BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Butcher Just Couldn’t Finish

During their trip East, the Angels lost a catcher and a pitcher to injury and had a real scare Tuesday when Jim Edmonds was hit below his left ear by an errant throw. But “the weirdest thing of all,” Manager Buck Rodgers said, was Mike Butcher’s “brain cramp,” when he gave up four runs with two outs in the ninth inning Thursday in Baltimore.

The Angels were leading, 11-3, before Butcher threw a pitch behind the head of Mark McLemore, gave up two singles, hit Brady Anderson, walked in a run and went 2-0 on Rafael Palmeiro before Rodgers replaced him.

“We’re about ready to pat ourselves on the back and all of sudden we’re scurrying to get someone up and worrying about losing the game,” Rodgers said. “He just went bonkers and got so far away from his normal delivery that he couldn’t keep the ball in the park, yet alone the strike zone.”

Butcher is now in triple-A Vancouver trying to regain his confidence and control.

“This might be a positive thing, though,” Rodgers said. “We’re still counting on Mike Butcher being a guy at the end of a game for us.”

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Edmonds, examined by team physician Jules Rasinski and diagnosed as having a slight concussion, said he felt worse Wednesday than he did Tuesday.

“I have a little nausea and a little headache today,” said Edmonds, who was not in uniform for Wednesday’s game.

Edmonds was examined by an eye specialist Wednesday afternoon and was told there was no damage.

“I was just fortunate it didn’t hit me in the face or the jaw,” he said.

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The Angels have decided not to put Ken Patterson on the disabled list for the time being. Patterson suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow Sunday in Boston and the Angels were expected to call up John Farrell from Vancouver. But that would mean leaving a player currently on their 40-man roster unprotected because Farrell is not on the 40-man roster. “(Patterson) will go on the DL, that’s inevitable,” Rodgers said, “but I think we’ll go with 10 (pitchers) and 24 (players) for now.”

The Angels might wait for Joe Magrane, who is on rehabilitative assignment in Vancouver and is expected to be ready to make his Angel debut early next month. . . . . Mark Langston, who underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery April 12, threw off a mound for the first time Wednesday. “We’ll see how it bounces back (today) and then we’ll know where I am,” Langston said.