Three’s a Crowd in Angel Infield : McLemore, Polidor, Schofield Are Jockeying for Positions

If Mark McLemore’s performance Sunday was intended to get a point across, he did not admit it. If Gus Polidor felt slighted at missing his first start since filling in so impressively for then-injured Dick Schofield, that was his secret.

The Angels, after all, have far more pressing things with which to concern themselves than having an extra player vying for an infield position. Sunday’s 9-6 defeat--a game that Manager Gene Mauch called “ugly” and Brian Downing termed “disgusting”--was their third straight loss at Anaheim Stadium to second-place Oakland, and they fell 5 1/2 games behind first-place Minnesota.

But the infield had an old look for the first time in a month, with Schofield back at shortstop, McLemore at second and Polidor in the dugout.

The question is how often it will look that way, and apparently it remains unresolved.

Schofield returned to the starting lineup Thursday, but Sunday’s game was his first back at his accustomed position. Until then, Polidor had remained the starting shortstop, and Schofield played designated hitter or--for the first time in his life--second base, pushing McLemore out of the lineup.

“Just as long as I know where I’m going to play, I can get used to it,” said Schofield, who called it “a little weird” to be back at shortstop after so long. “But they haven’t told me whether I’m going to play second or short.”

Schofield, who is hitting .244 with eight home runs, committed the Angels’ only error Sunday. A ball hit by Tony Bernazard went off Schofield’s glove and into left field, allowing Bernazard to reach first in the sixth inning, in which the Angels allowed three runs on two hits.

McLemore, back in the lineup Sunday after missing only his second and third games of the year, went 3 for 4 with a home run--only his third of they year--but said it was not a response to missing two starts.

“I’m the second baseman,” said McLemore, who is batting .228. “Every day I try to go out there and make my point.”

Polidor, the man whose outstanding performance has created the shuffling, is in the dark as well.

Polidor hit .303 and drove in 14 runs in 28 starts while filling in for Schofield, who was on the disabled list recovering from a slightly separated left shoulder.

“I don’t know what they think,” he said. “They didn’t tell me anything. . . . The regular player (Schofield) is back, so he has to play. I was playing so well he (Mauch) kept me in to give me confidence. But I am the utility infielder. I have been ready for the situation.”

Polidor, a sharp fielder whose question mark had been hitting, is batting .258.

“This is my dream, what everybody wants, to play regular in the big leagues,” he said. “I waited three months and they put me in. Now this year I have to wait more.”

The problem of distributing playing time among the three is minor in relation to the problem of staying in the pennant race, of course. That being the Angels’ predominant concern, there is not much clamoring among the three over who will play where, and how often.

“I just go out and look at the lineup every day,” McLemore said. “It’s frustrating right now because we’re trying to win and we’re not. It’s not like we’re going out and getting blown away.”