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  Saturday, Jun. 3 4:10pm ET
Sheffield sets tone with monster game
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Gary Sheffield realized quickly that he was swinging the bat well.

"When you hit a home run your first at-bat, you know you've pretty much locked in," Sheffield said Saturday after he homered his first two times up, drove in four runs and scored three in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 8-3 victory over the Anaheim Angels.

Gary Sheffield
After homering in his first two at-bats, the Angels kept their pitches away from Gary Sheffield.
"Usually, early, you just want to get a feel for the game," Sheffield said. "When the ball went out twice, it felt good. They kept the ball out of the zone, away from me, the rest of the game."

Sheffield went 3-for-4, including a three-run homer off Brian Cooper (2-1) in the first inning and a solo shot in the third. Sheffield, who has 17 homers this season, had the 17th multihomer game of his career, his second this season.

He also hit a pair April 29 against Florida.

"He's still not 100 percent," Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said, referring to a series of minor injuries Sheffield has been battling. "But he's feeling pretty good now. He's hitting anything in the strike zone."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia wasn't surprised at Sheffield's power show.

"He's the complete package," Scioscia said. "Sheffield is one of the top five offensive players in the National League, and out of all the guys we've seen, if you put together an All-Star team, he'd be hitting in the middle of the lineup."

Chan Ho Park (6-4) gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, struck out seven and walked four.

Cooper, a rookie right-hander, allowed six runs -- just four earned -- and eight hits in seven innings.

"It says something about his composure that he pitched through seven innings after the start he had," Scioscia said. "He still was able to came back and got us through seven."

The Dodgers' victory, coming after a 12-5 loss to the Angels in Friday night's opener of the three-game series, gave them a 10-6 edge in interleague meetings with their Southern California neighbor.

Los Angeles took a 5-0 lead by the third inning and led by at least three runs the rest of the way.

Mo Vaughn drove in Anaheim's first run with a third-inning single. Down 6-1, the Angels closed in the sixth on Adam Kennedy's RBI double and Darin Erstad's run-scoring single.

Chad Kreuter added a two-run single off Eric Weaver in the eighth.

Park allowed two runners in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings, but escaped without giving up any runs in those innings.

With runners on first and second in the fifth, he retired Vaughn on a flyout, then struck out Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson.

"I was unhappy to get in that situation," Park said. "But I told myself to forget about it and focus on one pitch at a time. I was upset with that inning, but I was pleased with the way it turned out."

Said Scioscia: "That was a big difference -- Chan Ho making some super pitches to get out of that inning."

After Anaheim closed to 6-3 in the sixth, Terry Adams relieved Park with two on and two outs, then got Vaughn on a grounder.

Game notes
Los Angeles CF Todd Hollandsworth left with a mild hamstring strain after making a running catch for the second out in the ninth, The Dodgers said he is day to day. ... Dodgers pitching coach Claude Osteen, who entered UCI Medical Center on Friday because of a kidney stone, was released Saturday and came to the ballpark. ... The Dodgers placed OF Geronimo Berroa on the 15-day DL with a bruised left foot and designated LHP Trever Miller for assignment. They also recalled LHP Onan Masaoka from Triple-A Albuquerque and purchased the contract of utility ma Shawn Gilbert from Albuquerque. ... Stocker, just acquired from Tampa Bay, dropped a popup for an error on the first ball he handled for the Angels. The shortstop made seven errors in his last three games with Tampa Bay and has 12 this season.

 


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