BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Orton Is Starting Catcher

John Orton’s start behind the plate Friday wasn’t just a welcome-back gift.

Orton, 26, once considered likely to join Gary DiSarcina, Bobby Rose and Lee Stevens in the Angels’ young lineup on opening day, is the regular catcher for now, interim Manager John Wathan said.

“He’ll catch quite a bit, probably five out of every seven games,” Wathan said. “He’s been up and down (from the minors) quite a bit. We’d like to see him for an extended period.”

Orton started Saturday, and he has hit safely in both games since arriving.

Lance Parrish won the starting job by default when Orton missed all of spring training with a hurt shoulder. Now, Parrish, 36 on Monday and in the final year of his contract, is on the disabled list with an injury to his right thumb.

Von Hayes is one of two Angel left-handers who have yet to get a hit against a left-handed pitcher, and Wathan said the right fielder will be platooned for now.

Hayes is 0 for 23 against left-handers (Lee Stevens is 0 for 18), and Wathan said he will bench Hayes against most--though not all--lefties. Either Chad Curtis or Jose Gonzalez will play right field on days when Hayes sits out. Stevens has been sharing time at first base, as well.

“(Hayes) certainly has struggled against left-handers,” Wathan said. “He has hit left-handers in the past, so I think it’s a matter of getting his swing straightened out.”

Though Dan O’Brien, senior vice president, said the Angels are “not concerned” about the elbow pain that led their unsigned No. 1 draft choice, Pete Janicki of UCLA, to withdraw from the Olympic trials, the team has scheduled an appointment for the pitcher to be examined by team orthopedist Lewis Yocum. . . . The crowd of 40,407 Friday for Wally Joyner’s return to Anaheim was the largest at Anaheim Stadium this season.