BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Phillips Stays Hot, Hits 100th Homer

When the Angels decided to trade for Tony Phillips, they were looking at his on-base percentage, not his home-run numbers. But the veteran leadoff hitter has been putting on a power show.

Phillips, a switch-hitter, had five homers during the Angels’ recently completed 10-game road trip and hit his sixth Tuesday night against the Yankees. It was his 100th career home run.

Phillips, who had only 28 home runs in his first eight major league seasons with Oakland, hit a career-high 19 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. He says his new-found power can be traced to two batting instructors--the White Sox’s Walt Hriniak and the Angels’ Rod Carew.

“I just learned how to pull the ball,” Phillips said. “It’s that simple. I went to Walt last year and he taught me how to pull the ball from the left side. Before that, I hit everything to left [field] from the left side. And now Rod has helped me learn to pull the ball from the right side.”

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Left-hander Brian Anderson, who strained his bicep on May 6 and experienced soreness after throwing in the bullpen Friday in Chicago, played 10 minutes of long toss and threw off the mound for five minutes before Tuesday’s game.

“It felt great,” said Anderson, who would have been eligible to come off the disabled list today.

Manager Marcel Lachemann said Anderson will almost certainly have to pitch in the minors on a rehabilitation assignment before returning.

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Tim Salmon was in the No. 3 slot in the lineup for the fourth consecutive game Tuesday night. Teams had been pitching around the 1993 Rookie of the Year, and Lachemann thought the move from fifth to third might mean a few more pitches in the strike zone for Salmon.

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The New York Yankees activated outfielder Paul O’Neill from the 15-day disabled list. They put shortstop Tony Fernandez on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right rib cage muscle and called up shortstop Robert Eenhoorn from triple-A Columbus.