SAN FRANCISCO – All is forgiven, Roger Clemens. We understand fully now, Andy Pettitte. You are exonerated, Mike Mussina. No further explanations necessary, David Wells.
We know now it wasn’t you, it was them. It was these Angels with dirty uniforms. It was a lineup that seems to have no end. Top to bottom, bottom to top, Anaheim’s order comes at you like desert heat, in ceaseless, merciless waves.
If Barry Bonds is the killer whale of this World Series, full of unfathomable size and frightful power, then the Angels are a school of piranha. They attack without stop, taking piece after piece out of an opponent. No remorse. No brake pedal.
They relied, uncharacteristically, on power in the first two World Series games. And then, for Game 3, they came to the majors’ toughest stadium in which to homer, never left Pac Bell Park, and scored seven or more runs for the sixth time in 12 postseason games anyway in beating the Giants 10-4.
“We are the closest thing in the AL to an NL team,” said Anaheim’s feisty leadoff man, David Eckstein, talking about the National League penchant for hit-and-run, sacrifice bunts and a general aggressive bent. But, when it comes to the Angels, NL also could stand for No Letup, No Letdown.
“Killer instinct, I guess you can call it that,” said Darin Erstad, who follows Eckstein in the Angels’ inexorable lineup.
Bengie Molina, the Angels’ weakest offensive link, went 2-for-2 with three walks from the eighth spot. He actually drew two intentional passes, one more than Bonds, who, naturally, homered for the third straight game.
But the length of Anaheim’s lineup proved more impressive than the 437 feet of Bonds’ homer.
The Angels accumulated 16 hits and, despite stranding 15 runners, became the fourth team in 98 World Series to generate double-digit runs in consecutive games. Every starting position player had either a hit or an RBI by the time the fourth inning was done, and a hit by the time the seventh was done.
The Angels batted around in both the third and fourth innings, and yet a double-steal by Erstad and Tim Salmon was as important as anything in that span as Anaheim stayed true to its full-out, aggressive nature.
“We don’t want to rely on the long ball, even though we have hit homers this postseason,” Eckstein said. “We want to put good at-bat after good at-bat together.”
They do. It is easier to find a bad meal in San Francisco than an easy touch in Anaheim’s order. Because of that, the Angels did more than grab a two-games-to-one lead. They knocked Livan Hernandez (previously 6-0 in the postseason) out after 32/3 innings. The three Giant starters – Jason Schmidt, Russ Ortiz and Hernandez – have managed just 11 innings, which has forced a wearying bullpen to work 15 innings.
It has meant the woeful Jay Witasick has had to pitch twice, and if the Angels do damage to the Clemenses and Mussinas and Schmidts with their flair for fouling off tough pitches and not missing bad offerings, you can imagine what they are doing to a guy who has allowed 15 runs in eight career postseason innings.
Meanwhile, the Angels did not have to use Francisco Rodriguez, meaning he could be available for two or three innings again tonight in Game 4. Since the Giants’ F. Rodriguez is Felix, you wonder if they are going to be able to find someone to stop an offense that is hitting .353 with 24 runs in three World Series games – not all that dissimilar to the .376 and 31 runs they had in four games against the Yanks.
“At the plate, we are trying to be tough outs,” Eckstein said.
And thus, they are going to be one tough out for the Giants.