Rangers Show Hill the Door, Complete Sweep of Angels

Angel pitcher Ken Hill didn’t get out of the fourth inning. First baseman Mo Vaughn left before the fifth. It was more insult than injury.

By the time the Texas Rangers finished off an 18-4 victory Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep of the Angels, some high-priced players were cooling their heels. Not that there was anymore need for them.

It was another night where Ranger players took batting practice . . . for nine innings. It was another night Angel batters flailed at a pitcher whose earned-run average seemed more like a gymnastic score.

Rafael Palmeiro and Todd Zeile each drove in four runs. Pitcher Ryan Glynn, who had a 7.46 earned-run average going into the game, didn’t allow a hit through three innings and gave up only four in his six innings.

The Angels, who had won six of seven before the Rangers came to town, were outscored, 32-5, by Texas and fell 9 1/2 games out of first place in the AL West.

But Manager Terry Collins said he’s not ready to call it quits.

“It’s three games, three games,” he said. “Three days ago we were in the race. We just got our butts kicked the last three days. We win 10 in a row, we’re back in it.

“Every time something goes wrong, we’re out of the race. I’m so tired of it. We just need to take a day off, get some better pitching. End of story.”

Still, how bad has it become?

Randy Velarde was batting cleanup.

“It’s embarrassing, it really is,” Velarde said. “It speaks for the team that we have to resort to me as the cleanup hitter. I’m embarrassed.”

Collins said before the game that Hill needed to give them some innings. “Our bullpen is tired,” Collins said.

The Rangers were probably a little winded, too, after running around the bases so much. The 20 hits were most the Angels have given up since April 11, 1997 against Cleveland. The 18 runs were the most the potent Ranger attack has scored this season.

Still, it wasn’t like the 23,452 at Edison Field couldn’t cheer for something.

They cheered when Collins finally came out to get Hill. They cheered, mockingly, when Darin Erstad grounded a single into right field--the Angels’ first hit--to lead off the bottom of the fourth.

Other than that, they grumbled . . . loudly. Not without reason. They even booed Vaughn when he struck out with runners on first and third in the fourth. Vaughn got the rest of the night off.

He is three for 22 since hitting two home runs and driving in six runs Thursday in Seattle. He struck out three times Tuesday and struck out with runners on first and third Monday.

Still, it’s not as if Vaughn has dangled alone. The Angels are last in the league in runs scored.

The only offense they generated Wednesday revolved around Reggie Williams, Vaughn’s replacement. He had two triples, scored two runs and drove in one.

Collins tried to shake up the Angel batting order, putting a surprised Velarde fourth.

“I put my most consistent hitter in the middle of the order,” Collins said.

Angel cleanup hitters had driven in five runs in June. Velarde added to that total, doubling home Williams in the eighth.

“I thought we shook out of this last week,” said Todd Greene, who struck out four times. “We just have to forget these kind of nights.”

That will be difficult for Hill, who was given a three-year, $16.05-million contract two years ago. He has 12-14 record since. He left his last start after two innings with tightness in his elbow and didn’t make it out of the fourth Wednesday. But Collins said Hill’s elbow was fine.

Hill, who has arthritis in his right elbow, threw 37 pitches and walked three in the first. The Rangers scored three runs, two on Palmeiro’s single.

Hill got one out in the fourth, then gave up a double to Ivan Rodriguez, a single to Rusty Greer and a run-scoring single to Juan Gonzalez--the catcalls getting louder with each hit. The Rangers scored six runs in the inning to take a 11-0 lead, but Hill was long gone by then.

Glynn (2-2) meanwhile, breezed through three innings and gave up only two hits through five innings.