ANGELS REAFFIRM THEIR WORTH IN WIN : ANGELS 5, DODGERS 1.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Bill Russell, not a terribly excitable guy unless he has a real good reason, seemed almost to be stifling yawns before the Dodgers' Freeway Series meeting with the Angels Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

Russell's objective this spring has been to get the pitchers their innings and the hitters their at-bats, and the Dodgers manager feels the work has been accomplished. You sense that he wants to get this exhibition season over with and get on with the real games.

But Russell's counterpart, Angels manager Terry Collins, derived considerably less satisfaction from spring training, as his pitchers self-destructed and his losses heaped high.

So Collins and the Angels seized a supposedly meaningless exhibition game and set about reconstructing their self-esteem, rollicking through a 5-1 victory over the Dodgers before 31,897 fans.

The Freeway Series would figure to have added significance this year, since the advent of interleague play will find these teams meeting four times during the regular season.

A prime opportunity to scout a future opponent? Collins, who spent the past three years as Houston's manager, chuckled and said, ``It might be for these guys (players), if they haven't faced some of the Dodgers' pitchers. But between (coach) Larry Bowa and myself, we have a pretty good idea about the Dodgers. We kept all the reports from Houston.''

And the Angels seemed to take considerable delight in gleaning intelligence from them. They ran unmercifully on balls hit to center fielder Brett Butler, knowing that arm strength is not his forte. They tested the suspect arm of catcher Mike Piazza early and often, with mixed results (he did gun down Gary DiSarcina on a steal attempt in the third). And they seemed to have a pretty good idea of what they'd get from the Dodgers' pitchers, collecting 13 hits on the night.

Starter Ismael Valdes was knocked around for his second straight spring outing - not a reassuring development considering this was his final tuneup before a start against Philadelphia Thursday.

Valdes was tagged for hits by the first three batters he faced and went on to have a rough two innings, though he limited the Angels to one run. Valdes was pounded even harder last week by the New York Mets, and he concludes the spring having given up 17 hits and 13 earned runs over the 5-2/3 innings of his final two starts.

Tom Candiotti and Mark Guthrie gave up two runs apiece.

The Angels were much more encouraged by the work they received from their starter, Jason Dickson. The rookie right-hander limited the Dodgers to one run across his six innings of work. His personal highlight undoubtedly was a called strikeout of Piazza with two runners on in the fifth - with a fastball on the inside corner, no less.

The Dodgers got two singles from Wilton Guerrero and a double each from Todd Zeile and Todd Hollandsworth before emptying their bench in the sixth and seventh innings.

The regulars, said Russell, ``have gotten a lot of at-bats and still gotten their needed rest. It all prepares them to be mentally fresh for Opening Day.''

The Angels spread the offensive damage around, with designated hitter Eddie Murray contributing a single and a run-scoring fly.

The game afforded the Angels an opportunity to get newly acquainted with their stadium, which has undergone extensive alterations as part of a renovation project.