Sheets Saves Angels With Bat, Glove

Andy Sheets will make $9.77 million less than Mo Vaughn this season, he averages 79 fewer RBIs a year than the Angel slugger, and the soft- spoken Angel shortstop’s profile is so small it could fit in Vaughn’s wallet . . . or at least his money clip.

But Sheets was downright Vaughn-like Wednesday night, coming up with the kind of clutch hit that made Mo famous.

With the Angels down to their last out and trailing by a run in the top of the ninth inning, Sheets, the No. 9 batter, ripped a two-run double off Baltimore Oriole closer Mike Timlin to lift the Angels to a 5-4 victory in front of 38,557 in Camden Yards.

Sheets also snuffed out a potential Oriole uprising in the seventh when, with two out, runners on first and third and Baltimore leading, 4-3, he made a diving stop of Brady Anderson’s grounder up the middle and, from his stomach, flipped to second for an inning-ending forceout.

“That’s the ultimate, to help the team offensively and defensively,” said Sheets, who has raised his average from .212 to .260 by going 11 for 24 in eight games.

“We have to do our part. You can only count on Mo so many times. His back is going to start hurting if he has to carry us too much.”

Baltimore catcher Charles Johnson’s RBI single off Angel reliever Mike Magnante broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh, and the Orioles carried that momentum into the ninth when third baseman Cal Ripken made a diving stop of Todd Greene’s grounder to the hole and threw out Greene.

But Ripken couldn’t make a similar play on Troy Glaus’ grounder, and Glaus, who had seven hits in his previous 65 at-bats, reached on an infield single. Orlando Palmeiro followed with a sinking liner to left, which B.J. Surhoff dived for but couldn’t catch, putting runners on first and second.

Matt Walbeck struck out, but Sheets launched a 2-and-1 Timlin fastball to the wall in left-center, scoring both runners for a 5-4 lead.

Ripken, who homered in the second, reached on Glaus’ fielding error with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but Angel closer Troy Percival struck out Delino DeShields for his ninth save, ending the Angels’ three-game losing streak.

“We got Andy [from the Padres] to play defense--everyone said he’s a quality shortstop,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “But right now he’s swinging the bat real well. That’s why I let him hit in the ninth.”

Sheets was also a hit in the seventh, using his glove to prevent the Oriole lead from expanding.

“That was huge, every bit as big as the double,” said Angel second baseman Randy Velarde, whose three-run homer off Oriole starter Scott Erickson in the third gave the Angels a 3-1 lead.

“I didn’t think he was going to get to that grounder. I almost gave up going to the bag. And then he made a perfect feed to me.”

Sheets’ two-run double made a winner of reliever Al Levine and took Angel starter Omar Olivares off the hook. Olivares spent the evening as if on the side of a cliff, his toes and fingertips wedged in crevices, trying to prevent a long plunge to a lopsided loss.

The Orioles put two runners on base in each of the first six innings, were always on the verge of breaking the game open, and yet Olivares somehow escaped with minimal damage, as Baltimore left 13 on base.

“The bottom line is I never gave in,” said Olivares, who gave up four runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. “I kept grinding and battling, and eventually I’d make the pitch that made them swing the bats.”

After Velarde’s homer--which gave the Angels 10 consecutive runs via the home run--Erickson retired 15 of 16 batters, giving up only Greene’s bloop single in the sixth.

Baltimore pulled to within 3-2 in the third when Harold Baines grounded into a 1-6-3 double play, scoring Surhoff, and the Orioles tied it in the sixth on Mike Bordick’s RBI single.

But then Sheets, who had only one previous RBI that had given the Angels a lead this season, did something out of the ordinary, and that put him in a position he is even more unaccustomed to--at the center of a postgame media gathering.

So it’s no wonder that, when the interviews were over, Sheets told reporters: “I’ll talk to you guys in a couple of weeks, hopefully.”