Now, It’s Pitching Plaguing Angels : Baseball: In less than two innings, Anderson gives up two of Paul O’Neill’s three homers in an 11-6 Yankee victory.

NEW YORK — The Angels snapped out of their batting slump Thursday night, but not with the grandeur that New York Yankee right fielder Paul O’Neill broke out of his.

O’Neill shattered an 0-for-16 spell with home runs in his first three at-bats and eight runs batted in to lead the Yankees to an 11-6 victory over the Angels before a paid crowd of 25,633 in Yankee Stadium.

The victory gave the Yankees a three-game series sweep of the Angels, who suffered their sixth consecutive loss, their ninth loss in the last 10 games and saw their lead in the American League West shrink to 7 1/2 games over Texas and Seattle.

O’Neill had two chances to become only the second Yankee--Lou Gehrig was the other--and 13th major leaguer to hit four homers in a game, but with the crowd on its feet, anticipating history, he had an RBI single in the sixth inning. O’Neill then struck out against Angel reliever Troy Percival in the eighth.

“I don’t know what to say. I’ve never done this before,” said O’Neill, whose homers traveled a combined 1,154 feet. “I’ve been struggling a bit, so every time up there I just try to hit the ball hard somewhere. It just happened tonight. I don’t know why. If I did, I’d do it more often.”

Two of O’Neill’s homers came off Angel starter Brian Anderson--a three-run shot to right-center field in the first inning and a three-run shot to right in the second--which helped stake the Yankees to a 7-0 lead and had some Angels longing for the good old days--like those of July.

“We’ve got to come out and jump on someone at the beginning of the game like we used to,” Angel first baseman J.T. Snow said. “We need to put up two or three runs in the top of the first on this road trip.”

The Angels, who haven’t had a lead since Saturday--and they eventually lost that one to the Baltimore Orioles--continued their pattern of falling behind early, but this time they mounted something of a comeback.

They had 14 hits--the first time they have reached double figures in hits in a week--and scored three runs in the sixth, their biggest inning in a week. They even had the tying run in the on-deck circle.

It’s progress.

“It’s a very small victory in the scheme of things, but it’s something to build on,” said right fielder Tim Salmon, who had three hits. “When we were down by seven [runs], it would have been easy to pack it in and get out of here, but we battled, got some two-out hits and scored off their closer [John Wetteland] in the ninth.”

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said he knew the offense would eventually come around. Pitching is now his biggest concern. Anderson, who lost his previous four decisions and gave up 27 runs and 40 hits in his previous five starts, didn’t finish the second inning, and his spot in the rotation is looking more tenuous.

Mike Harkey came on and gave up only two runs in 3 2/3 innings, but reliever Bob Patterson was hammered for two runs and three hits in one-third of an inning and Mike Butcher walked in two runs for the second time in three games.

“One of the things you have to do for the club is give them the expectation that they’re going to win from the start of the game, and that starts with pitching,” Lachemann said. “You can’t give up four or five in the first inning and expect to win games. I thought we battled and played hard, but we just pitched very poorly.”

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On the Slide

A look at how Brian Anderson has pitched in his last six starts and his statistics before that. Coincidentally, shortstop Gary DiSarcina was injured on Aug. 3, just before the first of Anderson’s bad performances:

ANDERSON THROUGH AUG. 5

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IP H R ER BB SO W-L ERA 63 53 27 27 19 19 6-2 3.86

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ANDERSON’S LAST SIX STARTS

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Date, Opp. IP H R ER BB SO Dec. Aug. 6, vs. Tex. 7 1/3 8 5 4 1 3 L Aug. 11, at Min. 3 2/3 7 5 5 2 5 ND Aug. 16, at Chi. 4 9 7 7 1 4 L Aug. 21, vs. Bos. 6 1/3 6 6 6 3 4 L Aug. 26, vs. Bal. 6 1/3 10 4 4 3 2 L Aug. 31, at NY 1 2/3 6 7 7 1 1 L

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ANDERSON’S OVERALL RECORD

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IP H R ER BB SO W-L ERA 92 1/3 99 61 60 30 38 6-7 5.85

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