Davis Joins Elite with 2,000th

Chili Davis joined an exclusive group when he recorded his 2,000 career hit Monday. He became the 200th major league player to get 2,000 hits but only the 18th switch hitter, joining Mickey Mantle among others.

Pete Rose and Eddie Murray are the only switch hitters with 3,000 hits.

“It’s special. It means longevity,” said former Angel Tony Phillips, now playing left field for the Chicago White Sox.

Predictably, Phillips had a few other observations about Davis’ lazy fly ball down the left-field line in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader.

“It’s still a [weak] hit for 2,000,” Phillips said. “It should have been a screaming line drive. No. 2,000 should have been a pea shot. And who caught his 2,000th hit?

“I have to go back out there and [mess] with him about that.”

They played together for only one season, but Phillips quickly learned how important Davis is to the Angels.

“Take Chili out of that lineup and what do you have?” Phillips said. “Both sides of the plate. A money man. An RBI man. A guy you can count on. Take him away from that lineup and [Tim] Salmon is not going to be able to do the things he does.

“Plus, he’s a guy who works with the young guys. He teaches them the game and how to go about their business. He makes the Angels a better team.”

*

Manager Marcel Lachemann said the ideal situation for Jim Abbott’s first professional relief appearance would be to start the inning of a game already well in hand.

“One, he’s trying to work on some things,” Lachemann said. “Two, he’s never relieved before. I don’t want him in a situation with the game on the line.”

Joking, Lachemann added: “I say that and [Tuesday’s] game will go 13 innings and I’ll have to have him in there. His first relief appearance and Frank Thomas is up there.”

*

Sure, rookie Ryan Hancock won his first major league start Monday and earned a second start against Oakland on Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, but he expected more from himself.

“Of all the things I set out to do, the only thing I did was keep us in the ballgame,” Hancock said of lasting five innings and giving up two runs on five hits. “It could have been worse, definitely. The bullpen did a good job of picking me up. Our offense did a great job of hanging in there.”

*

The Angels are off today before starting a seven-game home stand against Oakland and Texas on Thursday. It will be the Angels’ first home games against an American League West opponent. . . . Darin Erstad’s first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 11 games.