Hudler Sparks Angels

The Angels may have found a leadoff hitter, a spark-plug type who may not be as effective as Tony Phillips was in 1995 but who definitely can ignite the team. Only problem is, the guy seems reluctant to take the job, and he can only work part time.

After Rex Hudler led an Angel offensive uprising that led to Sunday’s 10-1 victory over the New York Yankees and the end of a six-game losing streak, Manager Marcel Lachemann vowed to find a way to get his frenetic utility player in the lineup more often.

“I’m going to investigate it as much as I can, because he definitely makes things happen,” Lachemann said of Hudler, who singled to kindle a four-run first inning and hit a two-run homer in the fourth before 37,326 in Yankee Stadium.

“He’s played, what, two in a row now? We’ll find out how he does [playing three in a row]. I’ll have to find some place for him [today].”

With ace Chuck Finley cruising toward an eventual complete-game, six-hit victory and the offense pounding 15 hits and tacking on runs throughout a sun-drenched afternoon in the Bronx, Lachemann replaced Hudler at second base with Damion Easley in the seventh to rest Hudler for tonight’s game at Baltimore.

“I like that,” said Hudler, the 35-year-old who can play second and all three outfield positions. “If he’s smart, he’ll ride me through Camden Yards, because I’m a streaky player and I feel good. But don’t overexpose me. I’m a little too old to be playing every day. My battery would run down.”

Hudler put a charge in the Angel offense Sunday, leading off the game with a single and scoring on Tim Salmon’s home run, his first 1996 road homer and sixth of the season. Chili Davis then homered off Yankee starter Scott Kamieniecki, and Jack Howell and J.T. Snow each doubled, making it 4-0.

A Kamieniecki fastball nailed Hudler in the back in the second inning, and Hudler sprinted to first, as if he felt no pain. He was caught stealing second, but two walks and Davis’ two-run double made it 6-0 for the Angels.

Hudler then hit a fourth-inning, two-run homer to right, his fifth of the season, and the Angels added single runs in the fifth (Gary DiSarcina’s RBI single) and seventh (Jorge Fabregas’ bases-empty home run) to pull away.

“You never know what Rex is going to do,” said DiSarcina, who had three hits. “He might take four pitches, he might swing at every pitch. He might hit a ball into the upper deck, he might swing as hard as he can and hit a tapper in front of the plate.

“Sometimes that can scare an opposing pitcher--’What the heck do I do with this guy?’ He brings a lot of energy and a flair for the game when he’s in there. I mean, how many guys sprint to first after getting hit? [Yankee catcher Joe] Girardi probably thought he was going to charge the mound.”

Finley appreciated Hudler’s spunk and his teammates’ offensive support. The Angels had scored a combined four runs in Finley’s last two starts--extra-inning losses to Kansas City and Boston--but they hammered Kamieniecki and four Yankee relievers Sunday.

Kamieniecki lasted only 1 2/3 innings, the same as his last start against the Chicago White Sox on May 12. The Yankees came back to win that game, 9-8, and they made some rumblings against Finley in the first, loading the bases with no outs.

But Finley got Ruben Sierra on an infield fly and struck out Tino Martinez and Jim Leyritz, the latter on a 3-2 forkball in the dirt, to get out of the jam.

“That was the key to the ballgame,” Lachemann said. “If they got a couple runs there, we’d be in a dogfight again.”

Finley, whose last shutout came in a 10-0 victory over the Yankees last May 23 at Anaheim, mixed a sharp-breaking curve with his usually effective fastball and forkball to blank a potent Yankee lineup through eight innings.

But Robert Eenhoorn reached on Easley’s error to start the ninth and eventually scored on Matt Howard’s sacrifice fly, and Finley, who struck out 10, had to settle for his 50th career complete game.

“I was so tired in the eighth, I was hoping someone would take me deep so they could take me out,” Finley said. “So the shutout didn’t really matter to me. I just hope this game carries over to Baltimore.”

So does Hudler.