BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Anderson Turns In Defensive Gem

Manager Marcel Lachemann said he didn’t think left fielder Garret Anderson “had any chance” to make the catch. Shortstop Gary DiSarcina “thought it was a triple.”

But Anderson, who failed to make a key, shoestring catch of Paul O’Neill’s flare that wound up being a two-run double in the Yankees’ victory over the Angels Saturday, made a defensive gem in a 10-1 victory Sunday.

Tino Martinez hit a sixth-inning drive to deep left-center in Yankee Stadium, but the 6-foot-3 Anderson made a fully extended, backhand grab after a long run.

“He looked like an elephant unleashing his trunk,” said DiSarcina. “He just extended his arm out there and plucked it off the tree. I didn’t think he had a chance.”

Said Lachemann: “He needed every inch of that big, long glove for that one.”

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If Boston Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn is looking for his cap, Angel infielder Rex Hudler knows where it is, because he stole it . . . sort of. By accident. Really, he didn’t mean to, but . . .

As the Angels came off the field after batting practice in Fenway Park last week, Hudler noticed a dark blue cap wedged into the batting cage and, thinking it was a teammate’s, grabbed it.

He looked inside the bill and saw No. 42 and figured it belonged to Angel reliever Mark Holzemer, who wears that number. It wasn’t until Hudler was inside the Angel clubhouse that he realized the hat had a “B” on it.

“So I thought, well, maybe I’ll just keep it,” Hudler said. “And if I get the nerve, the next time we play them I’ll ask him to sign it. And if I need to in 10 years, when I’m out of the game and down on my luck, I’ll take it to Boston and sell it.”