Baughman Getting Respect on Field

Justin Baughman may be in the big leagues and making significant contributions as the Angels’ second baseman, but membership doesn’t always have its privileges.

When Angel pitcher Allen Watson returned from his minor league rehabilitation start Saturday and needed a locker in the Angels’ Qualcomm Stadium clubhouse Sunday, Baughman, a rookie, got bumped into a corner stall that sits in the dark and cannot even be seen from the middle of the clubhouse.

“Watson kicked me out of my locker, so I got this one,” Baughman said amid the shadows after Sunday’s 11-3 victory over the Padres. “It’s fun being a rookie, but it’s also hard sometimes. You’ve got to watch what you say and do, especially off the field.”

Those on-the-field chores, Baughman can handle. A lifelong shortstop who moved to second this season, Baughman has impressed his teammates with his ability to handle a switch of positions and the jump to the major leagues.

“It’s tough to play in the big leagues at your normal position, let alone moving to another one,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “Being that young, and being on a team that’s winning and is in a pennant race, is a lot of pressure, but he’s held up to it.”

When Garret Anderson hit 16 homers in 106 games as a rookie in 1995, Angel fans assumed he’d hit 20 homers and drive in 90-100 runs every year.

When he dipped to 12 homers and 72 RBIs in 150 games in 1996, doubts began to arise about the outfielder’s offensive ability. Anderson had only eight homers in 1997, but when he hit .303 and drove in 92 runs, the Angels figured run production was more important than home run production.

But this year, Anderson seems to be raising that power bar again. His three-run homer off lefty Roberto Ramirez in the eighth inning Sunday was his ninth of the year, giving him one more than he had in all of 1997.

“There’s really no significance to it,” Anderson said. “I don’t think about home runs. My main goal is to drive in runs, but the reason I’m hitting more homers is I’m not missing some pitches that are up in the zone.”

A more significant statistic, Manager Terry Collins believes, is Anderson’s batting average, which stood at .253 on May 29 but has risen as high as .296 in June. He’s now hitting .291.

“If we’re going to compete, we have to have him swinging the bat,” Collins said. “He’s a heck of a hitter, and he’s caught fire in the last month. That changes our entire lineup. When he’s swinging good, they have to pitch to Cecil [Fielder].”

Angel rookie Jarrod Washburn, who improved to 4-0 with Sunday’s victory over the Padres, needs one more win to tie the Angels’ franchise record for victories to start their career, a mark set by Bo Belinsky in 1962 and tied by Terry Clark in 1988.

Washburn gave up only two runs on eight hits in seven innings, walked none and struck out three. Of his 103 pitches, 75 were strikes. The 23-year-old is yet to taste defeat in the big leagues--the Angels have won all six of his starts--and his win Sunday snapped the Angels’ only two-game losing streak of June.

“We’ve had a heck of a month, and it’s been a great run,” Collins said after the Angels increased their lead over Texas to 2 1/2 games, “but with all that happened playing the Dodgers four times last week, I think we came here a little flat.

“We needed someone today to get the energy back, and that was Jarrod. We got some runs early, and Cecil [Fielder’s] homer [in the seventh] gave us some breathing room, but it all started with Jarrod. He gave us some great innings against a very good lineup.”