Snow Isn’t Mad but Gets Even Anyway

Maybe somebody from marketing ought to rethink this American League versus National League stuff--at least when the Angels are involved.

If the Giants’ 4-1 victory Sunday at Anaheim Stadium looked like the same old tedious baseball that followers of the AL have grown accustomed to, blame it on the Angels.

By day’s end, a crowd of 30,404 was treated to 18 hits, 13 walks, nine pitchers, five runs--all in a less-than-riveting 3 hours 28 minutes.

To make matters worse, the Angels refused to pitch to Barry Bonds, the game’s biggest draw.

He was walked intentionally not once, not twice, but three times with runners on base. Bonds also hit into a fourth-inning double play, and that was about all the excitement he could generate.

It was smart, sound baseball. But it wasn’t what the fans came to see.

“The situation dictates when I walk a guy and when I don’t,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “I’m not managing for the fans. Every time you do something like that, everyone wants a big explanation why.

“Well, the answer is obvious. If I’m going to get beat [someone else] is going to have to beat me, not Barry Bonds.”

That somebody turned out to be former Angel first baseman J.T. Snow, whose two-run homer off Jason Dickson (8-3) in the fourth inning provided the Giants with all the runs they needed to defeat the listless Angels for the second consecutive game.

Snow’s homer also underscored the lopsided nature of the Angel-Giant trade that sent him to San Francisco and brought Allen Watson to Anaheim last Nov. 27.

Snow, a two-time Gold Glove award winner, played his usual superb game in the field. But he also delivered the two-run homer and said all the right things after the game.

Watson was shelled in a 10-3 loss Saturday to the Giants, and is 5-4 with a 6.07 earned-run average.

To make matters worse, the Angels considered trading Snow to the Giants for William VanLandingham instead of Watson.

VanLandingham (4-4) wound up making the Angels look bad for not acquiring him, persevering through five rocky innings for the victory. He gave up eight walks, but only two hits and one run.

“We didn’t take advantage of the walks,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “They gave us opportunities to get back into the game. . . . Allen clued us in about that guy [VanLandingham]. He’ll throw two or three pitches that are all over the place, then two or three that are just great.”

And that was precisely VanLandingham’s method of operation. One of VanLandingham’s wildest breaking pitches zipped behind DiSarcina’s back.

But instead of hammering away at his mistakes, the Angels kept sending lazy fly balls to the outfield. The Angels had 17 runners, but could push across only one run--and that came on a bases-loaded walk by VanLandingham to Orlando Palmeiro in the fourth to score Jim Leyritz.

The Angels could have, should have gotten more out of that promising fourth inning. But they couldn’t produce a key hit with two outs. In fact, they couldn’t produce a hit in the inning.

When Snow smothered Jim Edmonds’ grounder with the bases loaded and flipped to VanLandingham covering first base for the inning’s third out, the Giants had escaped what proved to be their biggest jam.

The Giants had seized the lead by then, thanks to Snow’s fourth homer this season--a ball that barely eluded the glove of leaping right fielder Tim Salmon at the fence.

“J.T. looked good up there,” DiSarcina said. “He looked comfortable and confident up there. Maybe I sort of expected him to be jumpy, trying to do too much and make an impression with us like he was trying to show us we made a mistake in trading him.”

But Snow said that was not an issue.

“I didn’t have any hard feelings coming into this weekend,” he said. “When I was traded, I called [Angel General Manager] Bill Bavasi and thanked him for a chance to play here. I’m from down here [Los Alamitos High] and I got a chance to play for the home team, which was a thrill.”