BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Percival Says It’s Nothing Personal

Yes, Angel closer Troy Percival did thrust his arm in the general direction of Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas after getting Danny Tartabull to pop out with the bases loaded to end the 11th inning Monday night.

No, he was not taunting Thomas, who was perturbed at Percival’s fist-pumping antics after the reliever struck him out to end the Angels’ 6-5 victory on April 7.

And, yes, Percival is tired of talking about the White Sox first baseman and the supposed bad blood between the two.

“Everyone’s world revolves around Frank Thomas, and everyone thinks it’s directed at him, but none of it is,” Percival said Tuesday. “The last time I looked, we did the Pledge of Allegiance, not the Pledge to Frank Thomas.”

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The day after Randy Velarde’s routine grounder in the bottom of the 13th inning took a wild hop over Chicago White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen’s head, allowing the winning run to score in the Angels’ 9-8 victory, Angel President Tony Tavares said he has approved General Manager Bill Bavasi’s request to hire an outside groundskeeping consultant for the troubled playing surface.

The City of Anaheim is responsible for field maintenance and upkeep and has its own groundskeeping staff, but Tavares said the consultant’s fee would come out of the Angels’ budget.

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He has faced the heart of the Cleveland Indian and Chicago White Sox orders, and Angel reliever Ryan Hancock still has a 0.00 earned-run average.

Hancock pitched a scoreless 12th and 13th inning to earn the victory Monday night in an almost exact replica--minus the spectacular defensive play, base hit and run--of his June 9 performance, when he shut out the Indians for the final 2 2/3 innings of an 8-6, 13-inning victory.

“I guess 13 is a lucky number for me,” said Hancock, a former Brigham Young University quarterback.

Hancock had mixed success against two of the American League’s most feared batters, striking out Albert Belle in Cleveland and giving up a single to Thomas on Monday night. But of the two, he was more intimidated by Thomas.

“He was pretty monstrous at the plate,” Hancock said of the 6-foot-5, 257-pound Thomas. “He’s 6-5 and all muscle. He looks like some of the linebackers I used to play against in college.”

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Darin Erstad’s three runs batted in Monday night marked the first RBIs from the Angel lead-off spot during the month of June. . . . In the nine games before Tuesday, the Angel bullpen went 5-0 with six saves and a 1.67 ERA.