• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Santana impressive at home again as Angels down Dodgers

May 19, 2007 - 6:04 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- If every baseball game could be played within the confines of Angel Stadium, Ervin Santana might be known as one of the top starters in the major leagues.

Santana continued his home dominance and Reggie Willits had two hits and two RBI as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the series opener of the Freeway Series on Friday.

Santana (3-5), who owns a career record of 22-6 with a 3.00 ERA at home, continued to excel in familiar surroundings, yielding just one run and six hits with three walks and four strikeouts in six innings. However, it was the shortest home outing for the 24-year-old righthander since June 17 against the San Diego Padres, a span of 12 starts.

"There is nothing I can say to explain it," Santana said. "I go out there no matter where I pitch and throw the same way. It just happens that my road record isn't as good as home."

Currently in just his third major-league season, Santana has had little success on the road, as he is 9-15 with a 6.69 ERA away from Angel Stadium.

"I warm up and prepare the same way I do when I pitch here," Santana said.

The Angels jumped on Dodgers starter Brad Penny (5-1) in the first inning, as Orlando Cabrera followed a leadoff walk to Willits with a run-scoring double. They increased the lead to 2-0 in the third, when Willits walked and stole second before advancing to third on a groundout by Cabrera and scoring on a grounder by Vladimir Guerrero.

"I got into trouble and couldn't get out of it tonight," Penny said. "There wasn't any hard-hit balls tonight they just seemed to find holes."

Already leading 3-1, Anaheim broke open the game with a five-run sixth as Penny yielded five consecutive hits to begin the rally that was highlighted by run-scoring hits from Maicer Izturis, Shea Hillenbrand and Mike Napoli. Penny was pulled in favor of reliever Rudy Seanez, who gave up a two-run single by Willits that pushed the Angels' lead to 8-1.

"He (Penny) is one of the best pitchers in baseball, so all I wanted to do was go up and have quality at-bats," Willits said. "I felt like I got the pitches I was looking for and drove them for hits."

Penny, who entered with a league-leading 1.39 ERA, surrendered eight runs, eight hits and two walks in five innings - his shortest outing of the season.

"It's baseball and I can't go out there every time and expect my stuff to be perfect," Penny said. "I just have to go out there in five days and be ready to pitch again."

The eight runs allowed by Penny matched the combined total of his first eight starts and were the most he has surrendered in a game since yielding nine against the Boston Red Sox on June 29, 2003.

"Brad had good command of his stuff tonight but they did a good job being patient and waiting for pitches to drive," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said.

Casey Kotchman scored twice and Hillenbrand recorded two RBI for the Angels, who improved to 21-3 in games in which they score four or more runs.

"I have been feeling a lot better at the plate," Hillenbrand said. "It's just a matter of time when I'll be feeling totally confident up there at the plate and balls will start falling for me."

Martin had two hits and plated the lone run for the Dodgers, who have dropped 12 of their last 15 contests at Angel Stadium.

"We didn't play a good all-around game today and it showed," Martin said. "We just have to come back here tomorrow and be ready to play the way we know how to play."