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BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Tendinitis Doesn’t Bring Langston to Complete Stop

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Pitcher Mark Langston is suffering from a mild case of tendinitis in his elbow, a condition that shouldn’t keep him out of the rotation but has ended his last two starts prematurely.

Langston (11-1) said he “felt great” Sunday, a day after pitching six innings of three-hit ball in a 5-3 victory over the Rangers Saturday night.

But that’s the problem with this type of injury--you’re fine for a while, but get your pitch count into the 70s or 80s, and it starts to flare up.

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“Whether this is going to be a lingering problem, I don’t know,” Langston said. “I’ve never had tendinitis before. It’s just something I start to feel when I get tired.”

Langston first complained of tenderness in his elbow after throwing 6 1/3 innings at Milwaukee on July 28. The elbow began to act up again Saturday night, when the Angels were batting in the bottom of the sixth, and Langston pulled himself from the game.

“We scored a few extra runs [to take a 5-1 lead] so there was no sense going out there,” Langston said. “I want to be around for the rest of the season.”

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Several anonymous phone threats against designated hitter Chili Davis have prompted Anaheim Stadium officials to expedite plans to increase security measures during games.

Kevin Uhlich, Angel vice president of operations, said the team has received two or three calls directed at Davis, who was fined $5,000 for poking a fan in the face in Milwaukee on July 30.

“They weren’t death threats or anything,” Uhlich said, “just some people voicing their displeasure with the punishment--they thought it should have been more severe.”

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Davis has been in the lineup every day and seemed unfazed. “I told those guys I didn’t want to know anything about it,” Davis said. “I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder.”

Uhlich said there will be more of a police presence in the stadium and on the field, and security will be beefed up considerably if the Angels have a chance of clinching the division title at home.

“We’ve been talking about doing this for a few weeks,” Uhlich said. “We’ve had fans running on to the field, climbing the foul pole . . . we felt this was a good time to increase security to discourage that kind of activity. With bigger crowds, the emotions of a pennant race, we want to be prepared.”

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The Angels, who have been carrying 12 pitchers and only three outfielders for several weeks, recalled outfielder Orlando Palmeiro from triple-A Vancouver after the game and sent reliever Mark Holzemer to triple-A.

Palmeiro hit .310 with 59 runs and 34 runs batted in at Vancouver. He spent a week with the Angels in early July, going three for six with a run and an RBI. Holzemer, a left-hander, had a 1.93 earned-run average in five appearances.

“It makes sense, really, when you think about it,” Holzemer said. “They need to get someone up here who can give the starters a rest. It was nice being in a pennant race. I think I helped the team, and that’s all that counts.”

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With his pinch-hit, RBI double in the eighth inning, Spike Owen is now 7 for 13 as a pinch-hitter with 10 RBIs. . . . Tim Salmon was 0 for 3, ending a nine-game hitting streak. . . . Davis extended his hitting streak to 11 games, and his RBI single in the ninth was his first RBI since July 28 at Milwaukee.

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