Angels think offense is OK despite offseason strikeouts
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- They tried and tried to talk Paul Konerko into coming here over the winter. But when free agent push came to free agent shove, Konerko could not bring his blue-collar self to strip off his white socks and leave Chicago.
They tried and tried to trade for Manny Ramirez over the winter. But those socks didn't fit, either. In the end, Angels general manager Bill Stoneman refused to deal half of the Los Angeles franchise, several top prospects, a couple of boxes of In-N-Out burgers and the secret legal papers in the name dispute with the city of Anaheim, and so Ramirez remained property of the Boston Red Sox.
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| Tim Salmon only has six at bats but is making the most of them with two home runs. (Getty Images) |
And into the breach steps ... Orlando Cabrera?
"The pieces are here," center fielder Darin Erstad said.
"It might be in the form of Tim Salmon ," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It might be in the form of Orlando Cabrera, or in Casey Kotchman being more productive."
The mystery that came packaged inside of the Angels' 4-1 breeze over the New York Yankees in their 2006 home opener Friday night was how in the world Cabrera wound up jerking a 2-and-2 Shawn Chacon inside fastball over the left-field fence for a two-run, first-inning blast that could have stood up on its own thanks to starter Kelvim Escobar and one of the game's better bullpens.
"I started to think the whole game about the answer to that question," Cabrera said. "I can't come up with one.
"I don't know how the hell I hit that ball. I was trying to move the guy over to third."
The guy was speedster Chone Figgins, who had started the game by ripping a double into the right-field corner.
The result, on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, was Cabrera's second home run in four games. He leads the Angels with six RBI.
The personable shortstop currently is on pace to hit 81 home runs.
Aside from Detroit's Chris Shelton, who already has slugged five and is on pace to hit 203, let's see Ramirez or Konerko or any of the other big boppers do that.
