BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Palmeiro Sent Down to Open Roster Spot

The Angels optioned outfielder Orlando Palmeiro to triple-A Vancouver after Sunday’s game to open a spot on the roster for pitcher John Habyan, who was acquired Saturday from St. Louis. But General Manager Bill Bavasi, Assistant GM Tim Mead and Manager Marcel Lachemann met for another 10 minutes in Lachemann’s office after giving Palmeiro the news. And then Lachemann issued a cryptic and very out-of-character comment.

Asked how long the team might go with 12 pitchers, Lachemann said, “Well, there’s probably going to be a lot of things happening over the [All-Star] break. This might just be the first.”

Asked if he was referring to more roster moves or a trade, he said, “You might want to keep your ear to the ground over the next few days.”

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Jeff Moorad, the attorney and adviser for Darin Erstad, the Angels’ No. 1 pick in the draft, met with Angel attorney Mark Rosenthal last week and said they will continue discussions early this week.

“We exchanged ideas, some specific, some non-specific,” Moorad said. “The exchange in large part was philosophical, but we have begun to narrow the spread in economics.”

Erstad, an outfielder from Nebraska, is seeking a signing bonus of about $1.7 million. The Angels’ initial offer was about 25% less than that.

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J.T. Snow, who is hitting .305, has had a first half that projects to a 20-homer, 100-RBIs season, but he doesn’t want to talk about final numbers.

“I don’t even want to think about what projects out to what,” he said. “It will just mess you up. You have to keep doing the things that got you to this point, but don’t try to do anything extreme.

“You have to treat every game the same, approach it like it’s the seventh game of the World Series and remember that every game, every at-bat, every pitch is important.”

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Another key to the Angel’s first-half success has been their clutch hitting. With a .285 average, they lead the league in batting with runners in scoring position and two outs. In the last eight games, the Angels have scored 26 of their 45 runs with two outs. . . . Good News/Bad News Dept.: Pitchers had two or more strikeouts in an inning eight times Sunday, but 12 runs were scored in those innings.