BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : A Rare Look at a Rare Pitch

Saturday’s starting pitcher for Boston, knuckleball-thrower Tim Wakefield, brought back memories of Charlie Hough for Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann. There aren’t many knuckleballers around anymore, and Lachemann said Hough was one of the best when he was on top of his game.

Wakefield has worked with Hough and Phil Niekro, perfecting the knuckleball while trying to recapture the form that allowed him to go 8-1 with Pittsburgh in 1992.

Lachemann isn’t surprised there are so few pitchers who throw the knuckleball.

“There aren’t a lot of people who can teach it,” he said. “I know I can’t. [A pitcher] has to make a total commitment to it. Speaking for the time I worked with Charlie, you live or die with it. You have to throw it 90% of the time.”

Plus, it can cross up managers almost as easily as hitters. Or catchers.

Lachemann once asked Gene Lamont, Chicago White Sox manager, about reading Hough’s level of fatigue at the end of games. After all, a knuckleball pitcher isn’t expending the energy of a hard thrower such as Roger Clemens.

“I asked him, ‘How do you know when he’s tired?”’ Lachemann said. “Lamont said, ‘When he tells me.’ ”

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Reliever Mitch Williams has given up 14 walks in his last 13 appearances. He has inherited 15 runners and nine have scored. His ERA is 23.14 in three games on the current home stand.

What gives with the Wild Thing?

Lachemann believes Williams might be thinking about his delivery too much. Could it be true? The man who once said he pitched “like my hair is on fire,” is thinking too much?

“He’s far more sophisticated than people think,” Lachemann said. “Sometimes you have to go out and let nature take it’s course.”

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The day after being forced to the sidelines with a stiff back, right-hander Scott Sanderson reported no lingering problems. Sanderson pitched 5 1/3 innings and was leading, 3-1, when he left the game.

Sanderson underwent back surgery in 1988 and Lachemann said, “it’s something we’ll have to monitor as much as possible. The jarring when the lead foot hits the ground on the delivery can cause irritation [to the back] over the course of the game.”

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Brian Anderson, on the disabled list because of a strained left biceps since May 6, will pitch a simulated game on Tuesday, then make three starts at Class-A Lake Elsinore. . . . Eduardo Perez returned to the lineup after sitting out three games because of a batting slump. Spike Owen had taken his spot at third base. Perez booted the first ball hit to him, his team-high seventh error, and it led to Boston’s first two runs. . . . Mark Langston received his second consecutive Gold Glove Award before the game. . . . Boston pitcher Aaron Sele, due to start for the Red Sox in today’s series finale, instead returned to Boston with a sore shoulder. Tim VanEgmond will make his first start after three relief appearances.