BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Edmonds Excites as First Baseman

Jim Edmonds’ performance at first base Thursday night might have earned him a few extra at-bats this year. Edmonds, whose role was supposed to be pinch-hitting and providing relief for center fielder Chad Curtis and right fielder Tim Salmon, started the game in center. But he was moved to first--a position he hasn’t played since 1991--when Eduardo Perez sprained his left shoulder during his fourth-inning at-bat.

Edmonds made a nice play in the sixth when he stabbed a shot over the bag off the bat of Toronto’s Carlos Delgado, spun and fired to second to get the lead runner.

“I was pretty nervous for the first couple of hitters,” Edmonds said. “I just wanted to be solid, not spectacular. The play (on Delgado) was just reaction.

“You really have to think a lot more on the infield. In the outfield, everything’s in front of you.”

Edmonds was impressive enough that Manager Buck Rodgers said he wouldn’t have made a roster move if Perez had to sit out four or five days.

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Perez took batting practice Friday and declared himself fit to play, but said he had some doubts Thursday night. “It killed,” he said. “It was a sharp pain, but it’s all right now. It’s nothing that will stop me from swinging the same way.” . . . Left-hander Joe Magrane, on a rehabilitation assignment with the Angels’ Class-A affiliate in Lake Elsinore, pitched 4 2/3 innings Friday night, giving up four hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts and three walks. Magrane underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on Feb. 8.