BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Chili Davis Could Return Tonight

Remember Chili Davis? Big guy, switch hitter, potent bat? Yes, it has been a while since the designated hitter played.

But if Davis does not experience any soreness or tightness from Monday’s workout, during which he ran at full speed, he will be activated off the disabled list today and in the lineup for tonight’s game against Cleveland.

“I don’t know where I’m going to hit, maybe in the eighth spot,” joked Davis, who hit .359 with nine homers and 38 runs batted in from the cleanup spot. “I can probably bunt, move a few runners over.”

Since Davis went on the DL June 21 because of a strained left hamstring, the Angels have hit .293 with 32 homers and 157 runs, an average of 6.9 a game--about a run more than they averaged with Davis the first two months of the season.

“That’s just coincidental,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “Maybe we would have averaged even more runs with him in there. . . . He ran very well today. As soon as he says ‘Go,’ he’ll be in there.”

The Angels would probably send one of their 12 pitchers to triple-A Vancouver or release seldom-used third baseman Carlos Martinez to make room for Davis.

*

Negotiations between the Angels and No. 1 draft pick Darin Erstad have reached a critical stage. Jeff Moorad, adviser for the Nebraska outfielder, said the possibility of Erstad, rated the second-best college punter in the nation, returning to the Cornhusker football team “becomes more of a reality with each passing day.”

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne called Erstad on Monday and expressed “a strong desire to have Darin back,” Moorad said. Practice begins the first week of August.

Moorad is seeking a signing bonus of at least $1.6 million, and the Angels’ best offer thus far is believed to be in the $1.4-million range. Moorad says he hasn’t heard from the Angels in 10 days.

“Communication has not been one of the strong suits of these negotiations,” Moorad said. “We’ve begun to wonder whether the Angels are in Darin’s future.”

The option of returning for his senior football season may increase Erstad’s leverage, but Tim Mead, Angel assistant general manager, remains “confident this will be rectified, sooner than later. Our intent is to sign him. It’s frustrating, I know, but it will get worked out.”

*

Pitcher Mike Bielecki, who gave up three two-run homers in Sunday’s victory over Detroit, has a touch of tendinitis in his shoulder. Just what the Angels needed--another right-handed starter with arm trouble. Shawn Boskie was placed on the 15-day DL Sunday, and now Bielecki is hurt. Trainer Ned Bergert said the injury is “not very serious,” but if Bielecki can’t make his next start, Lachemann said he would probably employ three or four relievers Friday against Detroit.

*

Erik Bennett, a right-handed pitcher at Vancouver, was designated for assignment Monday to make room on the 40-man roster for Mark Holzemer, a left-handed reliever who joined the Angels on Monday in Cleveland. . . . Chuck Finley, who won the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader in Detroit, will start at Toronto Thursday on three days’ rest.