BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Smith’s Outing Looks Promising

Lee Smith, who injured his right knee in an off-season hunting accident, made his first appearance of the spring, pitching the first inning of a game between the Angels’ and Giants’ triple-A teams at the Angels’ minor league facility in Mesa, Ariz.

Pitching coach Chuck Hernandez said Smith “looked good. The first two guys popped up and he struck out the third.

“He threw 15 pitches. The fastball had pop, he threw a couple of [sliders] that had some good break and a couple of forkballs. So he got all three pitches in and walked off to talk about it.”

Hernandez said Smith, who wasn’t overjoyed about pitching in a minor league game, will probably pitch again Friday against the San Diego Padres.

“He’s too big to fight with over this,” Hernandez said.

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Damion Easley made his first start of the spring in a 10-6 loss to the Giants at Tempe Diablo Stadium, but says he hasn’t been frustrated by a shoulder injury that kept him from playing in the field until a late-inning appearance Tuesday.

“You just do what you have to do until you’re ready to play,” he said, shrugging, “but it does feel good to get out there and run around. And the shoulder feels fine.”

Easley, who was the opening-day second baseman last year, started 82 games at second and 25 at shortstop in 1995.

With the acquisition of Randy Velarde, however, Easley appears destined for a utility role.

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Steve Ontiveros was feeling the effects of Tuesday’s one-inning, 10-pitch stint against the Brewers.

“I’m sore in all the right places and a few of the wrong ones,” he said, rubbing the right elbow that underwent “Tommy John” surgery in 1989 and arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs last year. “But the day after I pitch is never the right time to ask me how I’m doing.”

Ontiveros, who had not pitched this spring until Tuesday, still hopes to be ready to take a spot in the rotation when the season opens.

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The daughter of coach Rod Carew, Michelle Carew, who in November was found to be suffering a fatal form of leukemia and has been unable to find a bone marrow transplant donor who matches her genetic makeup, will undergo a cord blood transplant operation Friday.

Friday’s operation, an emerging therapy for cancer patients, will involve an infusion of stem cells from an umbilical cord.