Anderson Is Voted Team’s MVP

The Angels did not have to wait until the final week of the season to name their most valuable player. Left fielder Garret Anderson was voted by teammates as the 2001 Gene Autry Award recipient, and will be honored in a pregame ceremony during the team’s final homestand.

With teammates Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus struggling for long periods, Anderson was the one constant in the Angel lineup, the only key offensive player who did not suffer a prolonged slump.

With a game tonight at Oakland, Anderson is batting .285 with 27 home runs, has a team-leading 112 runs batted in, 34 doubles, 74 runs and is batting .279 with runners in scoring position. He has gone hitless in two consecutive games only five times this season and has not gone three games in a row without a hit.

He is only the third player in franchise history with successive 100-RBI seasons, joining Wally Joyner (1986-87) and Mo Vaughn (1999-2000).

Jason Giambi is the Athletics’ leader but second baseman Frank Menechino led the team’s wild card-clinching celebration after Sunday’s victory over Seattle. Menechino, a Staten Island native, is wearing a sweatband marked “FDNY Rosso 113,” in honor of his friend, New York City firefighter Nicky Rossomondo, who served with Company 113 but was lost in the rescue mission at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

The A’s weren’t sure how to celebrate, but Menechino told them his fallen friend would have wanted them to bask in their achievement, so they went ahead with the traditional champagne party. Menechino, who went home during baseball’s six-day hiatus after the attacks, saw the devastation.

“You see the twin towers aren’t there and you feel violated,” he said.

The Angels will honor victims of the attacks and the agencies that assisted them with “A Night to Unite,” before Friday’s game against Texas at Edison Field. Police, fire, emergency medical technicians and armed-services representatives will participate. There will be postgame fireworks, accompanied by patriotic music, and fans are encouraged to wear red, white and blue and to bring American flags.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ SCOTT SCHOENEWEIS (10-10, 5.01 ERA)

vs. ATHLETICS’ TIM HUDSON (16-8, 3.38 ERA)

Update--Jason Giambi is having another MVP-caliber season, with a .336 average, 34 homers, 41 doubles, 109 RBIs and 99 runs, but another key to the A’s second-half surge--Oakland opened the season 8-18--has been the play of right fielder Jermaine Dye, who has 12 home runs and 50 RBIs in 50 games since being acquired from Kansas City before the July 31 trade deadline. Third baseman Eric Chavez has 27 homers, and left-hander Barry Zito is 9-1 with a 1.00 ERA in the last six weeks.

Wednesday, 7 p.m.--Jarrod Washburn (11-8, 3.53) vs. Barry Zito (14-8, 3.56).

Thursday, 12:30 p.m.--Ismael Valdes (9-11, 4.28) vs. Cory Lidle (11-6, 3.61).

ON DECK

Opponent-Oakland Athletics, three games.

Site-Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland.

Tonight-7

TV-Channel 9 tonight.

Radio-KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Records-Angels 74-76, A’s 92-58.

Record vs. A’s--6-7.