Hey, Cleveland, Don’t Forget About Angels : Baseball: Snow, Anderson help send a reminder in the form of an 8-3 victory.

“I think we’ll hit about .280 against their pitching staff,” the Cleveland Indian fan told the radio talk show host Monday afternoon. “Yeah, we’d have to hit .280 against them to win the series,” replied the host.

Against the Angels, in town for two games? Nope. The subject was the Atlanta Braves, which shows the kind of confidence these pennant-hungry folks have in their beloved Indians. It’s only July, and they’re already projecting how an Atlanta-Cleveland World Series will play out.

But the Angels gave a sellout crowd of 41,583 in Jacobs Field a sobering reminder that there’s a pretty good American League team outside the Cleveland area, soundly beating the Indians, 8-3, Monday night in the first meeting of the A.L. West and Central division leaders.

First baseman J.T. Snow had a career-high four hits, including a three-run home run that put the game out of reach in the seventh inning, and left-hander Brian Anderson, the Geneva, Ohio, native making his Cleveland debut, limited baseball’s most feared offense to three runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Angels, who lead the major leagues in runs, pounded three Indian pitchers for 14 hits and left their mark on the Jacobs Field left-field wall. Four of their seven doubles--one shy of the team record of eight--hit the wall on the fly.

Center fielder Jim Edmonds had three hits, including two doubles, Tony Phillips had two hits, and relievers John Habyan and Troy Percival combined to no-hit Cleveland over the final 2 1/3 innings.

The victory ended a seven-game losing streak, spanning two years and a day, to Cleveland--the Angels last beat the Indians on July 16, 1993.

“This might make some people realize we can swing the bats,” said Snow, who had an RBI single in the first, a double in the fifth, a single in the ninth and also made the defensive highlight reel when he reached into the crowd to snag Carlos Baerga’s foul popup in the third inning.

“This could send a message [to fans], but we’ve been doing it all year. The players, the coaches know it. That’s all that matters, really.”

The Angels, coming off a four-game sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, tried not to attach any special significance to this series. But as the 25th consecutive Jacobs Field sellout crowd filed into the spiffy new stadium, players could sense the anticipation building.

“Before the game I was nervous,” Snow said. “It was like the first game I’ve ever played because of the atmosphere, the crowd, a packed house in a new stadium . . . that first at-bat felt like my first of the season.”

If anyone had reason to be nervous it was Anderson, who grew up a huge Indian fan, had a poster of Cleveland outfielder Albert Belle in his dormitory room at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and left about 20 tickets for family members and friends.

“Coming home, pitching in this park for the first time, this was one of the biggest thrills in my life,” said Anderson, who walked four and struck out one to improve to 3-2.

Anderson walked Belle once and retired him on a grounder and fly ball. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Omar Vizquel and Carlos Baerga for a run in the first inning but didn’t allow another runner past second until the seventh, when Sandy Alomar drove a two-run homer into the left-field bleachers.

But the Angels had a comfortable lead by then. They scored twice off starter Chad Ogea after two were out in the first, when Edmonds walked, Greg Myers singled, Snow singled home Edmonds, and Salmon, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a balk.

With two outs in the second, Gary DiSarcina, Phillips and Edmonds each doubled off the wall for a two-run rally and 4-1 lead. Edmonds opened the seventh with a single, Salmon reached on an error and Snow lined his 14th homer of the season into the left-field seats off Indian reliever Jim Poole for a 7-1 lead.