Angels’ Third Consecutive Victory Is Picture Perfect

Scott Spiezio, Bengie Molina and Tim Salmon each homered Friday night, and Ramon Ortiz allowed three runs on five hits in seven innings to lead the Angels to a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins before 23,377 in Edison Field.

But the real star of the evening, the one who produced the most memorable Kodak moment, was a 16-year-old fan from Bayville, N.J., by the name of Mike Rose, who provided a laugh track for the Angels’ third consecutive victory.

Spiezio led off the second inning with a towering fly ball to right field. Twin outfielder Denny Hocking leaped at the short fence near the foul pole, landed on top of the wall and flipped backwards into the first row of empty seats.

Rose, who was sitting in the right-field area, raced over while the ball was in the air and reached Hocking just as Spiezio’s shot cleared the wall for a home run. But instead of trying to break Hocking’s fall, Rose hovered over the fallen outfielder and snapped a picture of him before chasing after the ball.

What television cameras didn’t capture was the exchange between Rose and Hocking.

“I went up to him and kneed him in the back of the head,” Rose said. “I was like, ‘Man, are you OK?’ He was laughing, I was laughing, but I wanted to get a picture. I wanted to get a close-up. He was right there in front of me, and I got it.”

Rose, who is vacationing in Southern California, aspires to be a professional skateboarder or baseball player, “but that ain’t working out,” he said.

With the instincts he showed Friday night, perhaps the kid should consider photography.

As for Hocking, he’s having a rough week. Sunday in Minnesota, he suffered a broken nose when his teammates pummeled him after his game-winning home run in the ninth inning against the Angels.

Then Friday night, Hocking flips over a wall and some high school skateboarder grinds him upside the head.

Talk about getting kicked when you’re down.

Hocking was a good sport about it, though, cracking up as he watched replays on the right-field video board.

“That kid got a nice photo, I guess,” Hocking said. “I was trying to pose for him. I said, ‘Did you get a good shot of this?’ I’m a firm believer that if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? Torri [Hunter, Twin center fielder] said it was so funny he forgot the guy hit a home run.”

Rose, a die-hard Yankee fan, didn’t get the home-run ball, and he won’t remain in Orange County long enough to see Seattle play here Monday night, but he’ll travel back to New Jersey this weekend with the memory of his life, and a picture to prove it.

“I wanted to see the Mariners and Ichiro, but who cares?” Rose said. “I got to knee a baseball player in the head. I’ll take that.”

Hocking disputed Rose’s claim that he was kneed in the head.

“If he did, I didn’t feel it,” Hocking said. “If he wants, he can meet me at the flag pole at 3 o’clock and we’ll settle it.”

The game was essentially settled in the second inning Friday night, when Spiezio’s homer sparked a four-run inning that included Molina’s two-run homer and Garret Anderson’s RBI single.

Spiezio doubled and scored on Molina’s RBI single in the third, and Salmon hit his third homer in two games in the fifth.

Shortstop David Eckstein also claimed a little chunk of history in the fourth when he was hit by a pitch for the 18th time this season.

That broke Heinie Manush’s American League rookie record of 17, set in 1923, and tied the Angel franchise record, set by Don Baylor in 1979 and Rick Reichardt in 1968.