Fast Times at Anaheim for Anderson, Olivares

Tim Salmon was back in the Angel clubhouse Tuesday, but unable to play because of a sprained wrist. Jim Edmonds has not been seen since his April 21 shoulder surgery.

So there sat Garret Anderson--the healthy third of the Angels’ talented outfield--slumped in his chair after hitting two home runs in a 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. A crowd of 20,398 at Edison Field saw him continue to scorch the ball and take some of the sting out of losing two key players.

Much has been heaped on his shoulders since spring training, when the Angels seemed to have too many outfielders. He was moved to center field, where Edmonds has won two Gold Gloves. He was elevated to fourth in the order, where Salmon has cleaned up.

Pressure? What pressure?

“I don’t look at it that way,” said Anderson, who had his first multiple home run game of his career. “If Jim was here and Tim and I were hurt, he couldn’t make up for us. I just have to do what I’m capable of doing. I can’t try to do things to make up for Jim and Tim.”

Who says?

Anderson helped get pitcher Omar Olivares out of trouble in the first by tracking down a long fly by B.J. Surhoff with runners on second and third and no outs. A possible two-run double became a sacrifice fly.

Anderson then gave the Angels the lead in fourth, when he followed Mo Vaughn’s single by hitting the first pitch from Scott Erickson over the center-field fence. He homered again off Erickson in the sixth, this time deep to right.

It backed Olivares, who after a shaky first three batters, baffled the Orioles. They finished with six hits, as the Angels did, but none of theirs cleared a fence.

All that was left was for Troy Percival to close it out, which he did for his 12th save in 13 chances. He has not given up a hit in 9 1/3 innings, retiring 26 of 28 batters, after a 1-2-3 ninth Tuesday.

It ended a 2-hour 1-minute game that was about as perfect as the Angels have played this season.

“Guys were coming in and out of the dugout pretty quick,” Manager Terry Collins said. “Omar was getting his pitches down and getting ahead in the count. Erickson pitched a pretty good one too.”

The difference was, he couldn’t keep Anderson in the park.

This had not been a problem for Erickson in the past. Anderson came in hitting .194 against him. Not that anyone else on the Angels had touched Erickson much. He was 14-3 lifetime against them and had never lost in Anaheim in six decisions.

He struck out Anderson in the second, but he couldn’t slip a pitch past him in the fourth. In sixth, Anderson launched a 1-and-2 pitch into the right-field seats.

It gave him 10 homers, although he has long claimed not to be a home run hitter. He has not hit more than 16 in a season.

“I don’t think I’ve matured physically, but I’ve matured mentally,” said Anderson, who has 10 hits in his last 25 at-bats. “I know what pitches I can do things with.”

Said Collins: “We’ve never gone to G.A. and asked him to drive the ball more with Jim and Tim out. We haven’t asked him to be a home run hitter. We want him hitting fourth because he gets hits and that drives in runs.”

Of course, this was not how Collins envisioned his outfield scenario this spring. He had four quality players, including left fielder Darin Erstad. Attrition has left him with two.

Anderson moved to center when the season started. He had been shuffled before, playing right field when Salmon suffered through a foot injury last season.

“He has made diving catches, reached over fences for balls,” Collins said. “When we talked about rotating one guy at designated hitter this year, we were not saying that any of them couldn’t play defense, especially Garret.”