BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : 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 disabled list 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 probably would send one of their 12 pitchers to triple-A Vancouver or release seldom-used third baseman Carlos Martinez to make room for Davis.

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Pitcher Mike Bielecki, who gave up three two-run homers in Sunday’s victory over Detroit, has a touch of tendinitis in his shoulder.