BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : This Time, Hathaway Has Last Laugh

When he answered the phone Friday and the voice on the other end told him to report to Anaheim Stadium, Hilly Hathaway laughed. “I thought it was a joke at first, a prank a friend was playing,” he said. “But it was true, I guess.”

It was true, and Hathaway was in an Angel uniform Saturday. Hathaway, who will be 23 Saturday, was purchased from double-A Midland Friday. He started the season in Mesa on rehabilitation assignment because of a strained left elbow, and was 2-1 with a 1.50 earned-run average for Class A Palm Springs. He was 7-2 with Midland with a 3.21 ERA and one complete game in 14 starts.

“I’ve been in a daze since I got the call. It’s unbelievable,” said Hathaway, who went home to Jacksonvile, Fla., after Midland’s season ended last Monday. “It’s going to be weird if I do get up there and pitch against (the Orioles and A’s). I’m so used to seeing them on TV all my life.”

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said he’s not worried about Hathaway making the huge jump from double A to the major leagues. “There’s an old saying in baseball that if you have a decent year in double A, then you can play,” Rodgers said.

Rudy Razjigaev, one of three players from the former Soviet Union who played for the Angels’ Arizona Rookie League team in Mesa this summer, visited Anaheim Stadium on his way home to Moscow. He was delighted with his American experience. “It’s a miracle, a dream for everybody who plays baseball in Russia,” said Razjigaev, a native of Siberia. “Everybody watches videotapes of everybody here who plays baseball perfect. We try to be like them. It takes time but I believe we will play good.”

Luis Polonia was scratched from the lineup after fouling a ball off his foot during early batting practice, but he was restored to his usual leadoff spot when X-rays of his foot were negative. . . No Angel starter has a winning record, which could be historic. The team has never had five starters who have made 20 or more starts all finish with records below or at .500. Four starters in 1980 were at or below .500: Don Aase (8-13), Chris Knapp (2-11), Fred Martinez (7-9) and Frank Tanana (11-12).