BASEBALL : They’re Not Exactly in Midseason Form Yet in Arizona

The replacement baseball blooper reel got a little longer Saturday when Milwaukee Brewer right-hander Ron Rightnowar threw a breaking pitch that went completely behind Angel batter Randy Hood in the eighth inning at Tempe, Ariz.

“That’s what you call a real back-door slider,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said after the Brewers’ 11-5 victory in Tempe Diablo Stadium. “That was almost a back-pocket slider.”

The Angels countered with a few blunders of their own, getting two runners picked off first base by Brewer catchers. This came one day after the Angels ran into four outs on the basepaths during Friday’s loss to the Brewers.

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Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said that about 20 of 125 minor leaguers in camp at Mesa have expressed interest in becoming replacement players, but there are “no prominent names” in the group.

Among the former major leaguers currently in the Angel system are Pedro Guerrero, Leon Durham, Shawn Boskie, Shawn Hillegas, Ken Patterson and Carlos Martinez.