Nothing Embarrassing About a 13-5 Victory : Baseball: Angel replacement players defeat Arizona State before 2,102 in Tempe.

If picket lines and hostile fans and horrendous plays were all those camera crews came to see Wednesday night, then they must have left Tempe Diablo Stadium disappointed.

It wasn’t exactly a sterling display of baseball, and at times it was downright sloppy, but a team of Angel replacements had nothing to feel embarrassed about after defeating Arizona State, 13-5, before a sedate crowd of 2,102.

“Maybe the public will look at this and say, ‘Hey, maybe these guys aren’t so bad,’ ” said starting pitcher Steve Peck, who threw two scoreless innings. “I thought we did pretty well considering this was the first game and everyone is still trying to get to know one another.”

Players’ union head Donald Fehr said there would be no pickets Wednesday because proceeds from the game went to charity, and rumors of Teamsters activity never materialized.

About the only hint of controversy was back in the Arizona State baseball office, where Coach Pat Murphy’s answering machine was filled with a week’s worth of nasty messages.

“I’ve gotten a lot of crank phone calls,” Murphy said. “They say all sorts of things: ‘Don’t play. If you play, you’re a scab.’ ”

About 60 media credentials were issued for the game, and Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, CNN and ESPN all sent crews to record Wednesday night’s historic event--the first time replacements have played in place of major leaguers in 83 years.

They didn’t leave completely empty-handed. There were a few of the expected replacement-player gaffes: two overthrows in the first inning, a ball through the third baseman’s legs in the eighth, and a couple of misplayed balls in the outfield. Generous scoring by the Angels resulted in only two errors being charged.

But there were some fine plays, too. Second baseman Joe Urso retrieved one of the overthrown balls and threw out Randy Betten at second base in the first, right fielder Greg Shockey closed the inning with a long, running catch of Damon Lembi’s drive to the gap, and the Angels turned a difficult 3-6-3 double play in the ninth.

Carlos Castillo, who played at Anaheim Loara High School and Cypress College, threw two hitless innings, James Campbell threw two scoreless innings, and the Angels had 11 hits, including Joel Smith’s towering drive over the left-field fence in the seventh.

The Angels bunched six of those hits in the third inning, when they sent 12 to the plate and scored seven runs. The Sun Devils, ranked 13th nationally by Baseball America, had more hits (12) but had only one big inning, a four-run eighth.

“Arizona State is a good team and we’ve been together about eight days, but we swung the bats well and a couple of guys pitched well,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said.

Angel Notes

Anaheim City Manager James Ruth and Anaheim Stadium General Manager Greg Smith were expected to arrive in Tempe Wednesday night to resume negotiations with Angel President Richard Brown on a new baseball-only stadium, which the team hopes to have built next to its current facility.