BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Gruber Might Go on Disabled List

The roster of the injured grew by one Wednesday with the addition of third baseman Kelly Gruber, who returned to Los Angeles to have his left shoulder and neck examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum. Gruber said he felt “some type of pulling and a burning sensation” after diving for Craig Paquette’s grounder in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s 8-7 loss to Oakland. He left the game in the fifth and appears headed for the disabled list.

“I do have some soreness,” Gruber said. “Hopefully, it’s just a strain or something of that nature. You’re protecting yourself from a fall and all the other muscles take all the stress.”

Gruber has batted .277 (18 for 65) with three home runs and nine runs-batted-in since returning from the disabled list on June 4.

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Add injuries: Reliever Joe Grahe, on the 15-day disabled list because of tendinitis in his right shoulder, will pitch one inning for triple-A Vancouver against Tacoma on Friday. The club expects him to spend about a week with Vancouver, pitching two one-inning stints and two two-inning stints.

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The last words on Mike Butcher’s ejection for throwing a pitch that sailed over the head of Dave Henderson on Tuesday:

“I guess any fan could tell it was unintentional,” Butcher said. “I’m not going to go head-hunting. I don’t want to throw at anybody’s head. I told him (home plate umpire Greg Kosc), ‘It’s a slider. How can you throw me out?’ He said, ‘I know what it was, but it was at his head.’ ”

Said Manager Buck Rodgers: “I just think we on the field have to know what’s going on, including the umpire. We’re supposed to be smarter than that. I could see somebody in the 21st row not knowing the difference between a fastball and a slider and booing and getting upset.”

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Gary DiSarcina’s streak of consecutive games almost ended at 74 on Wednesday. Rod Correia, who grounded out in his first major league at-bat Tuesday, started at shortstop Wednesday. But DiSarcina appeared as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, batting for left fielder Luis Polonia. Correia got his first major league hit, a single to center field in the fourth.