BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Bullpen Coach Shaken in Cab Crash

Chuck Hernandez, the Angels’ bullpen coach since the team’s May 21 bus crash scrambled the staff’s duties, was a passenger in a cab crash Wednesday night that left him shaken and wrecked both cars. The cab lurched onto a sidewalk before coming to a stop near a restaurant where Angel players Scott Bailes, Mike Fitzgerald and Gary Gaetti watched in amazement.

Hernandez took a cab to the team’s hotel at about 11:30 p.m. instead of waiting for the bus because his wife, Donna, and son, C.J., had arrived for a visit. About five minutes into the ride, the driver, whom Hernandez said had made several dangerous maneuvers in traffic, pulled out of a line of cars at an intersection and struck a car trying to make a left turn.

“I saw it coming, so I braced myself,” said Hernandez, who had to kick open the door to get out of the crumpled car. “I banged my knees into the (divider) and my knees are sore, but I’m OK.”

The crash continued the series of mishaps involving the Angels this season. The most notable was the bus crash, from which Manager Buck Rodgers has yet to return. “Nothing’s unbelievable any more,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said of the team’s misfortunes.

Since he tried holding his bat on his left shoulder instead of up and away from his body, Lee Stevens is eight for 21 in August, raising his batting average to .211. That’s his highest point since May 26. “I don’t feel I can get beat on inside pitches, and if you know that, your confidence is a lot stronger,” he said. “This gives me something to work on for next season. I can still finish strong.”

Damion Easley, who grew up in the Bronx not far from Yankee Stadium, was anticipating his debut there tonight. “It’s going to be nerve-racking,” he said. “Yankee Stadium has all that mystique.”. . . Easley is one of six Angels assigned to play for Scottsdale in the new Arizona Fall League. Catcher Jorge Fabregas, outfielder Garrett Anderson and pitchers Paul Swingle, Troy Percival and Bret Merriman will join him. . . . Hubie Brooks remains with the club but has yet to accept a rehabilitation assignment. . . . The Angels haven’t hit a home run at Fenway Park since April 26, 1990, a span of 15 games and 142 innings. . . . Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who changed his uniform number to 33 Wednesday in honor of Larry Bird, was delighted to hear Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine had written the number 33 on his cap Wednesday. DiSarcina and Glavine were high school basketball teammates in the Boston suburb of Billerica. “Great minds with the same thought,” said DiSarcina, who is five for eight since the switch. Glavine won Wednesday, too, but he had won 12 consecutive games before that.