ANGELS : Replacements So Close to Regular Season, but . . .

Angel replacement players came to Arizona six weeks ago not knowing whether they’d be here for a few days, a week or two or a month.

They wound up playing the entire Cactus League schedule, which closed with Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres. But as they broke camp and traveled to Orange County for this weekend’s Freeway Series, they were right back where they started--in limbo.

Major league players voted Wednesday to end the 7 1/2-month strike if a federal judge issues an injunction restoring salary arbitration and free-agent bidding. A hearing is set for Friday and a ruling could come over the weekend, meaning replacements might not start the regular season Tuesday.

“Everyone’s pretty loose, but we’re still worried about the carpet getting pulled out from under our feet,” pitcher Carlos Castillo said. “I would be pretty bummed if that happened. It would be like having your arm amputated. How can you not be disappointed when you’re this close to playing in the big leagues?”

Replacements have conditioned themselves to cope with such uncertainty, not getting their hopes up. But now that they’ve made it back to Anaheim, some expectations have risen.

“We kept playing through spring training like the strike wasn’t going to end, and it hasn’t,” reliever Doug Robertson said. “It would be real disappointing (not starting the season), but you knew going in that could happen. You have to be realistic about it.”

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A Cactus League season noted for its oddities ended with two freak accidents and a bad hop for the replacement Angels Wednesday.

Relief pitcher Dion Beck was sitting in the Peoria Sports Complex bullpen in the fourth inning when a screen used to protect pitchers during batting practice blew over and landed on his head. Beck suffered a deep cut and a possible concussion and was taken to nearby Thunderbird Hospital for stitches.

The Angels had an even bigger scare in the top of the ninth when their top player, first baseman Tyrone Boykin, was beaned by pitcher Terric McFarlin.

Boykin, who was hit just above the ear flap on his helmet, landed face down in the batter’s box and remained there for several minutes before being escorted back to the clubhouse. He joined Beck at the hospital for X-rays.

The Angels went ahead, 3-2, in the ninth on Joe Urso’s RBI double, but the Padres scored twice in the bottom of the inning off reliever Mike Schooler when Tim Killen’s one-hopper took a wild bounce over the head of shortstop Fred Diaz with runners on second and third.

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Angel first baseman J.T. Snow was flipping through channels in his Newport Beach home the other day when heard a television ad for the Freeway Series, which is scheduled to start Friday night in Anaheim Stadium.

“It was really weird,” said Snow, who grew up in Seal Beach following the Dodgers and Angels. “It didn’t seem real. You look at the calendar and it’s the end of March, and we should be getting ready for the season. But it still feels like the off-season.”

Snow, who has recovered fully from winter shoulder surgery, has been working out in Orange County since January. He said he’s neither encouraged nor discouraged by this week’s labor developments.

“There have been so many times where we’ve been optimistic, then depressed, so you just take it a day at a time and hope something good happens,” Snow said. “When it’s finally settled, then I’ll get excited.”

Notes

The replacement Angels closed the Cactus League schedule with a 12-11-1 record. . . . Former Seattle reliever Mike Schooler and outfielder Darrin Doty, who had not previously committed to playing regular-season replacement games for the Angels, will accompany the team to Anaheim. Both have informed the team they would start the regular season. . . . Manager Marcel Lachemann will have to trim his replacement roster from 35 players to 32 by midnight Saturday.