Angels Have a Sweep Time Against Yankees

It seemed ludicrous at the time, but after being swept by Boston in a three-game series last weekend, Angel Manager Terry Collins was actually looking forward to three games in Yankee Stadium against the defending world champions.

“The energy level is huge here--you’re never flat,” Collins said. “You’re fighting so many things--the best team in the game, the fans. There’s an electricity here. People get excited when there’s two strikes on a hitter. That pumps up the visiting team as much as the home team.”

The Angels, depleted by injuries and sending a lineup of no-names against New York’s stable of superstars, rode that wave of intensity to a 2-0 victory Thursday night, their second straight shutout and first three-game series sweep in Yankee Stadium since 1984.

Angel starter Omar Olivares (4-3) pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up five hits, Scott Schoeneweis and Shigetoshi Hasegawa each threw two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief, and Troy Percival, despite being “out of gas,” crafted a three-up, three-down ninth for his third save in as many nights.

Mo Vaughn provided the big blow, homering off Yankee starter Hideki Irabu to break a scoreless tie in the sixth, and Andy Sheets, whose RBI double scored the only run in Wednesday night’s 1-0 victory, added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

“We can look back on a series like this and remember this is how it’s supposed to be,” said Vaughn, who has 14 homers in Yankee Stadium. “How we come out [today against Tampa Bay] is important. That’s what I’ll be stressing on the plane ride home and [today] in the clubhouse. . . .

“This team is notorious for playing the Yankees well and everyone else like [garbage]. . . . That’s got to stop. I don’t want to see any letdowns. Let’s continue to go forward.”

Despite walking a season-high six--twice as many as he walked in any of his six previous starts, Olivares didn’t allow a run before being relieved by Schoeneweis, who got Paul O’Neill to pop to second with one on to end the seventh.

Olivares also got the always-dangerous O’Neill to ground into a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the fifth, which Collins called “the biggest out of the game.”

Center fielder Garret Anderson, who went eight for 13 in the series, helped preserve the shutout with a diving catch of Jorge Posada’s third-inning flare to the left-center-field gap with a runner on second and no one out.

“Six walks and a shutout, it sounds kind of unreal, doesn’t it?” Olivares said. “But I made pitches when I really needed them. I never gave in.”

Neither did Hasegawa in the eighth. Relieving Schoeneweis with runners on first and second and one out, Hasegawa fell behind Shane Spencer, 3-and-0, as the Yankee Stadium crowd of 26,702 rose along with the decibel level.

But Hasegawa came back with two strikes before inducing Spencer to hit into a fielder’s choice, and Scott Brosius grounded back to the pitcher.

Percival struck out Posada, got Chuck Knoblauch to pop to the catcher and Derek Jeter to fly to deep center for his eighth save, and the Angels, stung by Wednesday’s news that cleanup batter Tim Salmon will be out for five weeks, salvaged a 4-5 road trip.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been around a team I’ve been more proud of,” Collins said. “We have some key guys, some big guys, out of the lineup, and they just rose to the occasion. They’ve got a lot of guts, a lot of pride. They could have let down, but they sucked it up all series.”

Especially Vaughn, who, despite playing on a very sore left ankle, blasted a knee-high Irabu fastball an estimated 418 feet over the center-field wall in the sixth for his sixth homer.

The Angels made the score 2-0 in the seventh when Orlando Palmeiro reached on an infield single, took third on Matt Walbeck’s single to center and scored on Sheets’ sacrifice fly to right.

Olivares and the Angel bullpen made the lead stand up, and the Yankees suffered back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1996. The last team to shut them out on consecutive nights? The Angels.

“I never would have imagined this,” Collins said. “You don’t shut out the Yankees two times in a season, let alone the same series. We’ve got to enjoy this.”

DODGERS: Pitcher Chan Ho Park and the team will begin discussing a long-term contract. Page 11

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Bronx Busters

Although the Yankees won 114 games last season and are 20-13 this season, they have had little success against the Angels. A look:

1998

Yankees vs. Angels: 5-6, .455

Yankees vs. others: 109-42, .722

1999

Yankees vs. Angels: 0-3, .000

Yankees vs. others: 20-10, .667