BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Devilish Field Is Despised

The Angels played their last exhibition game of the spring in Tempe Diablo Stadium Tuesday, and center fielder Jim Edmonds couldn’t have been happier.

“This field is terrible,” Edmonds said. “Guys have been slipping and falling down, the grass was soaking wet in the middle of the outfield . . . “

Edmonds was venting some frustration because he slipped rounding third base in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs and suffered a mild groin pull. He remained in the game, but Manager Marcel Lachemann pulled him for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

“I’m fine,” said Edmonds, who has a 19-game hitting streak. “Ned [Bergert, Angel trainer] just told me to put some ice on it and go home. It’s no big deal.”

It will be if the groin continues to bother him. Edmonds has been the Angels’ top player this spring, with a .483 average, seven home runs and 21 RBIs, but he had a hamstring problem in late February and now this injury.

“But it doesn’t look serious,” Lachemann said.

As for the field, which players complain is too hard on the grass portions and too brittle on the dirt, Lachemann has met with stadium groundskeepers to discuss ways to improve it for next spring training.

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Edmonds and rookie third baseman George Arias (.436, four homers, 14 RBIs) have been tearing up the Cactus League, but two key Angels are struggling as spring training winds down.

Designated hitter Chili Davis is batting .164 and has more strikeouts (16) than total bases (13), and right fielder Tim Salmon hasn’t had an RBI since March 10 after opening with six homers and 14 RBIs in the first 10 games.

Salmon, bothered all spring by muscle spasms in his neck, had a particularly rough day Monday, when he slammed into the right-field wall trying to make a catch and slipped and fell on the warning track going after another long fly ball.

He went 0 for 4 Tuesday and was so exhausted after the game, he said, “I feel like I’m walking around in another body right now,” he said.

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Lachemann had some harsh words last week for struggling reliever Mike James, saying he was “very disappointed” in the right-hander’s performance, and that he would “have to kick it up a gear.”

James has responded with several fine outings, including Tuesday’s 1 2/3-inning stint, in which he retired all five batters he faced, three on strikeouts.

“I can’t say it wasn’t a factor,” James said of Lachemann’s criticism. “I feel a lot more consistent and comfortable now, I’m finding my groove, but [Lachemann’s comments] definitely had me thinking.”

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The Angels close their Cactus League schedule with a split-squad game against Oakland in Phoenix today. Another Angel team will play at Class A Lake Elsinore against the Storm tonight at 7. . . . Pitching matchups for this weekend’s Freeway Series: Mark Langston vs. Hideo Nomo Friday night in Anaheim Stadium, Shawn Boskie vs. Chan Ho Park Saturday night in Dodger Stadium, Jim Abbott vs. Tom Candiotti Sunday in Dodger Stadium. . . . Jack Howell, who suffered a groin pull last week, had a pinch-hit single Tuesday but is still experiencing some discomfort in his leg.