ANGELS AVOID SWEEP HOT ERSTAD LEADS ONSLAUGHT VS. CONE ANGELS 12, N.Y. YANKEES 6.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - After being mesmerized by Orlando Hernandez one night and stifled by Roger Clemens the next, the Angels hitters took out their frustrations on David Cone and a slew of New York Yankees relievers Wednesday night before 24,560 at Edison Field.

The Angels failed to score in only one of the first seven innings and went to defeat the Yankees 12-6 for their first victory of the season.

No Angels hitter is off to a better start than Darin Erstad, who went 4 for 5 Wednesday, including a home run, two doubles and a career-high-tying five RBI. He had three hits in the season opener Monday and two more Tuesday. Not a bad start, considering he had been in a slump since being named to the All-Star team in the summer of '98.

But Erstad, despite his desire to bounce back, said there isn't a need to put up big numbers early.

``I don't care about statistics,'' he said. ''As long as I'm feeling good and hitting the ball hard, it doesn't matter if I'm getting hits or making outs. I don't need to get off to a fast start to give myself confidence. If I'm executing, that's all that matters because hits come and go.''

They're coming now.

In the first two games, all five of Erstad's hits were singles, and all of them were hit to the opposite field or up the middle. Wednesday, he got his first extra-base hit, leading off the game with a home run to right-center field off Cone. It was the ninth time in his career Erstad led off with a homer.

In the second inning, he hit the ball into the right-center field gap for a two-run double. In the third, he pulled the ball down the right-field line for another two-run double. He got his fourth hit of the night with a single up the middle in the seventh.

``You gotta use the whole field to hit,'' Erstad said. ``You take what they give you.''

Erstad's success rubbed off on the rest of the team in the third inning when they knocked Cone out of the game and scored six times. Mo Vaughn began the inning with a single and eventually scored on a single by Garret Anderson.

Scott Spiezio drove in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, and one out later Gary DiSarcina singled home another to make it 6-1. That was it for Cone, but the Angels weren't done yet.

Ex-Angel Allen Watson entered the game and allowed Erstad's two-run double. Adam Kennedy (Cal State Northridge) followed with an RBI single but was caught rounding first too far and was thrown out to end the inning, but not before the Angels had taken a 9-1 lead.

The beneficiary of the offense was Angels starter Scott Schoeneweis, who was making his first career major-league start. A sinker-ball pitcher, he got ground-ball double plays in the first two innings before Clay Bellinger's RBI single in the third.

Schoeneweis took the 9-1 lead to the mound in the fourth and gave up back-to-back homers by Shane Spencer and Tino Martinez, but after pitching coach Bud Black paid a visit to the mound, Schoeneweis escaped further damage.

Vaughn led off the bottom of the fourth and was hit on the right elbow by a pitch from Watson. Two pitches later, despite a 9-3 lead, Vaughn took off for second and dived in head first for his first stolen base since May 26, 1997. He did have two steals in spring training this year.

After going to third on a single by Tim Salmon, Vaughn scored on a sacrifice fly by Anderson to give the Angels a 10-3 lead.

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Photo: Darin Erstad, who drove in five runs, rounds third after his first-inning home run.

Reed Saxon/Associated Press