BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Snow Feels Adrift After Sitting Out Two

A day off against a left-hander is one thing. But two consecutive games on the bench for a Gold Glove-winning, switch-hitting first baseman who is used to playing every day. . . . that’s a troubling trend to J.T. Snow.

“Yeah, it bothers me--I want to be in the lineup,” said Snow, who has started all but five of the Angels’ 106 games, three of the sittings coming in the past nine games.

“I don’t know if this is a regular thing, but if it is, something should be said. The worst thing you can do is make a player wonder if he’s going to be playing every day.”

Manager Marcel Lachemann said he started Rex Hudler at first Tuesday because Snow is batting .178 against left-handers, and Hudler homered against Detroit starter C.J. Nitkowski the last time he faced the left-hander.

Hudler went hitless in three at-bats against Nitkowski and made an error in the fifth inning, failing to come off the bag for a high throw that nicked off his glove.

As for an apparent lack of communication between Lachemann and Snow, the manager said, “Maybe I should talk to him.”

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Tim Salmon was greeted in the Angels’ Tiger Stadium clubhouse Tuesday by the skin of a 180-pound deer he bagged bow-hunting last winter with Detroit outfielder Chad Curtis, who left it on the chair in front of Salmon’s locker.

“You killed Bambi!” Hudler shrieked when he saw the skin.

“I didn’t kill Bambi,” Salmon said, “I killed her mother.”

Told deer-hunting didn’t seem to fit Salmon’s clean-cut, Disneyesque image, Salmon said, “I didn’t take pleasure in the killing part, but I enjoyed getting outdoors and getting together with friends.”

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Shawn Boskie, who experienced tenderness in his elbow last week, said he felt fine after throwing Tuesday and will make his next scheduled start Thursday against the Tigers. . . . Tiger shortstop Alan Trammell has elected to undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his left ankle, but the 20-year veteran said he hopes to return in September, and he hasn’t ruled out a return for his 21st season next spring. Trammell was replaced on the roster by infielder Fausto Cruz. . . . Closer Troy Percival was sporting some sharp, $120 sunglasses in the clubhouse before Tuesday’s game. “It’s the first pair I’ve ever bought,” he said, “for more than $12.”