Hill Says Now Is the Time to Get Something Started

As good as the Angel rotation has been--at least, until Saturday--it will take consistent performances in August and September to convince some that the team has the starting pitching to reach the playoffs.

Not Ken Hill, who has given up five runs on 16 hits in 17 2/3 innings of his last three starts and will pitch today against the A’s.

“We’re not waiting until August--we’re in this now,” Hill said. “The pennant race has started for us. The more games you win now, the more it will help come September.”

As the only Angel starter who has experienced the rigors of a pennant race, the Angels will be leaning heavily on Hill, and their playoff chances will improve if he is productive. Despite his spotty health record, Hill has done some of his best work under pressure.

Hill went 16-5 with a 3.32 earned-run average in 1994 for the Expos, who led the National League East before the strike ended the season in August. After a deal at the trading deadline in 1995, Hill went 4-1 with a 3.98 ERA in 11 starts for Cleveland.

And after going to Anaheim in July 1997, Hill kept the Angels in the race following Chuck Finley’s season-ending wrist injury by going 3-1 with a 1.37 ERA in his last six starts.

“It’s exciting, you get jacked up pitching in a pennant race, but I get jacked up for every start,” Hill said. “When it gets down to crunch time, there’s more media coverage, everything is magnified. But you can’t look at it that way.”

The only other member of the staff with experience in a pennant race is Tim Belcher, who is sidelined indefinitely because of an elbow injury.

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Angel catcher Matt Walbeck did not think Brian Cooper was in peak form Monday when the right-hander gave up two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-2 victory over San Diego.

“He had no breaking ball at all,” Walbeck said. “His fastball, he wasn’t locating. He had a mediocre changeup, and his slider was nonexistent. He literally willed outs out there.”

The exact opposite happened Saturday. Cooper thought he had great stuff against the A’s and was pounded for seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

“I felt awesome,” Cooper said. “I kept the ball down. There wasn’t one pitch I’d take back all game, even the [grand slam] to Ben Grieve. In my mind, I can’t think of something I should have done differently.”

Cooper threw a three-hit shutout the last time he faced the A’s on June 30.

“The only difference today was all the pitches I wanted them to put in play they fouled off or swung at and missed, which made me come back with another pitch,” Cooper said. “I would take that stuff and the way I was throwing to the mound every time out.”

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With the Angels trailing, 9-3, in the seventh, center fielder Darin Erstad went into the gap and made a diving catch of Jason Giambi’s fly ball.

“That’s Darin Erstad right there,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It didn’t matter what the score was, his instincts took over. That’s a huge statement as to why I think he’s the MVP of this league so far.”

But it won’t earn Erstad the regular center field job. When Garret Anderson recovers from a mild Achilles’ strain, Erstad will return to left and Anderson will play center, even though some believe the Angels would be a better with Erstad in center.

“We feel we line up very well with Garret in center--he’s getting good jumps, making good reads and has an accurate arm,” Scioscia said. “And the way Erstad plays in left gives us great coverage there. I wouldn’t rule anything out, but to make a move just to make a move isn’t the way to go.”

TODAY

ANGELS’ KEN HILL

(5-5, 6.00 ERA)

vs.

ATHLETICS’ MARK MULDER

(5-6, 5.57 ERA)

Oakland Coliseum, 1 p.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090)

* Update--Third baseman Troy Glaus homered in the sixth inning Saturday to equal his career high of 29 homers, set in 1999. Mulder will be the second of five consecutive left-handed starting pitchers the Angels will face on this trip. They will travel to Texas after today’s game, and the Rangers are scheduled to start Kenny Rogers, Darren Oliver and Matt Perisho in a three-game series. The Angels are 11-16 against left-handed starters. Hill said the key to his recent success has been getting ahead of batters and making them hit his pitch. Mulder has lost his last four starts.