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PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE Wednesday, September 23, 1998 As race tightens, Rangers bring in 'da noise By KEN PETERS AP Sports Writer ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Will Clark was horsing around, bellowing above the laughter and din rippling through the Texas Rangers clubhouse. Across the way, the Anaheim clubhouse was silent. The Rangers had good reason to make noise, having just beaten the Angels 9-1 in the opener of their three-game AL West showdown. "They're a veteran club over there and they have a lot of players who have been around awhile and some who have been in the playoffs," the Angels' Jim Edmonds said after the lopsided loss. "They didn't look like they were struggling to have fun. We have a young club, still. Even though guys have been around four or five years, nobody's really been in this situation before. We were a little too tense, I think, and it showed." Edmonds knows the Angels can loosen up, pointing to their their showing against the Yankees last month when Anaheim won three of five games. "We relaxed and had so much fun in New York and we have do the same thing now," he said. "We have to put all this playoff stuff behind us and just have to play the game right." The Angels didn't do much of anything right in the first game of the series against the Rangers, who moved one game ahead of them in baseball's only remaining division race. Texas jumped on Anaheim starter Steve Sparks for five runs in the first four innings, with two of the runs unearned. Texas went on to pile up 14 hits, with six players driving in runs. Juan Gonzalez had two RBIs to run his total to 156. Todd Stottlemyre, meanwhile, pitched seven scoreless innings to beat Anaheim for the second time in six days. The Angels, making do with patchwork pitching because of injuries, have gone cold at the plate at a bad time. They managed just seven hits, six of them off Stottlemyre, and didn't score until the ninth. The Angels had lost nine of 12 heading into Tuesday night's game. Manager Terry Collins called the series opener against Texas "the worst game we've played in about three months." "We have to recognize that it doesn't matter if it was 9-1 or 19-1," he said. "We just have to come out tomorrow and play well." After losing twice in Texas last week and then falling two games behind the Rangers, the Angels pulled even again by beating Seattle twice over the weekend while the Rangers were losing two to Oakland. "We've bounced back before and we can do it again," Collins said. The Rangers conclude the regular season with four games at Seattle. The Angels finish with four at Oakland. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Enter their email address below: texnews.com Reporter OnLine Local Sports Texas Sports Copyright ©1998, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Enter their email address below:

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