Angels Survive a Split Decision

With the weary face of a man who has seen thousands of baseball games, Dodger Manager Davey Johnson looked up at the man who asked a painfully obvious question Sunday morning. Did Johnson believe the fight that sparked the Dodgers to victory Saturday could provide momentum to fuel a winning streak?

“If we don’t pitch good and we don’t hit good, it don’t mean diddly,” Johnson said.

The Dodgers punched no one and kicked no one Sunday. The Angels pitched better, hit better and won, 7-5, before a sellout crowd of 53,778 at Dodger Stadium. The Angels played with a sense of urgency, and their manager definitely managed with a sense of urgency.

“After all the crap that went on [Saturday], it was important for us to come out and play good baseball,” Angel closer Troy Percival said.

After home runs from Troy Glaus and Darin Erstad, four hits from Garret Anderson and a splendid effort from Ken Hill, Collins was in no mood for another loss, certainly not when it would mean a sweep by the crosstown rivals at a time several of his players have objected to his proposed contract extension.

The Angels had blown a 3-0 lead Friday and a 4-0 lead Saturday. After the Dodgers whittled a 7-3 lead to 7-5 in the seventh inning Sunday and put the tying run on base in the eighth inning, Collins summoned Percival. For the first time this season, Collins asked his closer to work more than one inning for the save.

“If I’m going to get beat, I’m going to get beat with my ace,” Collins said. “If he gives up a home run, everybody’s going to say, ‘Boy, that was dumb.’ But every move you make is going to be criticized anyway.”

Percival got four outs, two by strikeout, for his 16th save, tied for second in the American League.

Some closers would be offended if asked to pitch before the ninth inning, but not this one.

“I’m offended if I go in before the ninth and we lose the game,” Percival said.

“It doesn’t matter if I go in in the sixth inning. If I don’t do my job, we don’t win.”

Hill (3-4) won consecutive starts for the first time this season, after winning once in his first 10 starts.

Dodger starter Carlos Perez (2-7) has not won consecutive starts this season and is tied for the National League lead in losses.

The Dodgers scored twice in the first, on two walks and two singles. The Angels responded with one run in the second and two more in the fourth.

The game remained taut until the sixth inning, when Glaus crushed a Perez pitch for a three-run homer and a 6-2 lead.

For Glaus, that’s four home runs in nine games since word surfaced that a demotion might be in his future. At that point, he had gone one month without a home run, and his batting average had fallen to .226.

Glaus is hitting .500 since then, raising his average to .258, and he credited a change in his approach. And what is that change?

“That’s like insider info,” Glaus said with a smile. “I can’t tell you that.”

He could tell, certainly, that a trip to triple-A Edmonton was nearly his.

“I thought about that,” he said. “I knew I was struggling. I wasn’t immune to that.

“I was still working hard and doing everything I felt I needed to do to get ready to play. Stuff wasn’t falling. The last few days, stuff has been falling. That’s the nature of the game.”

Inconsistency has been the nature of the game for both teams. The Dodgers (28-27) are at .500 on the road, one game above .500 at Dodger Stadium.

“Certainly, we’re going to bust out of it at some point,” first baseman Eric Karros said. “If we don’t, it’s going to be a long season.”

As for the other .500 team in town, the management of the Angels (27-29) can only pray clubhouse dissension has dissolved. Collins said--and Mo Vaughn agreed--that the players who expressed their distaste for the manager to General Manager Bill Bavasi have had their say and moved on.

“The one thing the guys realized is, we’ve all got the same name on our jerseys,” Collins said. “Regardless of their feelings for each other or myself, we’ve got to go out there and do it together.”

Said Vaughn: “It was a good win. A lot of guys played well, except myself.”

He went 0 for 4, striking out three times. He could smile. It was a good win, indeed.