BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Boskie, Bielecki Pitch in Tacoma

Right-handed pitchers Shawn Boskie and Mike Bielecki, who drove 6 1/2 hours to Stockton to make minor league rehabilitation appearances Sunday, will pull another “Thelma and Louise,” as Boskie calls it, this week.

The two will travel to Tacoma, Wash., Thursday--by plane this time--to join the triple-A Vancouver Canadians--Boskie will make one or two starts and Bielecki will make three relief appearances.

By late next week, when both are expected to be ready to rejoin the Angels, Manager Marcel Lachemann will have at least one tough decision to make: If Boskie returns to the rotation, who goes? Mike Harkey or Brian Anderson?

Lachemann is targeting Sept. 1, the day rosters can be expanded, for the pitchers’ return from the disabled list.

That gives him the luxury of not having to demote any pitchers to the minor leagues and waiting until early October to have to choose which ones would be on the Angels’ playoff roster, should they get that far.

“I won’t decide until the time comes when I have to decide,” Lachemann said. “Very often those things take care of themselves. If you get too far ahead of yourself, that can only cause problems.”

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When Bielecki returns, Mike Butcher’s bullpen role will likely be reduced . . . if you can actually reduce a role that is virtually nonexistent.

Butcher, who recorded victories in four of his first seven appearances this season, had a 1.87 earned-run average in his last 11 games prior to Tuesday night, but he’s appeared only 10 times since the All-Star break. Mike James and John Habyan make most of the key middle relief appearances.

Butcher, a right-hander, is 6-1 with a 4.31 ERA, but if you take away his two worst games, when he gave up four earned runs against Minnesota June 14 and three against Kansas City June 19, he would have a 3.15 ERA. He’s lowered his ERA from 7.71 on June 19 to 4.31.

“I think I’m the secret weapon,” joked Butcher, who may have increased his stock with his 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief Tuesday night. “I’m a competitor, I want to contribute, and I’m not getting many [good] situations to pitch in. It baffles me, because I know I’m a big-league pitcher, I have above-average pitches.”

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Shortstop Gary DiSarcina will have the pin removed from his injured left thumb Monday, at which point doctors will likely be able to determine whether he has any chance of playing again this season. . . . Chili Davis’ two-run homer off Roger Clemens in the fourth inning Tuesday night was his 125th as an Angel, which moved him into fifth on the team’s all-time list, ahead of Reggie Jackson.

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Outfielder Darin Erstad, the Angels’ No. 1 pick in the June draft, went four for six with two home runs and five runs batted in to lead the Class A Lake Elsinore Storm past the Modesto As, 16-4, Monday night.