Angels Manage to Beat the Heat

The Angels weathered a storm, being blown away repeatedly by Roger Clemens.

They were then left high and dry by three of his successors, squandering opportunities.

Finally, they let loose a deluge.

A bases-loaded walk to Orlando Palmeiro pushed across the first run in a four-run 11th inning that gave the Angels a 6-3 victory Saturday over the Toronto Blue Jays.

By time the inning was over, another run had scored on a walk and Garret Anderson had slapped a two-run single, and the only thing the SkyDome crowd of 30,379 had to feel good about was Clemens’ 15-strikeout performance.

“When you’re going against one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, one of the best ever, and he is punching out 15, you have to be happy with getting a victory,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said.

The win enabled the Angels to remain in first place by half a game over Texas in the American League West.

While his teammates were overwhelmed by Clemens, Palmeiro had two hits, drove in a run and scored off Clemens. He was the right man for the job in the 11th.

The Angels had the winning run in scoring position in the ninth and 10th innings, and it looked as though they might waste another chance in the 11th. They had runners on first and third with no outs. When Palmeiro came up, there were two outs and the bases were loaded.

Palmeiro did little more than watch Blue Jay reliever Nerio Rodriguez melt down. Rodriguez walked four batters and gave up two hits in the 11th.

“I try to take a lot of pitches,’ Palmeiro said. “I had to learn to do that. In college I was a see-the-ball, hit-the-ball guy.”

Few Angels saw the ball or hit it while Clemens was pitching. He tied this season’s American League high for strikeouts before leaving in the ninth, after Tim Salmon led off with a single. Randy Johnson had 15 strikeouts three times this season while with Seattle.

The Angels did have a few little victories against Clemens. Palmeiro’s run-scoring double in the third broke Clemens’ string of 19 consecutive shutout innings against them. They also prevented him from winning his 10th consecutive game.

Clemens had 12 strikeouts through six innings. He struck out veterans Jim Edmonds three times and Anderson twice. Rookies Troy Glaus and Chris Pritchett both stuck out twice.

“I had all three [pitches] working today,” Clemens said. “What you need is good movement, good velocity and good location. When you have all three, the results will be good.”

Palmeiro, though, yanked a double down the right-field line in the third, scoring Gary DiSarcina, who had doubled. In the sixth, Palmeiro chopped a pitch over Clemens’ head and beat it out.

“I wouldn’t call that success [against Clemens],” Palmeiro said. “I would call that luck.”

Either way, Randy Velarde walked and, one out later, Salmon hit a 2-2 pitch into the gap in right-center for a ground-rule double.

The Angels had a 2-1 lead and pitcher Omar Olivares tried to make it stand. While Clemens was throwing heat past the Angels, Olivares was surviving with smoke and mirrors:

* He got Jose Canseco, a .600 lifetime hitter against him, to hit a broken-bat blooper to DiSarcina, who doubled up Shawn Green to end the third.

* He got Green, a .538 lifetime hitter against him, to strike out, looking, with two on to end the fifth.

* He got Darrin Fletcher, a .500 lifetime hitter against him, to smash a two-hop grounder to Velarde with two on to end the sixth.

But Alex Gonzalez, hitless in 10 at-bats against Olivares, lifted a 2-1 pitch into the Blue Jay bullpen to tie the score, 2-2, in the seventh.

It stayed that way until Palmeiro came up in the 11th.

“It really didn’t matter how we did against Clemens or how we scored our runs,” Palmeiro said. “All that matters was we won.”

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SINKING FAST: In losing to Atlanta, 5-3, Dodgers fell below .500. C3