Angel Notebook : So Far, It’s Been a Spring of Contact for Darrell Miller

Whether he’s at the plate, behind it or in the outfield, Darrell Miller cannot avoid contact this spring.

His bat has been providing most of it, with the two hits he collected in Friday’s game lifting his batting average to .419--second best on the club behind Wally Joyner.

But there has been more when Miller takes his position in the field, either at catcher or in left field. Major contact, too. Twice in the last week, Miller has had run-ins with obstacles impeding the swift completion of his appointed rounds.

Sunday, he tried to score--and flattened a catcher.

Friday, he pulled down a potential extra-base hit--but was unable to flatten an outfield wall.

In the fourth inning of the Angels’ 5-4 loss to Oakland Friday, Carney Lansford powered a pitch by Ken Forsch toward the left-field corner. Miller, racing hard to his right, backhanded the ball an instant before he hit the outfield fence.

The fence held its ground. Miller held onto the ball. But it took him a minute or two to regain his bearing and his feet. He finally staggered back to the dugout.

“I hit it pretty good,” Miller said. “I saw the wall out of the corner of my eye and I knew I was in trouble.

“I was groggy for a while. At first, I was just trying to remember what day it was. But I’m alive. All is well.”

Miller was able to brace himself slightly with his right arm, but he still slammed his right knee against the fence. He had bruised the same knee in last weekend’s collision with Chicago Cubs catcher Steve Christmas.

“This has not been one of my better weeks,” Miller said. “They’ve been trying to hide me somewhere that I can’t run into something. They haven’t found the place yet.”

Miller’s knee is apparently all right, for he moved to catcher in the seventh inning and spent two innings behind the plate before giving way to Steve Liddle.

The shuttle between catcher and the outfield could become a year-long routine for Miller. He began the spring with the intention of becoming the backup to Bob Boone, who figures to catch 130 or more games this season.

Miller’s bat has become too valuable an item to keep in storage, particularly if the experiment with George Hendrick in right field doesn’t pan out.

General Manager Mike Port indicated that Miller, for all the hours he has invested at catcher this spring, could wind up in the outfield regularly.

“Last year, we thought Darrell handled himself well in right field,” Port said. “As good a job as Juan Beniquez did in right, we felt Darrell Miller could fill in there and give us a good right-handed bat.

“This year, who knows? You do what you have to do.”

For now, however, Miller said he is continuing to stay with Plan A.

“I’m envisioning myself as the backup catcher,” he said. “I’ll go out there when they need me in the outfield, but playing there regularly? I haven’t given that any thought.”

Manager Gene Mauch, though, has told Miller to be ready for anything.

Miller recalled: “Before spring training, Gene said, ‘I want you to be my backup catcher . . . but don’t go throwing away your other glove just yet.’ ”

Angel Notes

Dick Schofield continued his recent offensive surge, collecting two singles and a double in five at-bats Friday to raise his spring average to .381. Gene Mauch and Mike Port are among those who have credited the challenge of rookie shortstop Gus Polidor as providing incentive for Schofield this spring, but Schofield is put off by such talk. “Gus is a super player, no doubt about that,” Schofield said, “but I might have a little talent, too. I don’t have to be pushed.” Schofield shrugged off his competition with Polidor as “the same old stuff. Somebody somewhere is always going to be there, trying for the same job you are. It doesn’t bother me.” . . . More bothersome to Schofield is facing the press. When a half-dozen reporters closed in on Schofield, Rob Wilfong joked that he’d have to switch lockers “if this happens all year.” Schofield, a man of very few words, found it less amusing. “I’d rather run laps than talk,” he said with a touch of a grin. . . . Ken Forsch had his second extended stint of the spring (5 innings) and was hit hard again (7 hits, 4 runs). Doug Corbett pitched the ninth and 10th innings and received the loss when he yielded a run-scoring single to Dave Kingman. Middle-man T.R. Bryden allowed one hit while striking out three in 2 innings. . . . George Hendrick and Rick Burleson had two hits apiece. Hendrick is batting .212. . . . Stewart Cliburn reported no after-effects from the two innings he pitched Thursday and is expected to take his next turn, as scheduled, on Sunday. . . . Mauch’s five-man starting pitching rotation: Mike Witt on opening day, followed, in order, by John Candelaria, Don Sutton, Ron Romanick and Kirk McCaskill.