For Once, Angels Enjoy Laugher

His body language can be maddening, particularly to an organization trying to give its image a makeover.

Garret Anderson glides along so effortlessly, it looks as if he’s not even trying. Once in a while, though, the results prove otherwise.

Thursday was a case in point. Anderson hammered the New York Yankees with perhaps his finest game in the major leagues, knocking in seven runs in a 14-3 Angel rout in front of 19,755 at Anaheim Stadium.

He hit his first career grand slam in the first inning, had a two-run double in the Angels’ five-run sixth and added a run-scoring double in the eighth.

“I know my numbers should be better than they are,” Anderson said. “I can’t sit around and cry about that. All I can do is go out and do what I can with what I have on that day.”

Anderson, who has 11 home runs and 58 runs batted in, hasn’t quite matched his 1995 figures of 16 homers and 69 RBIs.

“I feel just like I did yesterday,” he said. “I still have to go out and play tomorrow.”

How long he continues to play for the Angels remains up in the air. His name has long been the subject of trade rumors around the majors.

Thursday’s performance surely will renew interest.

As for the Yankees, slumping instead of soaring, they looked very much like the Angels did at this time last year.

It was the Yankees’ fifth consecutive loss, and their once-comfortable lead in the American League East is only four games over second-place Baltimore and 5 1/2 over third-place Boston.

The Yankees were never in the game, trailing by four after one inning, seven after four and double digits later. Their starter lasted only one inning. One reliever gave up four runs on three hits, making eight pitches--none of them any good.

A five-run sixth against reliever Graeme Lloyd merely put the game out of reach for the Angels. It also underscored the Yankees’ faltering play lately.

Lloyd faced four batters, giving up three hits and an intentional walk and uncorking a wild pitch that hit the backstop on the fly. All four batters eventually scored.

“It’s frustrating right now,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “We’re better than this and we know it. I knew it would be a tough second half, but it’s been more than I bargained for.

“I can’t put the blame on them [the players]. It’s got to turn around sooner rather than later. There’s a lot of tightness out there. Cecil [Fielder, who struck out three times] is trying to hit five-run homers.

“We have to think small.”

Neither Angel starter Pep Harris nor the Yankees’ Wally Whitehurst figures to be in their respective rotations next week. Harris’s spot will be taken by Jim Abbott when he returns from triple-A Vancouver after the rosters are expanded to 40 players on Sunday.

David Cone, back after having an aneurysm removed from his right arm, will make his first start since May 2 on Monday against Oakland.

But Harris, who gave up three runs on three hits in 4 2/3 innings, fared far better than Whitehurst, who lasted only one inning.

“Whitehurst didn’t have anything,” Torre said.

Left-hander Mike Holtz (3-2) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory for the Angels.

In the first four innings, the Angels scored more runs (seven) than in three games against the Boston Red Sox (six).