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Sosa hits one of five homers, Rangers pulverize Angels

Sep 26, 2007 - 11:20 PM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers' bats left a bad taste in the mouth of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Sammy Sosa and Nelson Cruz each hit two-run home runs as the Rangers posted a 16-2 pasting of the Angels on Wednesday afternoon.

Gerald Laird, rookie Travis Metcalf and Hank Blalock also homered for Texas, which completed its first sweep of Anaheim in six years.

"To me this simply means that for three consecutive days, we outplayed our opponents," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We didn't look at it as Anaheim or a division opponent, we just went out and tried to outplay the other team, and we did."

The Rangers, who have won four straight and five of six, swept the Angels for the first time since taking three in a row here on September 21-23, 2001.

Anaheim (92-67), which has dropped five in a row to Texas, falls 2 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Indians (93-63) for the best record in the American League and possible home-field advantage in the AL playoffs next week.

"We're not conceding anything, we're trying to win games," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're going hard but trying to balance it with getting guys time off. If we have to go on the road, we'll go on the road. If we're at home, we're at home. There have been reasons why guys are getting days off."

Texas, which had every regular in the lineup get a hit, went right to work on Angels starter Joe Saunders.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Laird doubled into the left-center field gap before coming home on a single by Michael Young. Sosa then took a 1-0 pitch from Saunders deep over the wall in center to give Texas a 3-0 lead. It was the 21st homer of the season for Sosa and the 609th of his career.

"Every time (Washington) gave me the opportunity, I tried to do my job," Sosa said. "The ball kind of jumped for me today. We played a great game today and I was happy to be a part of this win and hit the homer."

Two innings later with Sosa on first and two outs, Cruz drilled a 3-1 offering from Saunders into the backdrop in center to give the Rangers a five-run lead.

A frame later, Laird belted the first pitch he saw from Saunders for the third blast that cleared the center field wall to make it, 6-0.

"(Saunders) just missed with some pitches over the plate today," Laird said. "He left a changeup in the first and then a fastball over in the fourth - and in each case, I was able to get all of it."

Saunders (8-5) allowed five runs, nine hits and three walks to lose his second straight start. Since starting the season 6-0, the lefthander has gone 2-5 in his last nine decisions.

"Joe hasn't been as crisp his last three or four starts," Scioscia said. "Today was a game where he never got anything going. He was getting behind in the count. He isn't trying to do that. It's about command, about quality strikes early in counts."

After the Angels scored two runs and then loaded the bases in the fifth to chase Texas rookie starter Luis Mendoza, reliever John Rheinecker came on to strike out Garret Anderson to end the threat.

Rheinecker (4-3), who pitched to four batters, earned the victory.

The Rangers, who wound up with 17 hits, ended the competitive phase of this contest with a five-run sixth.

With one on in the bottom of the sixth, Metcalf smashed a 3-1 pitch from rookie reliever Rich Thompson into the seats in left to give Texas a six-run lead. Later in the frame, Marlon Byrd hammered a two-run triple and later scored on a base hit by Jason Botts to increase the margin to 11-2.

The Rangers made it a laugher by also scoring five in the seventh, highlighted by a three-run homer by Blalock to make it 16-2. Just before Blalock's blast, Young had a run-scoring single to give him 200 hits in 2007.

"I had a terrible start to the season, but I didn't focus on how I'd finish in September, I just tried to concentrate on my next at-bat," Young said. "I could hear that the fans were excited during my last plate appearance. To reach the mark at home would be great, but I just tried to stick to my plan and concentrate on the pitcher."

Young, a four-time All-Star who went 3-for-5 on the day, became just the third man (Wade Boggs and Ichiro Suzuki) since 1940 to have five consecutive 200-hit seasons.

"I'm humbled to be in the company of those guys but it's not something that I spend a lot of time looking at," Young added. "I'm in the middle of my career now and that accomplishment is something I'll look back on and appreciate after my playing days."

It was the second-highest scoring game of the season for Texas, only surpassed by the 30-3 drubbing the Rangers handed to the Baltimore Orioles on August 22.

Maicer Izturis had two hits and drove in a run for the Angels, who surrendered a season-high in homers and runs allowed.