Bottenfield Respectfully Impressive

Several times since the March 23 trade that brought him to Anaheim from St. Louis, pitcher Kent Bottenfield has stressed the need to gain his new teammates’ respect, not through words but through actions.

After throwing seven superb shutout innings Saturday in the Angels’ 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox before 14,135 at Comiskey Park, the Angels were virtually bowing in reverence to the right-hander.

“I don’t think he has anything to worry about from that aspect,” first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “He’s already gained our respect. There’s nothing he has to show us. He’s a winner. If anything, we want to keep him happy.”

Three-run leads in the first inning can’t hurt. The Angels provided such a cushion Saturday, the first time this season Bottenfield had experienced a lead. The Angels scored a total of five runs in his two previous starts, in which Bottenfield opposed Cy Young Award winners Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez, but none while Bottenfield was in the game.

Bottenfield made the lead stand up against the White Sox, masterfully mixing and spotting his fastball and off-speed pitches to limit a hot-hitting team to four singles and a double for his first victory as an Angel.

“You can count on one hand the number of flat-out mistakes he made, where he left a pitch up,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Kent studies pitching, he studies hitters’ tendencies. He knows how to match up his strengths with a batter’s weakness, and he has the ability to create an outstanding game plan.”

That plan is not predicated on tradition. For instance, when Bottenfield (1-1) fell behind Greg Norton, 3-1, with a runner on first, two out and the American League’s hottest hitter, Frank Thomas, representing the tying run on deck in the fifth inning, he did not give in and throw a fastball in an effort to avoid the walk.

Bottenfield threw an 80-mph changeup that Norton fouled off, then struck out Norton swinging with a fastball that sailed above the strike zone.

“The thing with me is I don’t base pitch selection on counts all the time,” said Bottenfield, who threw 121 pitches, 75 for strikes. “I pitch to the hitter, and I’m most effective when I can throw any pitch for a strike at any time.”

Closer Troy Percival nailed down the victory with a one-two-three ninth for his third save, but not before reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa survived a white-knuckle eighth, which began with Norton’s homer that trimmed the lead to 3-1.

Hasegawa struck out Thomas looking with a slider on the outside corner, but Magglio Ordonez singled. Paul Konerko hit a ground ball to Troy Glaus well behind the third-base bag, and Glaus fielded a tricky hop before firing low to second. Adam Kennedy caught the ball and kept his left foot on the bag for the forceout as Ordonez barreled into him.

Chris Singleton then lofted a wind-aided fly ball to deep right, but Tim Salmon leaped to make the catch at the wall.

Salmon also keyed the Angels’ first-inning rally with a lengthy at-bat in which he didn’t even put the ball in play. After Kennedy tripled with one out and Vaughn walked, White Sox starter Kip Wells (0-2) jumped ahead of Salmon with two strikes.

Wells then threw his entire repertoire at Salmon--fastballs, breaking balls, and off-speed pitches that were inside, outside, up, down--and Salmon managed to foul off five offerings and draw four balls for a walk to load the bases.

Garret Anderson followed with a long fly ball to the left-center-field gap, which dropped for a run-scoring single, and Glaus lofted a fly ball to deep left that fell near the line for a two-run double and a 3-0 lead.

“Right now, that’s a quality at-bat for me,” said Salmon, who is batting .219 with one run batted in. “Those are the things you build on. It loaded the bases for us, and we were able to work that guy [Wells, who threw 34 pitches in the first inning].”

Early leads allow pitchers to breath a little easier, but Bottenfield said Saturday’s advantage didn’t change his approach at all.

“It’s nice to get some runs, but if I think I have room for error, that’s when you can mess up,” Bottenfield said. “If you get lax against a good-hitting team like the White Sox, they can come back in a hurry.”