Rangers Still Worth Watching

Seated in the visitors’ dugout at Anaheim Stadium, Texas Manager Johnny Oates kept sneaking peeks at the out-of-town scoreboard on Sunday afternoon.

The numbers next to SEA and OAK crept higher and higher, and no matter what was happening on the field in front of him, Oates could not shake an uneasy feeling.

The Rangers took care of matters at Anaheim Stadium, defeating the Angels, 4-1, and winning for the second consecutive game.

The question was what would happen next in the Kingdome?

The Rangers could only wait nervously for the next update on the scoreboard.

The Mariners led the Athletics, 3-0.

The A’s rallied to take a 5-3 lead, then stretched it to 13-3.

The Mariners rallied to within 13-10, then 13-11.

Finally, Oakland held on for a 13-11 victory.

“I’ve been watching Seattle’s scoreboard since March 31,” Oates said at game’s end, feeling a bit more comfortable after the Rangers’ lead had grown to two games over the Mariners in the American League West.

“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, it is NFL Sunday, isn’t it? There had to be at least an eight-run inning and a seven-run inning.

“But like I say, I don’t watch the scoreboards.”

Oates was being facetious. There’s really no way to sit in the first-base dugout and not see the out-of-town scoreboard hanging from the second deck in left field.

That’s not to say the Rangers could concentrate solely on the updates from Seattle. They had to weather a sluggish start before Juan Gonzalez and Dean Palmer delivered bases-empty homers in the fourth against Angel starter Jason Dickson (1-4).

Gonzalez’s homer was his 47th, breaking his Ranger record set in 1993. He also is tied with George Bell for the most homers in a season by a Latin American player.

Ranger starter Ken Hill, a loser in three of his last four starts, escaped a sixth-inning jam, giving up one run after three consecutive singles to start the inning.

Hill needed only 26 pitches to polish off the Angels in the seventh, eighth and ninth in tying his career-high with his 16th victory.

“The last three weeks have seemed like three years,” Hill said. “We’ve been consistent all year until now. And Seattle suddenly got hot.”

In the sixth, Rex Hudler doubled to left field to lead off the inning. Jim Edmonds singled to right, scoring Hudler. Tim Salmon, making his first start at designated hitter this year, then singled to center.

But the Angels couldn’t land a knockout blow against Hill. Instead, J.T. Snow filed out, Garret Anderson struck out and Gary DiSarcina popped up.

“No question that kept the momentum on our side,” Hill said. “Then, they got me more runs and I had a cushion.”

Kevin Elster’s run-scoring sacrifice fly in the eighth and Gonzalez’s run-scoring single in the ninth increased the lead to 4-1.

Hill was asked about matching his career high with 16 victories, but said: “It’s what we do as a club that matters.”