I’m definitely one of them.”

The Angels, who tried to tell everyone who would listen this spring that this is a rejuvenated team, wake up this morning sitting atop the American League West after one game. There’s no reason for early celebrations, but there is satisfaction that this is where they feel they belong.

“We’re not going out there this year trying to prove everybody that we’re for real,” Salmon said. “We’re just going to go out there and play.

“It’s a different feeling.

“A good feeling.”

* FAST START: Chili Davis answers critics, skeptics and assorted others who doubt the Angels of 1994. C6