[Chief Rum]

Angels Tease, Then Blow Away Royals (April 9)

When a team is hot, it can sometimes be downright cruel to the teams it faces.

The Angels jumped on the Royals, allowed the visitors to come back, and then dominated the rest of the way in a 13-4 victory today.

The home team used separate three-run homeruns by 1B Darin Erstad and pinch hitter Tim Salmon to put away the Royals in the late innings after Kansas City overcame an early four-run deficit.

Every Angels starter had at least one hit as they banged out 16 of them. They were led by Erstad and LF Garrett Anderson, who went 3-for-5 with two doubles, one of which was the key hit in the four-run first inning that first put the Royals behind, 4-0.

Paul Byrd was strong for five before letting things get out of hand in the sixth inning. An offseason signee taking the mound for Los Angeles for the first time, Byrd finished with 4 earned runs in six innings and stayed around just long enough to get the win when the Angels moved ahead on Erstad's homer in the bottom of the sixth. Scot Shields finished the game up with three scoreless innings to earn his first save of the year.

MLB Notes (April 9)

Former Tigers' speedster Alex Sanchez led the Giants' offense with a table-setting five basehits, as San Francisco became the only team in baseball yet to lose this season in defeating the hapless Rockies, 11-6. The Giants hit three homeruns, including superstar Barry Bond's second of the season, and got a bases-loaded clearing double from 1B J.T. Snow to get their fifth win in a row...

Two eighth inning runs weren't enough for the A's to overcome five one-run innings by the Devil Rays, falling 5-3 for their first loss of the season. Oakland's young star hurler Rich Harden did not show himself well in this one, allowing all five earned runs, 10 hits and five walks in 6.2 innings. His counterpart, Rob Bell, allowed two runs in 7.1 innings, and 3B Eric Munson drove the Rays' offense with three hits and two RBIs. As if losing their first game wasn't bad enough, the A's also fell into a first place tie with the Angels...

The Giants may be alone at the top, but the Rockies continue to have company at the bottom. Both the Dodgers and Mets lost tonight to fall to 0-5 apiece. The Dodgers managed just four hits off of the D'Backs' Brandon Webb, and former Los Angeles Dodger star Shawn Green dominated his old teammates, finishing just a double short of the cycle, and driving in two runs in an 8-2 game. The Mets had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but allowed the Cardinals to score eight runs in three of the last four innings to fall, 8-3...

The Astros used five pitchers to the Reds' one in Eric Milton, and yet it was the Astros coming out ahead in a tight, 3-2 game. Four relievers had to finish off a short (4.2 IP) outing by Brandon Backe, while Milton scattered seven hits in a complete game loss. The Astros are tied with the Cardinals for first in the NL Central...

The Bluejays' Roy Halladay, the 2003 AL Cy Young winner, dominated the defending champ Red Sox, striking out 12 in a complete game, two-run performance, leading the Jays to a 10-2 win...

The Braves scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie a game with the Nationals, and then won it in extra innings on a run-scoring single by 3B Chipper Jones. The win gave the Braves four wins in their first five games and first place in the NL East...