Prospect Dickson to Get Start

Highly touted prospect Jason Dickson is expected to be called up from triple-A Vancouver to start Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees, as the Angels continue to shift their emphasis from 1996 to the future.

Dickson, a 23-year-old right-hander who was a sixth-round pick in 1994, began the season at double-A Midland but has spent the past three months at Vancouver, where he is 7-1 with a 3.80 earned run average, 70 strikeouts and 40 walks in 130 1/3 innings.

Dickson, a native of Ontario, Canada who attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M; College, is a player several teams have inquired about in trade discussions with the Angels.

Knuckleballer Dennis Springer will start Tuesday against the Yankees on three days rest, and reliever Chuck McElroy will likely be placed on the disabled list to make room for Dickson.

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Boston ace Roger Clemens, who shut out the Angels, 6-0, Saturday, had no idea he has a 12-0 record and 1.03 ERA in his last 12 Fenway Park starts against the Angels.

“Wow, I guess that’s just lucky,” Clemens said Sunday. “But when you’re out there you’re not thinking about the past, you’re thinking about your job at that very moment.

“Like around the fifth inning [Saturday] I got the ball, kicked the dirt around the mound, looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘Wow, Chuck [Finley] has a no-hitter.’ I had no idea at all what he was doing.”

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Opponents have been stealing off Boston’s Mike Stanley at will this season--the catcher had thrown out six of 84 runners attempting to steal entering Sunday’s game--but Stanley was the victim of a different theft Friday night. His car was stolen out of the players’ lot at Fenway Park. . . . Jeff Torborg, former New York Met and Chicago White Sox manager who now works as a radio and television announcer, said he hasn’t given the Angel job much thought. “But if they were interested in me, I’d certainly listen,” he said. “Once a manager, always a manager.” . . . Angel left fielder Garret Anderson irritated his right knee during pregame stretching and was scratched from the lineup Sunday. . . . After 12 days as interim manager, John McNamara has a good idea of what the team needs most next season: “More pitching depth and speed,” he said. “Speed gives you a dimension where, if you’re struggling, you can set guys in motion to try to make things happen.”