Tue Apr 1 23:56:09 2008

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Garland heavenly as Angels crush Twins

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Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Jon Garland hurled eight brilliant innings in his Angels debut, and Mike Napoli and Casey Kotchman both homered as Los Angeles downed Minnesota, 9-1, in the second leg of a four-game season- opening set at the Metrodome.

Garland (1-0), who was acquired in November from the Chicago White Sox for slick-fielding shortstop Orlando Cabrera, allowed just one run on six hits for the Angels, who dropped their season-opener for the first time since 2003 on Monday, as Carlos Gomez had two hits, a pair of stolen bases and scored twice to lead the Twins to a 3-2 win.

"Last year they tagged me pretty good," Garland said of the Twins. "It's a new year and the defense was amazing behind me tonight."

Vladimir Guerrero finished 3-for-4 and drove in three runs for Los Angeles and Garret Anderson was 3-for-5 with two RBI.

Adam Everett was 1-for-2 with an RBI for Minnesota. Boof Bonser (0-1) struggled in the first inning but settled down to throw six innings, allowing four runs -- three earned -- on eight hits en route to the loss.

"We faced him many, many times," Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer said of Garland. "Sometimes we get the best of him, sometimes we don't. He was on tonight."

The Angels jumped on Bonser with a pair of runs in the first. Gary Matthews Jr. got things started with a one-out single up the middle before Guerrero and Anderson followed with consecutive RBI doubles.

Los Angeles added two more runs in the fifth. Napoli led off the frame by blasting his first home run of the year over the wall in center. Chone Figgins then reached on Everett's throwing error, swiped second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Guerrero laced a two-out single to left.

Minnesota finally got on the board in the home-half of the fifth. Delmon Young led off with a single and moved into scoring position when Brendan Harris drew a two-out walk. Everett then came through with an RBI single up the middle.

The Angels quickly got that run back in the seventh against the Twins bullpen. Figgins laced a one-out double off Jessie Crain and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Crain managed to punch out Matthews swinging and then intentionally walked Guerrero. Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire went to Dennys Reyes to match up with Anderson but the veteran slapped an RBI single up the middle to make it a 5-1 game.

LA really put things away with two more runs in the eighth. Kotchman led off the frame with his first home run of the year, and Guerrero later legged out two-out infield single with the bases loaded.

Maicer Izturis' two-run single in the ninth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Angels banged out 15 hits in the game...Garland is now 8-8 in his career versus Minnesota...Bonser (0-3) is winless against the Angels... The Angels went 6-3 against Minnesota last season and have won 17 of the last 27 matchups in the series.