Edmonds in Spotlight, but Angels in Dark, 8-2

Jim Edmonds spent most of spring training wondering if he would be traded--and if it meant avoiding a return to the minors, he actually welcomed the idea.

He was considered nothing more than an insurance policy, anyway. The Angels had already signed veterans Bo Jackson and Dwight Smith to play left field, and if Edmonds were needed, it would be as a defensive specialist.

Now, when the Angels sorely need someone to divert attention from their dismal play, Edmonds has stepped into the spotlight.

While the Angels were losing once again Monday night, this time to the Minnesota Twins, 8-2, for their seventh defeat in the last eight games, Edmonds provided the only bright spot for most of the 20,405 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

He couldn’t do anything to bail out Angel starter Phil Leftwich, who gave up six hits and six earned runs in two innings, but he did hit his third home run in four games, in the eighth inning. Since becoming the regular left fielder, Edmonds is batting .412 with three homers and six runs batted in.

Although it will take several weeks for Edmonds to get enough plate appearances to qualify among the American League leaders--his average is now .350--he suddenly has emerged as a legitimate rookie-of-the-year candidate.

“Sure, I think about it, why not?” Edmonds said. “It’s such a prestigious honor. I don’t know how much it will hurt me since I wasn’t an everyday player from the start, but man, it would be nice to have back-to-back rookies of the year like the Dodgers.”

While the Angel front office remains numbed by the team’s failures on the field, no one has been as pleasant a surprise as Edmonds. The Angels (24-33) figured that if everything went right, Edmonds would be contending for a starting job in 1995. Instead, his play has put Smith on the trading block and Jackson on the bench.

“It’s not like I hit .240 in the minors,” said Edmonds, who batted .315 last season at triple-A Vancouver. “Maybe they thought the pressure of playing in the big leagues would get me.

“I was never really considered a prospect, but I always told myself, ‘One of these days, I’m going to make them believe in me.’

“It took some time, but I think now they believe in my ability.”

The Angels might have to start relying on Edmonds’ bat to jump-start their offense, which has scored three or fewer runs in six of their last seven games. Their only other run in this game came when last season’s rookie of the year, Tim Salmon, hit his 12th homer of the season and first in 41 at-bats.

The Angels’ main asset, however, is that they’re in the American League West, where everyone can be a contender. The Angels, who have the fifth-worst record in baseball, are only 3 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers in a division that hasn’t had a .500 team since April 19.

They never even had a chance in this one. While Twin starter Kevin Tapani (7-2) was yielding one run in seven innings, Leftwich couldn’t get out of the third. He gave up two runs in the first and, after a 1-2-3 second, was hammered for four consecutive hits in the third, including a two-run homer by Kirby Puckett. It was the shortest outing of Leftwich’s major league career.

Leftwich (3-5), who was 3-0 with a 2.41 earned-run average in his last six starts, said he never felt right. He complained of soreness in his lower right leg, which was diagnosed later as anterior compartment syndrome. He is scheduled to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test today.

“Obviously, he was in pain,” Angel catcher Jorge Fabregas said. “He didn’t have his sharp command that he usually has. I’m sure his leg was affecting his command.” Leftwich, though, said he certainly has more to worry about than his leg.

His wife, Ann, is due with their first baby any day. If the baby doesn’t arrive by Wednesday night, the birth will be induced Thursday morning.

“Believe me,” Leftwich said, “that’s my biggest concern.”