BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Injury-Prone Robinson Was Expendable

Told by Bert Blyleven they would have to make a decision on his future after he made only two starts for triple-A Edmonton, the Angels decided to keep Blyleven and release 34-year-old Don Robinson because they feared Robinson was repeating his pattern of frequent injuries.

And while there appears to be little logic in replacing the oft-injured Robinson with Blyleven, who is 41 and recovering from extensive surgery on his pitching shoulder, Manager Buck Rodgers said the team could neither keep Robinson on the disabled list indefinitely nor keep both pitchers.

“When (Robinson) was healthy, he was good, but we didn’t expect him to start breaking down so early in the season,” Rodgers said Friday. “Once he started getting hurt, we said, ‘Is this the start of something that will go on all season?’ ”

Blyleven said Friday he is prepared to be the fifth starter, which means occasionally missing a turn or having a start pushed back to accommodate the top four starters. Although he needs about five more minutes to warm up than he used to, he might also be used in relief to start an inning.

“I can accept that because I’ve been on the other end of it and the fifth starter had to miss a start for me,” said Blyleven, who is scheduled to face the Yankees Tuesday at New York. “It’s a role I feel I can fit really well . . .”

Blyleven credited his wife, Patti, for encouraging his rehabilitation. He joked that her motivation might have been simply to get him out of the house. “I came home from Edmonton and my suitcases were packed,” he said.

Julio Valera, the Angels’ starter today, pitched for Red Sox Manager Butch Hobson with Class-A Columbia (S.C.) in 1987 and ’88 in the New York Mets’ farm system. “I started for him, so he’s a good manager,” Valera said. . . . Von Hayes, back in the AL after an absence of more than 10 years, said he had forgotten how close the “Green Monster” in left field appears from the visitors’ dugout. “It looks like it’s about five feet away,” he said. . . . John Dopson, who had elbow surgery almost two years ago, will start for the Red Sox on Sunday, his first start since June 5, 1990.