BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : $3.6-Million Video Board Takes Five

Anaheim Stadium’s new video scoreboard, billed as the second-largest in North America, was supposed to debut Friday. But it didn’t work for five innings. Finally, it came to life as the sixth inning started.

An unknown glitch kept the board from showing anything but a purplish hue with perhaps a dozen black rectangles scattered about on the screen until the sixth.

“It should be working (Saturday night),” Kevin Uhlich, Angel vice president for operations, told reporters. There was no further explanation for the malfunction.

The old board was destroyed during the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. The new board cost $3.6 million and measures 30 feet by 40 feet. Only the board in Toronto’s SkyDome is larger.

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Manager Marcel Lachemann, knowing the Angels needed something drastic to snap out of their recent funk, revamped the batting order Friday. The most notable change was inserting left fielder Jim Edmonds into the leadoff spot.

Lachemann also dropped right fielder Tim Salmon, who has batted third for most of the past two seasons, into the fifth spot.

Asked if he could remember the last time he batted leadoff, Edmonds smiled and said, “First time.”

First time in the majors?

“No, first time in baseball,” Edmonds said. “First time since pizza league.”