Angels Can’t Climb Hill as Rangers Complete Sweep, 18-4

Pitcher Ken Hill didn’t get out of the fourth inning. It was hard to tell whether it was insult and what was injury.

The Texas Rangers finished a three-game sweep of the Angels with an 18-4 victory Wednesday night before 23,452 at Edison Field.

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 ERA 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 a glimmer of hope after winning six of seven games before the Rangers came to town, were outscored, 14-1 in the first two games of the series and things got only worse Wednesday.

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.”

How desperate was is it getting?

Manager Terry 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. They had 20 hits and a season-high 18 runs.

Still, it wasn’t like the fans 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 --their first hit--to lead off the bottom of the fourth.

Other than that, they grumbled . . . loudly. Not without reason. Heck, they even booed Mo Vaughn when he struck out with runners on first and third in the fourth. Vaughn didn’t come out for the fifth.

Vaughn 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.

“No one knows his swing better than Mo,” Collins said. “He can work out of it. He has an approach.”

It wasn’t like Vaughn was dangling alone the last few days. The Angels are last in the American League in runs scored.

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

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 have 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 is 12-14 since. He left his last start after two innings with tightness in his elbow and didn’t make it out of the fourth Wednesday.

Hill, who has arthritis in his right elbow, threw 37 pitches in the first inning, walking three batters. 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--with 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 the first three innings. He allowed only two hits through five innings.

The Angels scored two in the sixth, when Williams tripled, scoring Orlando Palmeiro.