ANGELS INSIDE LOOK: ANDERSON DOES IT WITH BAT, GLOVE.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - About eight feet separated Garret Anderson from postseason immortality at the plate Friday night. By the end of the game, though, Anderson's defense drew the most notice.

Anderson ended Game 3 of the American League Championship Series with a diving catch of a line drive by Minnesota's A.J. Pierzynski, capping a night in which Anderson hit a solo home run in the second and came close to hitting the ball out in his other three at-bats.

``There's not anybody that deserves to get recognized more than G.A.'' Angels center fielder Darin Erstad said. ``He's been our rock all season, and he's been a tremendous player throughout the whole time I've been here. He definitely doesn't get the credit he deserves.''

With the Angels clinging to a 2-1 lead in the ninth and closer Troy Percival on the mound with two outs, Pierzynski looped a low liner into left field. Anderson, often criticized for his defensive play, never hesitated and slid to make the catch with the ball inches from the ground.

``He's made some great catches for us,'' Erstad said. ``He gets a bad reputation, but we think he's a great defensive player.''

In the first two games of the ALCS, Anderson's defense wasn't the only concern. He was hitless in eight at-bats entering Friday, but was facing Minnesota starting pitcher Eric Milton, against whom he had enjoyed great success in the past.

It didn't take long to show. Milton retired the side in order in the first, and threw a strike to Anderson to lead off the second. However, Milton left the next ball in the middle of the strike zone and Anderson drove it to right-center field for a 1-0 lead that lasted until the seventh.

``Hitting's not that easy,'' Anderson said. ``I had some tough at-bats in Minnesota. I wanted to make sure I stayed aggressive, not go up there taking pitches, trying to be too fine and perfect. He left the ball out over the plate and I put a swing on it.''

In the third, Anderson drove a ball to the warning track in left field, and in the sixth he doubled off the short fence in right field, about two feet from a home run.

Anderson came to the plate with the bases loaded and the game tied 1-1 with two outs in the seventh, and it looked as though his legacy in the game would be an inning-ending fly ball to the fence in right field, but Troy Glaus' leadoff home run in the eighth erased that memory.

It also negated the vision of Anderson playing too far in when Minnesota's Jacque Jones doubled in the game-tying run in the seventh inning, over Anderson and off the wall. Anderson made amends for that with the diving catch in the ninth.

``(With Troy Percival pitching) not too many lefties are going to hit the ball over my head,'' Anderson said of the game-ending catch. ``I played more shallow than I normally do. I just wasn't going to give up on it.''

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Photo:

Garret Anderson watches his home run sail out in the second inning Friday night to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer