ANGELS : Valera Has Sore Elbow, Will Sit Out

The Angels, already concerned about their pitching staff, were presented with yet another predicament Sunday.

Julio Valera, projected to be the Angels’ No. 3 starter this season, has tenderness in his right elbow and will be sidelined until at least Friday. He will not have pitched in a game for at least a week.

“I’m worried about it,” said Valera, who is 1-1 with a 5.14 earned-run average this spring, yielding a .304 batting average. “I’ve had it before, even last year, but never this serious. Any time something on your arm bothers you, you’ve got to be concerned.”

Valera, who will undergo daily therapy and take anti-inflammatory medication, said his elbow has bothered him sporadically all spring. It became more painful Saturday, he said, while pitching against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Although Valera completed his five-inning performance, Manager Buck Rodgers and pitching coach Chuck Hernandez noticed that Valera shortened his delivery on his fastball to compensate for his tender elbow.

“We could probably have him pitch through it,” Rodgers said, “but we want to make sure he gets well. I think he’ll be OK.”

Valera will remain with the team while he is sidelined. He is scheduled to pitch on the side Friday, and the Angels hope to start him again March 29 against the Chicago Cubs.

“I think this will be the best, to let it get some rest,” Valera said. “It just comes and goes, comes and goes, so maybe it’ll stop now.”

Starter Russ Springer, who struggled all spring, showed Sunday that it might be premature to eliminate him from the starting rotation.

Springer, who made adjustments to his delivery after watching films, yielded seven hits and two earned runs during a five-inning stint in the Angels’ 10-9 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Although Springer’s outing hardly can be considered impressive--he yielded solo homers to Gary Sheffield and Phil Plantier--it was easily his best performance of the spring, lowering his ERA to 9.24.

“The reason I’m excited is that this is the first time I’ve seen him pitch reasonably well,” Rodgers said. “Now I’m a believer. Not that he’ll go out and do it every time, but now I know he’s capable of doing it.”

Said Springer, whose fastball was consistently clocked at up to 91 m.p.h.: “I had to show them I could pitch, and I hadn’t shown that before. It was definitely a positive outing.”

Reliever Troy Percival, who the Angels were hoping would be ready for the big leagues, probably will be sent to the minors after his latest outing, Rodgers said.

Percival yielded four hits, two walks and six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. He has a 21.00 ERA this spring.

“I think he’s had such early success with his fastball in the lower leagues, he hasn’t been forced to pitch,” Rodgers said. “He’s in the process of transforming from a thrower to a pitcher, and he hasn’t quite made that transformation.

“If we opened tomorrow, we’d probably have him pitching in the minor leagues and learning the trade.”