BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Easley Brings His Bat Up in the Lineup

Infielder Damion Easley kept watching his team struggle and was puzzled that he remained at the bottom of the batting order.

Maybe his chronic shin splints made him questionable, but he was hitting .307 before Thursday’s game and he felt he deserved to be batting at least in the top five spots.

“But what was I going to do?” Easley said. “This is my first year. What am I going to say, ‘Buck what’s going on here?’ ”

He didn’t have to. Manager Buck Rodgers sought him out and told Easley that he was the Angels’ new No. 3 hitter. Tim Salmon was moved to the cleanup spot, with Chili Davis dropped to fifth.

“We’re not going into a panic philosophy,” Rodgers said. “But when you don’t score runs, you do things to generate more runs under the circumstances.

“Hopefully this will be able to get us more people on base at the top of the lineup, and it’s no secret I’ve wanted to put Salmon in the fourth spot for a while.”

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Dan O’Brien, vice president of baseball operations, said the team will not pursue another grievance with the American League regarding third baseman Kelly Gruber’s pending neck surgery.

“We were aware of that injury because he’s been playing with it for a while,” O’Brien said. “It just got progressively worse.”

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Shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who has played in 179 consecutive games, will be out of tonight’s lineup, Rodgers said, which would end his bid to become the first Angel shortstop since Jim Fregosi in 1964 to play every game during a season.

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The Angels will be facing their fourth rookie pitcher of the trip tonight in Mark Hutton, who will make his major league debut. Hutton replaces Bob Wickman, who has been moved to the bullpen.