ANAHEIM, Calif. » It'd been a long time since former Waipahu High star Jerome Williams started a game in the major leagues, even longer since he'd won one.
Williams pitched seven stellar innings to get his first big league victory in almost six years, Peter Bourjos homered for the third straight game and Howie Kendrick also connected, leading the Los Angeles Angels over the Baltimore Orioles 7-1 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.
"I feel like crying," Williams said while his 2-year-old son, Ty, sat perched in a folding chair next to him with the game ball in his hands. "It's been a long road. I'm just speechless. There was so much emotion out there. Being away from the game for a long time, I dedicated this to my mother and my family."
Williams, a first-round draft pick by San Francisco in 1999, hadn't started a game in the majors since May 15, 2007, with Washington. He began this season with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League before signing a free-agent contract with the Angels on June 16. He spent last season playing in Taiwan after leaving the Oakland Athletics.
"When I was in Taiwan last year, I never thought I would be here right now playing here," said Williams, who uses a pink glove to honor his late mother, who died of breast cancer. "I was thinking about quitting, but I forced myself not to. My family helped me out and told me to just keep on going and never give up. And it paid off.
"The difference was trusting myself and learning everything that I was supposed to learn back in the day," he added. "I was the type of guy that would nitpick everywhere, but now I'm just going after hitters."
Williams (1-0) posted his first victory in the majors since Sept. 25, 2005, with the Chicago Cubs.
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The sixth-highest draft pick ever from a local high school, Williams made his major league debut at age 21.
That same year, he helped pitch the Giants to a division title and made a start in the divisional series against the Florida Marlins.
Things couldn't seem to be going any better.
"I was on top of the world," Williams said. "I had anything and everything I wanted. Shoot, I was 21 in the big leagues and I thought nobody could take my spot …
"Then somebody did."
FIVE OTHER pro teams involving multiple minor-league stints later, Williams found himself playing in Puerto Rico.
Two years after that, he was wearing the jersey of the Uni-President Lions in Taiwan, playing in a league with a whopping four teams.
WILLIAMS DIDN'T receive an offer to return to Taiwan this year.
With a wife and three kids to support, he had to somehow find a way back in the states.
"(My wife) told me, ‘Hey, without baseball you'll amount to nothing,' which is true," he said. "I've never had a 9 to 5 (job), baseball is all I have. I never went to college, never had any college offers or nothing, so it's true, this is all I know."
The Los Angeles Angels took a chance on Williams, signing him as a free agent in June. After posting a 7-2 record with Triple-A affiliate Salt Lake City, Williams pitched in the majors for the first time in four years in August. Four days later, he picked up his first win exactly 2,156 days after his last one with the Chicago Cubs.
"With second chances in life you want to make it right," he said. "Fortunately, I got a chance to do it right again."
WILLIAMS RETURNED to Hawaii for the first time in six years on Thanksgiving Day.
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