Angels 11, Expos 2

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A trip to Hiram Bithorn Stadium was enough to revive Garret Anderson and the Anaheim Angels.<br><br>Anderson homered three times and Jeff DaVanon had his third straight multihomer

Thursday, June 5th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A trip to Hiram Bithorn Stadium was enough to revive Garret Anderson and the Anaheim Angels.

Anderson homered three times and Jeff DaVanon had his third straight multihomer game as the Anaheim Angels hit seven home runs to beat the Montreal Expos 11-2 Wednesday night.

Troy Glaus and Brad Fullmer also connected for the World Series champion Angels, who set a club record with seven homers in the game and matched a mark for AL teams set by the 1939 New York Yankees with 13 homers in two games.

"Oddly enough, the last two games are not indicative of our style of play," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're not a team that sits back and pounds the ball for home runs. We play a situational type of game. These two days, we've put good swings on the ball and our shots are going out of the ballpark."

Anaheim's hitters feel right at home in Montreal's part-time home, with 26 runs and 39 hits in the first two games. The Angels have won four straight to move two games over .500 for the second time this season.

The Expos, who have lost five in a row and eight of nine, dropped their third straight game in San Juan dating to the finale of a 10-game trip in April -- allowing 19 home runs in those games.

There have been 49 homers in the first 12 games at the stadium, where it's 399 feet to center, 315 to left and 313 to right.

"Small. Not to be short and blunt, but I can't describe it any other way," Anderson said about the ballpark. "Too small probably."

Anderson connected for two-run shots in the first and third innings against Sun-Woo Kim (0-1) and added a solo homer in the eighth off Joey Eischen for his first career three-homer game and the 11th in Angels' history. Anderson also homered Tuesday.

"The last one was a nothing swing," Anderson said. "It wouldn't be gone in Anaheim. The park is small and the ball flies too. That's a bad combination."

DaVanon hit a solo shot in the sixth off Dan Smith and a two-run homer in the eighth off Eischen, giving him six homers in the past three games. That's one shy of the record last achieved by Los Angeles' Shawn Green in May 2002.

"It was incredible the first game. This is out of this world," DaVanon said.

The crowd of 10,051 was below the average of 11,338 in Montreal, but easily eclipsed the biggest Wednesday crowd at Olympic Stadium, 6,380 for the second game there this season.

While the Angels' hitters have made this stadium look like a Little League field, their pitchers have done a good job keeping the Expos in the park.

Jarrod Washburn (6-5) allowed one run and five hits in six innings, and Anaheim has only given up two homers in the two games.

"I get in trouble when I try to do different things. I try to take the stadium out of the process and just pitch my game," Washburn said. "If they hit home runs, there's nothing I can do. I just want to throw strikes and make them put the ball in play."

Kim, making his first appearance of the season, fared little better than Tuesday's starter Tomo Ohka, who allowed five runs before getting the first out.

Kim got through the first without any trouble. But Glaus singled with one out in the second and scored on Fullmer's fifth home run.

With two outs in the third, Kim walked Tim Salmon, and Anderson followed with his ninth home run to make it 4-0. Anderson hit another two-run shot in the fifth to knock out Kim, who allowed six runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings.

"The same thing that happened last night occurred again tonight," Expos manager Frank Robinson said. "This time on a greater level."

Jose Macias homered for Montreal.

Notes: Cincinnati has the major league record with 14 homers in two games on Sept. 4-5, 1999.

The Expos last lost five straight July 19-23 last season.

DaVanon is the first player to homer from both sides of the plate in consecutive games since Ken Caminiti did it for San Diego in September 1995.