Angels Pick It Up--in Double Time

The Angels know not to get too giddy after winning three of four games--including Monday’s, 13-5, before 24,601 at The Ballpark in Arlington--over the Texas Rangers, their American League West rivals.

Yes, the Angels pounded 20 hits and set a team record with 10 doubles Monday, capping a four-day offensive binge in which they outscored the Rangers, 34-15, racked up 57 hits, 18 of them doubles, and posted a slugging percentage of .543.

But they had a similar experience in Arlington last June, winning three of four and outscoring the Rangers, 34-15. And we all know what happened in September: Texas whipped the Angels five times in the last two weeks of the season to win the division title.

“It’s way too early in the year for this kind of series to make a statement,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “The Rangers are a very good team, and I hope they know we are too.”

In case they didn’t, the Angels provided a few reminders Monday:

* Tim Salmon continued his torrid hitting here with four hits and a career-high five RBIs. He hit a two-out RBI double in the first and a two-out, three-run double that gave the Angels a 7-3 lead in the fourth. The right fielder is batting .424 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs in the Rangers’ new park, which opened in 1994.

* Troy Glaus had a career-high four hits, tying a club record with three doubles, and three RBIs and is batting .481 with seven doubles and eight RBIs in seven games, putting even more distance between 1999 and his horrendous struggles of 1998.

* Darin Erstad had three hits, scored three runs and made two outstanding plays at first base, ranging into shallow right field to make an over-the-shoulder catch of Juan Gonzalez’s two-out popup with the bases loaded to end the second, and a diving grab of Gregg Zaun’s grounder to his right to end the seventh.

* Randy Velarde had three hits and scored twice, registering his fifth multiple-hit game of the season and fourth in a row.

* Mike Magnante, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Mike Holtz combined for five shutout innings in relief of self-proclaimed “messed-up” starter Ken Hill, capping a remarkable series for the Angel bullpen, which gave up no earned runs, four hits and struck out 11 in 14 2/3 innings.

“Any time you can put together a string like that, it’s phenomenal,” said Magnante, who gave up one hit in 2 1/3 innings Monday to gain the victory. “We know we can do this. We’re not a bunch of rookies out there. The one good thing about our bullpen is, it’s a veteran group, and I don’t think we’ll be susceptible to those gigantic emotional highs or lows.”

The Angels have already crammed a season’s worth of emotional lows into a month and a half, losing shortstop Gary DiSarcina for at least half a season, center fielder Jim Edmonds and first baseman Mo Vaughn to injuries, but that didn’t slow them in Texas.

“Everyone has really picked up the slack,” said Salmon, a career .259 April hitter who is off to a sizzling start, batting .393 with two homers and nine RBIs. “It makes you feel good about our chances when we get Mo and Jimmy back.”

Though the Angels shredded Texas starter Mark Clark for eight runs on 11 hits in five innings and added nine more hits off relievers Esteban Loaiza and Eric Gunderson, Collins was just as impressed with two of the Angels’ more subtle offensive accomplishments.

After Glaus opened the fifth with a double, Chris Pritchett pulled a grounder to first, moving Glaus to third. Glaus then scored on a wild pitch.

And after Garret Anderson opened the seventh with a double, Glaus’ only thought was advancing him to third. He lofted a ball that wound up landing near the line in right for an RBI double.

“We have guys who are unselfish and will do what it takes to win,” Erstad said. “Look at Pritchett. He doesn’t have a hit yet this season, and he didn’t care. He got a guy to third and we got him home.

“Stuff like that is so valuable. We have a good mix of guys right now, guys who can hit but who don’t care about numbers. When you have that combination, good things are going to happen.”