Replacements Get Big-League Treatment : Baseball: Angels trying to make players in camp comfortable.

There will probably come a time when Angel replacement players are made to feel as if what they are doing is wrong, that they actually have crossed a union picket line and are considered scabs.

But until then, when major league players or Teamsters set up pickets outside stadiums or harass players with phone calls to their hotel, they will continue to enjoy a spring training experience that has been more Shangri-La than shun city.

“I don’t think they’ll show up,” Carlos Castillo, a replacement pitcher, said of major league players. “Why would a bunch of millionaires be here when they can be home relaxing, playing golf?

“And as far as them getting the Teamsters to picket, they have some nerve, because a year down the road when the Teamsters are on strike, I doubt the major leaguers will be there supporting them. Hell will freeze over before that happens.”

Though they’ve been on the receiving end of countless jokes and insults, it’s hard for replacements to feel they’re undermining the union when they continue to receive first-class treatment from the Angels.

After training for a week at the minor league complex in Mesa, where players’ names were marked with masking tape above each locker, they arrived in Tempe Wednesday to find sharp name plates above each cubicle in the Diablo Stadium clubhouse, soft-cushioned chairs and a well-stocked training table.

“I can’t believe this locker room, it’s so big league,” outfielder Chris Powell said. “There’s Gatorade, sunflower seeds, batting gloves, everything you need. And no more taped names like last week. We’re like real people now, not just tape jobs.”

Some players have been surprised by the lack of union activity this spring.

“I thought I’d see picket lines when I got off the plane, but there’s been nothing,” outfielder John Fishel said. “That might change the closer we get to the regular season. I’m sure we’ll feel more pressure and friction from the players. But that’s not going to stop me.”

*

Bad blood: Too bad Arizona State and the Angels don’t play another exhibition this spring. The way the teams’ coaches have been exchanging barbs, it could be marketed as a good grudge match.

It started with ASU Coach Pat Murphy saying last week that he’d “have to go to Safeway and 7-Eleven for my scouting reports” on Angel replacement players.

After the Angels’ less-than-inspiring 13-5 victory Wednesday night, Murphy said, “Nobody’s going to come and watch that kind of baseball. It’s Class-A level. . . . It’s going to ruin the game.”

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann fired back Thursday.

“He might want to spend a little more time evaluating his program instead of ours,” Lachemann said.

Does Lachemann disagree with Murphy’s assessment?

“I’m not smart enough to say,” he said. “I’ll leave that to experts like Murphy.”