They May Be Hobbled, but They Can Still Hustle

Dave Hollins will have knee surgery after the season and Tim Salmon’s Achilles’ tendon has been sore for several weeks, but you’d hardly know it watching them run the bases in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Texas.

After Garret Anderson doubled with one out in the third inning and took third on Salmon’s groundout, Hollins beat out an infield single to the shortstop hole, scoring Anderson to make it 1-1.

Tony Phillips singled and took third on Anderson’s single in the seventh, and Salmon beat out a fielder’s choice to score Phillips for a 2-1 Angel lead.

“That is one of the reasons he’s one of the best players in the game,” Manager Terry Collins said of Salmon, who increased his career-high RBI total to 124. “And Hollins only knows one gear--all out.

“If you’re a young player who looks at efforts like that and you don’t realize that’s the only way to play this game, you’re never going to get to their level.”

Hollins, who moved from third base to first after Darin Erstad suffered a shoulder injury last week, said his knee bothers him only when he stops and starts.

“Once I get going, I’m OK,” he said.

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Anderson had a double and three singles Sunday to increase his hit total to 182, setting a franchise record for hits by a left-handed batter in a season. The old record of 179 was shared by Rod Carew (1980) and Luis Polonia (1991).

“Rod set that toward the end of his career,” Anderson said of Carew, the current Angel batting instructor. “I know he’s gotten a lot more than 179 hits in a season, so I have a long way to go.”

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Right-hander Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who pitched five solid innings Sunday, donned a hot pink, ruffled dress for the trip to Seattle on Sunday night, part of the Angels’ annual rookie initiation ritual, and he seemed to bask in the attention.

“I look beautiful, right?” he said, amid cheering teammates. Did Hasegawa have any rookie rituals when he played in Japan? “Yes,” he said. “We had to get really drunk.”

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Collins has juggled his rotation so that Ken Hill, the team’s best pitcher this past month, will start Wednesday night against Seattle left-hander Jamie Moyer. Allen Watson will face Seattle’s Randy Johnson on Tuesday night, and Angel right-hander Jason Dickson has been pushed back to Thursday night’s game against Texas at home. . . . Chad Kreuter’s RBI single off Ranger closer John Wetteland in the ninth inning Sunday ended Wetteland’s 11-inning hitless streak and 12-inning scoreless streak.