Hill Impresses Himself

Ken Hill has downplayed the significance of spring training all month--”It doesn’t mean anything,” the Angel pitcher has said after every Cactus League start--but he finally relented after another superb outing Wednesday.

“OK, it means something,” said Hill, who threw six shutout innings in the Angels’ 9-0 victory over the Diamondbacks at Tucson. “I’d rather be on my game going into the season. That way I have no excuses. I feel pretty good. If we opened the season next week, I’d be fine.”

Hill, as he showed again Wednesday, has been the Angels’ best pitcher this spring. The right-hander gave up three singles, struck out one and walked one, using a sinking, four-seam fastball to induce 14 groundouts in the 2-hour 22-minute game.

“That’s when I know I’m on my game, when I get a lot of ground balls,” Hill said. “I’m not trying to blow people away. If I can get a first-pitch out, that’s two fewer pitches than I’d need for a strikeout. Then, maybe later in the game, I can overpower someone when I need to.”

*

After striking out three times against Seattle left-hander Jamie Moyer in a minor league game Tuesday, Darin Erstad rebounded to hit two homers Wednesday, a three-run shot in the second and a two-run blast in the fourth, off Arizona lefty Brian Anderson, the former Angel. Phil Nevin added two doubles, and Frank Bolick and Gary DiSarcina each had two hits for the Angels. Mike Holtz, Rich DeLucia and Troy Percival each pitched scoreless relief innings. . . . Hill took a grounder off his right shin in the third inning Wednesday, the same shin Garret Anderson lined a ball off of last June, but Hill suffered no injury and remained in the game. . . . The Angels, hoping to procure and cultivate more amateur players from Mexico, agreed to terms Wednesday on a working agreement with the Aguascalientes Rieleros of the Mexican League.