Angel Trio Powers Up in Lake Elsinore

The first pitch had been thrown Wednesday night and the line of cars was still inching toward the parking lots at the Diamond, home of the Angels’ Class A affiliate Lake Elsinore Storm.

The overflow crowd of 7,266 wasn’t quite a record, but all who came seemed to have a good time. In the end, it didn’t matter that the game they came to see wasn’t exactly as advertised.

Angels vs. Lake Elsinore wasn’t quite accurate. It was little more than a glorified intrasquad game. And a minor league one at that.

Only the presence of outfielders Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon livened things up. Then again, they did their best work three hours before the game started while the stadium was empty.

For the record, the “Angels” defeated the Storm, 4-3. Knuckleballer Dennis Springer, expected to fill a long relief role in the Angel bullpen, started and gave up three runs and three hits with three strikeouts and three walks in five innings.

One of the hits was a three-run homer by former Mater Dei High standout Greg Shockey, who hit .327 for Lake Elsinore last year.

Anderson, Edmonds and Salmon put on a tremendous power show during batting practice. Each sent a number of balls well over the outfield fences and into nearby streets.

“Oh, my goodness,” Salmon said when asked if the Diamond was as good a hitting park as it seemed to a visitor. “For a power guy, you need to develop a power swing. The best thing that happened to me was going to Midland [a notorious hitter’s ballpark]. Edmonton was the same thing.

“I played at Palm Springs in A ball. You couldn’t hit it out if it was a golf ball. That takes away a young hitter’s confidence. Confidence is what the game is all about.”

Edmonds, Salmon’s teammate at Palm Springs, wasn’t sold on the quirky outfield dimensions at the Diamond. Center field is 400 feet straight away, but juts out to 425 toward left-center and shrinks to 386 toward right-center.

“I would say if they built a new stadium in Anaheim, I’d like to see the outfield wall the same way it is now [at Anaheim Stadium],” Edmonds said. “No straight angles, the gaps are pretty small.”

He had no trouble hitting the ball over the Diamond’s 36-foot-high right-field fence, launching a two-run homer off left-hander Matt Beaumont in his first at-bat.

Edmonds said his strained groin was better Wednesday and didn’t expect it to sideline him for the Freeway Series this weekend. He injured it during Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.