BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Easley Won’t Forget This Debut

Oakland right-hander Ariel Prieto won’t soon forget his first major league pitch--a strike to Angel second baseman Damion Easley in the eighth inning. Prieto, the Athletics’ top draft pick, made his debut only 12 weeks after leaving his native Cuba.

But his second pitch struck Easley on the left forearm and he had to leave the game.

Easley was scheduled to undergo X-rays at Anaheim Memorial Hospital when the Angels returned Sunday night.

“I don’t know if he will [remember his debut],” Easley said. “But I will, and not because he hit me, but because he did well.”

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When Gary DiSarcina’s teammates saw his name on the Oakland Coliseum scoreboard listed among the American League All-Stars, they delivered the news when he returned to the dugout.

“I didn’t believe them,” DiSarcina said. “Lach [Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann] told me after the game.”

Lachemann knew four Angels--DiSarcina, Jim Edmonds, Chuck Finley and Lee Smith--made the team only after a reporter showed him a copy of the roster after the game.

Then he departed his office to inform the players.

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Oakland Manager Tony La Russa was pulling for Angel right fielder Tim Salmon to make the All-Star game.

“That’s called a franchise player,” La Russa said of Salmon, who was not selected. “He’s what a major leaguer should be.”