BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : ’61 Veterans Manage Nicely

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers hasn’t talked to him lately, but he has feeling that Bill Rigney, former Angel manager, might be feeling awfully proud these days.

Rodgers and Jim Fregosi of the Philadelphia Phillies, two of his former players, are managing the two teams with the best records in baseball.

There are eight players from the Angels’ 1961 expansion team that wound up as managers, coaches or baseball administrators: Rodgers, Fregosi, Chuck Tanner, Rocky Bridges, Del Rice, Art Fowler, Lee Thomas and George Thomas.

Is there anyone on his club that he believes one day would be a major league manager?

“The lead guy right now would have to be (shortstop) Gary DiSarcina,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know whether he has any aspirations, but I know he knows how to play the game and gets upset when it’s not played right.”

Would DiSarcina want to manage one day?

“Hey, I want to keep my hair,” DiSarcina said, “or at least keep it the same color.”

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The Angels sent outfielder Jerome Walton to triple-A Vancouver on Friday night to make room for pitcher Scott Lewis, who was activated from the disabled list and will start today against the Red Sox.

Walton has had only three plate appearances this season, and Stan Javier, the other reserve outfielder, has been in only three games. The only other viable option was to send No. 3 catcher Ron Tingley to Vancouver, but Rodgers says he wants to keep three catchers until either John Orton or Greg Myers prove they can play every day.

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Rookie first baseman J.T. Snow’s success the first two weeks of the season already has had a trickle-down effect in the organization. Triple-A first baseman Don Barbara, suddenly realizing he had little future in the organization, requested his release Thursday and received it Friday. . . . Second baseman Kevin Flora met Angel officials Friday morning and left on a flight to Midland, Tex., to make funeral arrangements for his wife, MaryAnn, who was killed Thursday in a one-car accident. Flora plays for triple-A Vancouver. Also killed in the accident was Flora’s 4-year-old nephew, and his mother-in-law is hospitalized in critical condition.