Victory Raises Angels’ Spirit

The Angels will be arriving at their homes today not long before this newspaper hits Los Angeles-area driveways, weary to be sure, but feeling pretty good about themselves nonetheless.

They face a three-game series against the high-rolling New York Yankees, owners of the best record in baseball, but they’re confident the worst of July is behind them and they’re eager to believe that good times await.

Monday night’s 6-1 victory over Kansas City in front of 17,252 at Kauffman Stadium was a spirit-booster for several reasons. They got a quality start from struggling left-hander Allen Watson, yet another sparkling performance from reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa, a power surge from the long-slumbering heart of their lineup and the victory lifted them into a one-game lead over idle Texas in the American League West.

“The Yankees are enjoying they’re day off in Anaheim and we’re here playing our [butts] off,” Manager Terry Collins said before the game. “And we won’t get home until about 3 in the morning. Yeah, this would be a very big win for us.”

After the game, he was able to count the ways.

“Allen’s performance was probably the biggest thing,” he said. “He’s been up in the bullpen two or three times in the last few days and he got a little tired, but he gave us the kind of quality innings we needed.”

Watson, who had not won a game since May 13 and has been in and out of the starting rotation since returning from the disabled list July 13, went 5 1/3 innings, gave up three hits, one run and struck out five to earn the victory.

“I felt great,” said Watson, whose stint on the disabled list for forearm tendinitis was extended when he cut his left wrist on a beer bottle. “All my pitches were working, my arm strength is coming back and every time out my stuff has been getting better and better.”

Hasegawa, who improved his record to 5-1 with a victory in Minnesota on the second game of the trip, pitched the final 3 2/3 innings, yielding only a two-out double in the ninth. He says his mechanics are as good right now as they have ever been in his career.

“Shiggy picked me up,” Watson said. “He’s just amazing. The guy has a rubber arm. And if he misses, he misses off the plate.”

Tim Salmon has done his share of missing lately. When he saw the replay of his second-inning home run come up on ESPN’s Sportcenter, he grabbed the remote and turned up the volume just in time to hear the announcer say, “That’s Salmon’s first homer since July 15.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Salmon said.

One hundred at-bats between homers is definitely not Salmonesque, and he acknowledged that the drought has been weighing on his mind.

“It’s been a different sort of home run watch,” he said, referring to the chase for Roger Maris’ record. “I try not to get too discouraged, but sometimes you find yourself overswinging.”

Clean-up hitter Cecil Fielder also had a home run and a run-scoring single, sparking hope in the clubhouse that the power pair are finally getting hot at the same time. “We’ve been talking about that for what, three months now,” Salmon said, smiling. “If Daddy and I both get hot, we could give this offense quite a boost.”

The Angels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning after Fielder walked and Salmon sent a missile over the fence in right. One out later, catcher Phil Nevin added a 411-foot bases-empty blast to center. The Angels scored twice more in the third on Fielder’s run-scoring single to right and Salmon’s RBI double.

Royals starter Pat Rapp settled in to retire seven of the last eight batters he faced, the only hit a sixth-inning double down the right-field line by Garret Anderson. The hit extended Anderson’s career-best hitting streak to 24 games.

Anderson’s streak is second-longest in Angel history, one shy of batting instructor Rod Carew’s mark, set in 1982.

“Everyone knows we’ve been scuffling,” Salmon said, “so at this point we’ll take any win. But maybe this one is something we can build on. With the Yankees, Cleveland and Boston coming up, we’ll take any momentum we can get.”

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