BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Rodgers Home 10 Days After Surgery

Manager Buck Rodgers was released from Centinela Hospital Medical Center, 10 days after he underwent six hours of surgery on his elbow and knee to repair injuries he sustained in the team’s May 21 bus accident.

Rodgers will be visited by a physical therapist three times a week at his home in Yorba Linda. He will use a wheelchair until his knee can support his weight, a period doctors estimate at two months.

“I look forward to the day I can return to the dugout,” Rodgers said in a statement released by the club. “For the time being, (interim manager) John Wathan and the staff will continue to initiate the program we began in spring training and I expect players will respond accordingly.

“Patience, they say, is a virtue. I’m sure going to find that out in the next few months. But patience is also something needed during the course of a baseball season. The setbacks are behind us and the future lies ahead.”

Gary Gaetti was taken out of Wednesday’s game after 6 1/2 innings because of a sore left elbow. Precautionary X-rays were taken at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, with results expected today. . . . Wathan’s ejection for arguing the called third strike on Jose Gonzalez in the seventh inning was the sixth ejection for the Angels this season. Lance Parrish, Luis Polonia, Rodgers, pitching coach Marcel Lachemann and Mike Fitzgerald preceded him.

With the durability of Parrish’s right elbow uncertain, team executives are considering recalling catcher John Orton from triple-A Edmonton. Parrish, who was on the 15-day disabled list last month because of bone spurs in his elbow, might need surgery to correct the problem. If he does, Orton would almost certainly be recalled. Orton was hitting .258 for Edmonton through Tuesday.

“He’s healthy and he’s throwing the ball well,” Wathan said of Orton, who missed most of spring training because of an inflamed right shoulder. “We haven’t decided for sure what we’ll do. If he comes up, he needs to play.”

Wathan also said outfielder Tim Salmon and first baseman Don Barbara will remain with Edmonton for now. Salmon was hitting .369 with 13 homers and 53 runs batted in through Tuesday; Barbara was hitting .333 with four homers and 28 RBIs.