Angels : Minton Keeps in Mind His Return

Greg Minton missed the bus to Tucson again. Darn the luck. That’s twice in four days now, depriving Minton of his last chance to indulge in one the Cactus League’s grandest traditions.

“You get to count how many cactus there are from Phoenix to Tucson,” says Cookie Rojas, the Angels’ acting manager.

That’s 2 1/2 hours worth of cactus. But given his druthers, Minton would gladly go along for the ride, calculator in hand. Since spraining a ligament in his left elbow a week ago, Minton has been confined to the Angels’ training room, his daily regimen limited to pedaling away on the life-cycle and going nowhere.

“In two years, I’ll be ready for the Olympic bicycling team,” Minton said. “An hour a day on that bicycle. Yes, total boredom has set in.”

Minton injured his arm during his only pitching outing of the spring, a two-inning scoreless stint March 5 in Yuma against San Diego. Five days later, he was in the Inglewood office of team orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum, having his arm checked and fearing the worst.

“Against San Diego, I struck out three of the last four guys I faced,” Minton said. “The next day, I couldn’t make a muscle in my forearm. Not a good sign. The arm hurt a little, while I was in Yuma. But the next day, it was like vapor-lock.

“When I got to L.A., the team doctor touched my elbow and said, ‘OK, where does it hurt?’ And I go ‘ Yeah, yeah. ‘ The doctor says, ‘Looks like we’ve got a problem.’ ”

At first, Minton said, Yocum suspected a partially torn ligament.

“When he told me that, I was ready to go out and have about 14 tequilas,” Minton said. “He tells me, ‘There are a lot of guys pitching who don’t have a tendon there.’ Yeah, after taking a year off.

“I asked him, ‘What’s the best-case scenario?’ And he says, (lowering his voice) ‘Let’s not talk about that, son.’ ”

Minton, of course, can juice up a story with the best of them, but the point was clear: He was scared.

But further test results provided a more encouraging diagnosis. The ligament wasn’t torn, Minton said, but “frayed, like an old rubber band.”

Said Minton: “At first, I was told not to pick up a baseball until opening day. Then, it turned out to be only frayed, and I was told not to throw for a week to 10 days.

“Now, the trainers tell me that things are going better than expected and maybe I’ll start throwing again by the end of the week.”

Minton says he has experienced elbow problems in previous springs--”I’ve had a couple arthroscopes done, just to clean things up,” but this was something altogether different.

It was caused, he claims, by a different Minton.

“I lost 20 pounds during the off-season,” he said. “I ran nine miles a day. Not a guy on this team worked harder than I did.

“By the time I got to camp, I felt so good, I threw too hard too fast. I mean, I was really whipping the ball. I thought, ‘This is great,’ but I ended up putting too much strain on the arm.”

Tuesday, Minton is scheduled to have his elbow re-examined by Yocum, who could then give him the OK to resume throwing. For the time being, however, it’s medication, a little stretching and a lot of biking for Minton.

Boring, yes, but it could be worse.

“You know, if we’re all healthy with (DeWayne) Buice, Donnie (Moore) and me, we could have a pretty good bullpen,” Minton said. “It could be a lot of fun this year.

“I just didn’t want to watch it in a sky box at Anaheim Stadium.”

Meanwhile, back in Tucson, where the Angels edged the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, in extra innings Sunday, Rojas remained undefeated at 3-0 as the interim manager.

“No, they are undefeated,” Rojas said of the suddenly aroused Angel batting order. “Everybody is still hitting the hell out of the ball.”

Rojas said he talked with Mauch earlier in the day as Mauch prepared for his scheduled battery of physical tests.

Rojas was asked if he could get a read on Mauch’s mood.

“If I was in his position, I’d be a little nervous,” Rojas said. “It’d be weighing on my mind.

“The good thing is, he has the determination to get something done. Maybe it’s nothing. But it’s good that he find out.”

Angel Notes

Tony Armas, the club’s surprising leader in home runs (3) and RBIs (8), was scratched from the lineup Sunday after having a boil on his right foot lanced. Armas is expected to be sidelined two to three days. . . . The Angels had 14 more hits against Cleveland pitching, giving them 42 in their last three games. Designated hitter Brian Downing went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs, with Mark McLemore, Dick Schofield and George Hendrick each contributing two hits. . . . Jim Eppard scored the winning run in the 10th inning after singling against Mark Huismann, taking second on a balk and coming home on Downing’s third single. . . . Angel starter Kirk McCaskill, given a 3-0 lead before throwing his first pitch, left after four innings with a 4-4 tie. McCaskill allowed 7 hits, including a home run by Joe Carter, and walked 2 while striking out 3. McCaskill’s opinion of his performance? “No bueno,” he said. “Physically, my arm felt OK but, overall, I was just a little out of whack. I knew what I was doing wrong; I just wasn’t able to correct it. These days are going to happen. The key is to keep them to a minimum.” . . . Reliever Stewart Cliburn earned the victory and Terry Clark the save, Clark picking Tommy Hinzo off first base for the game’s final out. Cliburn worked the eighth and ninth innings, allowing three hits and striking out three. He did not walk a batter.