Angels Turn 10-0 Laugher Into Thriller

If there was any question as to why the Angels forked over $80 million for Mo Vaughn this winter, the slugger who thrives on pressure situations provided the answer Wednesday night.

With his team staggering around the field like a punch-drunk fighter, having blown a 10-run lead, Vaughn delivered a knockout blow of his own, ripping a two-run home run--his second homer of the game--into the right-field seats in the eighth inning to lift the Angels to a 12-10 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays before 18,304 in Edison Field.

Randy Velarde had reached on second baseman Pat Kelly’s throwing error with one out in the eighth, and Vaughn drilled left-handed reliever Graeme Lloyd’s first pitch over the wall in right to snap a 10-10 tie.

Troy Percival then caught Jose Cruz looking at a called third strike with runners on second and third to end the game, giving the Angels their first chance to exhale since the fourth inning.

The Angels do not keep club records for leads surrendered--wonder why?--but it’s safe to say that no one associated with the franchise could remember the Angels blowing a lead as large this one.

Manager Terry Collins promised the Angels would play with more intensity Wednesday, and for four innings, they showed more purpose, more drive, more ambition, than they have all season, building what seemed like an insurmountable lead.

But it all collapsed under an avalanche of Blue Jay hits and runs, most of them surrendered by Angel starter Tim Belcher.

For some reason, large leads have sat with Belcher about as well as three-week-old tuna. The right-hander gave up four runs of a five-run lead in last Thursday’s 8-7 loss to Toronto, and Wednesday night he was ripped for six runs in the fifth inning after being staked to the 10-0 lead.

Limited to two hits in the first four innings, the Blue Jays opened the fifth with four consecutive hits, Darrin Fletcher’s double, singles by Alex Gonzalez and Kelly (RBI), and Shannon Stewart’s three-run homer.

Shawn Green then launched his seventh homer of the season into the right-field seats to make it 10-5, and after a walk to Carlos Delgado and Tony Fernandez’s single, Fletcher hit a two-out, RBI single to center.

One out away from a potential victory for Belcher, Collins had no choice but to pull his starter in favor of reliever Al Levine, who got Gonzalez to bounce back to the mound for the final out of an excruciating inning. Belcher left with a 9.13 earned-run average, and opponents are hitting .373 against him.

But Toronto wasn’t through. Kelly opened the sixth with a single and, after Stewart’s fielder’s choice, Green launched home run No. 8 off reliever Scott Schoeneweis deep into the right-field seats, trimming the Angel lead to 10-8.

Schoeneweis gave up a double to pinch-hitter Geronimo Berroa in the seventh and was pulled for Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who gave up Gonzalez’s game-tying, two-run homer to center.

Think Tuesday’s lackluster, 10-1 loss to Toronto was embarrassing? Get this: In the span of three innings Wednesday, the Blue Jays equaled their franchise record for largest deficit overcome and wiped out all the momentum the Angels, losers of seven of their previous nine games going in, had built in the first four innings.

The Angels scored twice in the second, five times in the third and added three in the fourth, showing the killer instinct first baseman Darin Erstad said was missing and knocking Toronto ace David Wells, a postseason hero for the New York Yankees last October, out in the third inning.

Garret Anderson jump-started the Angel offense in the second with an RBI triple, which snapped an 0-for-17 skid, and Charlie O’Brien added a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Randy Velarde opened the third with a single, and Vaughn, who has a lifetime .471 average (24 for 52) against Wells, lined a two-run homer to center, giving him seven homers against the left-hander.

Troy Glaus’ double, Anderson’s infield single and Tim Unroe’s RBI single made it 5-0, and Andy Sheets capped the rally with a two-out, two-run single to center, making it 7-0.

The Angels made it 10-0 in the fourth when Glaus ripped a 1-2 pitch from reliever Tom Davey over the center-field wall for a three-run homer, giving him four homers and 14 RBIs on the season.

*

ANGEL NOTES: DiSarcina’s broken arm appears to be healing, but Collins isn’t getting excited about his shortstop’s return. Page 8

TRADE: The Mariners add outfield depth by acquiring Brian Hunter from the Tigers for two minor leaguers. Page 7