Openers Not Half Bad

With every pounding Angel pitcher Ken Hill absorbed in spring training, Manager Mike Scioscia seemed to grow less and less concerned about his ace--on this team, at least--right-hander.

His velocity is good, Scioscia kept saying. His command is getting better. He’s healthy. It was almost as if Scioscia expected the same pitches that were being pummeled in Arizona to magically melt the bats of opponents once the regular season started.

Pure fantasy, this was. Or was it?

Hill made Scioscia look like a genius for five innings Monday night before reality struck quickly and forcefully in the sixth. Paul O’Neill drilled a Hill offering well beyond the center-field wall for a two-run homer to help catapult the New York Yankees to a 3-2 season-opening victory over the Angels before a sellout crowd of 42,704 in Edison Field.

Shane Spencer added a home run off Angel reliever Kent Mercker in the seventh, and the Yankees, looking to become the first team since the 1972-74 Oakland A’s to win three consecutive World Series championships, rode the resilient and deceptive right arm of Orlando Hernandez for seven strong innings en route to the victory.

Jeff Nelson pitched a scoreless eighth with an assist from Spencer, who made a nice running catch of Scott Spiezio’s drive to the left-center field gap with two out and a runner on first, and Mariano Rivera registered a save--and a scare--in the ninth.

After striking out pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro to open the inning, Gary DiSarcina flared a single to right, and Darin Erstad walked on four pitches. Adam Kennedy flied to shallow right, and up stepped Mo Vaughn, who had struck out three times, once with the bases loaded to end the fifth.

Vaughn singled to center, scoring DiSarcina and stopping Rivera’s scoreless innings streak at 44 dating back to 1999. But Rivera jumped ahead of Tim Salmon, 0-2, with two nasty breaking balls and got Salmon to fly to right, ending the game.

Hernandez, who has an amazing 5-0 record and 1.02 earned run average in six postseason starts, was rocked for a career-high 10 earned runs on 13 hits in 3 1/3 innings in his only previous appearance against the Angels, a 10-5 loss in Anaheim on July 29, 1998.

But this was a much more mature and polished Hernandez than the 1998 version. The Cuban native baffled the Angels for much of the evening, giving up one run on Salmon’s homer to lead off the second, eight hits and striking out four to earn the victory.

But aside from one bad pitch to O’Neill, Hill, who gave up 19 earned runs and 30 hits in 16 2/3 innings of his first five spring starts before rebounding with a six-inning, one-run, three-hit performance last Wednesday, was equal to the task. He gave up only four hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking three.

“Ken was on all night--he got one ball up to O’Neill--but until then it was lights out,” Scioscia said. “Ken will be a big part of this season and a big reason why we’re going to be contenders in our division. If he keeps that focus and command, he’s going to be fine.”

O’Neill’s homer turned the game around, but the momentum actually swung toward the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth. The Angels had loaded the bases with one out on Spiezio’s infield single, DiSarcina’s single and Erstad’s bloop that fell between shortstop Derek Jeter and Spencer.

Kennedy, who doubled sharply to right-center in the third inning, popped out weakly to third, and Vaughn struck out for the third time in the game to end the threat.

Jeter then opened the sixth with an infield single to the shortstop hole--DiSarcina made a diving stop but had no play--and O’Neill blasted Hill’s next pitch onto the hitting background above the center-field wall, an estimated 430 feet away, for a 2-1 lead.

Hill had allowed only three balls to reach the outfield until that point: Chuck Knoblauch’s single in the first, O’Neill’s single in the fourth and Bernie Williams’ fly to left in the fourth. Knoblauch and O’Neill were wiped out attempting to steal second by Angel catcher Bengie Molina.

The only time Hill seemed rattled was in the fifth, when he leaped to catch Vaughn’s high throw on Spencer’s two-out grounder to first and appeared to land on the bag ahead of Spencer, only to have umpire Terry Craft rule Spencer safe.

Hill walked Scott Brosius, and Knoblauch grounded to Vaughn’s right. Vaughn again threw wildly to Hill at first, but Hill made a lunging catch and nicked the bag before Knoblauch to preserve the Angels’ 1-0 lead.

With Hill’s pitch count at 101 and the left-handed Martinez, Ricky Ledee and Posada (a switch-hitter) coming to bat with one out in the sixth, Scioscia pulled Hill for the left-handed Mercker.

“I could have gone longer, but one play at first cost me another 10 bullets,” Hill said. “I felt good. I just got that one pitch up. . . . It’s one start. I want to be out there 35 starts, 220 innings, and health is a big factor.”

RANDY HARVEY

Don’t expect anything different in Anaheim. D2

A BEGINNING

Mike Scioscia’s debut starts with wisdom from Joe Torre. D9

A RETURN

Brian Downing says he came back because of the fans. D10