BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Flora Hopes to Rebound Once Again

As the Angel season has unraveled, perhaps no one has suffered more than second baseman Kevin Flora.

The Angels have used four starting second basemen, alternately moving Damion Easley from second to third to second to the bench to second, and Flora knows he could have been the mainstay the entire year.

“It’s been very hard to watch, because it’s been a revolving door there,” said Flora, who visited with Angel players Monday for the first time since spring training. “But I can’t blame anyone, or be mad at anyone.

“I’ve brought a lot of this on my own.”

Flora, who originally was projected to be the Angels’ everyday second baseman this season, realizes this is another lost season. He missed virtually all of last year, and nearly the first three months of this season trying to cope with the death of his wife, who was killed in a car accident April 22, 1992. He was assigned to Class-A Lake Elsinore after he returned to baseball in July, but now has been out the last 10 days with tendinitis in his left knee.

“It’s a lot like starting over,” said Flora, who’s expected to begin playing again Friday, and join triple-A Vancouver by the end of the month. “I’m starting to feel good physically now, but the main thing, my mind feels really good.

“I know I’ll be back.”

Flora said he plans to play in a winter league and hopes to contend for a starting job next spring.

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Although they were thwarted in their attempt to acquire center fielder Andy Van Slyke from the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Angels are planning to pursue the 33-year-old Gold Glove winner this winter as a free agent.

If the Angels acquire Van Slyke, sources say, they will move center fielder Chad Curtis to left field, and then make a decision on whom to play at first base, J.T. Snow, Jim Edmonds or Garret Anderson.