Glaus Comes Up With the Key Hit

Troy Glaus’ swing on the first pitch to him from Dodger closer Jeff Shaw in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday seemed to epitomize the Angel season: He swung as hard as he could. He tried to do too much. He missed.

The Angel third baseman’s swing on Shaw’s next pitch showed what can happen when you relax, when you take what the pitcher gives you: Glaus stroked a two-run homer to right-center, capping a dramatic four-run rally that gave the Angels a 6-4 interleague victory before 43,001 in Edison Field.

“That’s a professional hitter making a big adjustment,” said Darin Erstad, whose two-run double in the ninth tied the score, 4-4. “After that first swing, it looked like he said, ‘I’m hitting the ball to the right side,’ and that’s exactly what he did.

“He tries to hit home runs to left field, but he probably has more power to right field. When he figures that out, he may never get anything to hit.”

Glaus got little to hit in two weekend series against the Dodgers, and he did little with what hittable pitches he saw. When he stepped to the plate with Erstad on second and one out in the ninth, he was 0 for 17 with 10 walks and seven strikeouts in six games against the Dodgers.

Shaw, who had converted 19 of 21 save opportunities and entered with a 2.20 earned-run average, tied up Glaus with an inside cut fastball on the first pitch. Glaus swung so hard it looked as if he was trying to hit one to the Amtrak station in the Edison Field parking lot.

Shaw’s next pitch was a slider that was up and over the plate. Glaus took a smooth, almost effortless pass at the ball, hitting a towering drive that landed deep into the right-field bleachers for his 18th home run and his first RBIs since June 7.

“Maybe he realized that first swing was a bit too much, but the ultimate thing to do is to make an adjustment pitch to pitch,” said Garret Anderson, who witnessed the walk-off homer from the on-deck circle.

“I’ve seen him take big hacks many times, but I’m sure as he grows and matures, he’ll know the times when all you need is a single instead of trying to drive the ball through a wall.

“But he’s only 24 years old, and you can’t expect him to know things that guys who have been in the league for 10 years know. He has to go through it and learn from his mistakes. When you do that, you start seeing great things, like guys getting 130 RBIs instead of 100.”

Glaus claimed there was no major difference between his two swings.

“There was no adjustment--I just hit the second pitch,” Glaus said. “I have my swing, and that’s what I’ve been doing as long as I’ve played. I stay aggressive and try to drive the ball.”

Manager Mike Scioscia thought otherwise.

“The first one he pulled his head on; the second one he kept his head on the ball,” Scioscia said. “You could see the difference. Certainly, the first one was a bit of an over-swing. But he put a great swing on the second pitch.”

That swing would not have been possible had the three hitters ahead of him not come through. Trailing, 4-2, David Eckstein, who reached base four times in five plate appearances, walked with one out in the ninth.

Left-handed hitters were batting .161 against Shaw entering the game, but two lefties tormented him in the ninth, as Adam Kennedy served an opposite-field single to left to advance Eckstein to third and Erstad, who had an RBI single in the seventh, slashed an opposite-field, two-run double into the left-field corner for a 4-4 tie.

“Shaw has a good two-seam fastball that he throws away to lefties and a cutter he throws inside,” said Erstad, who hit a 1-and-0 pitch. “I just try to get to a pitch before he has an opportunity to slice me up, like he’s done before.”

The improbable victory was the Angels’ fourth of the season when they trailed after eight innings and their fourth in six games against the Dodgers.

The Angels also handed Shaw two blown saves in eight days--the Dodger right-hander gave up an unearned run in the ninth inning June 10, allowing the Angels to tie the score in a game they went on to win, 6-5, in 10 innings.

“He usually won’t do that twice before the all-star break or twice in a season, let alone twice in a week,” Scioscia said. “He’s one of the premier closers in baseball. For us to get to him, you’ve got to give our guys credit.”

Shaw did.

“I made two good pitches, and those guys [Kennedy and Erstad] went the other way,” Shaw said. “You know what? They get paid to hit the ball too. And I get paid to get them out. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the job done today.”