Middle Relief Difficult to Stomach

It was hard to tell who was more queasy Thursday--reliever Mike James, who couldn’t pitch the ninth inning against Milwaukee because of an intestinal virus, or Manager Terry Collins, whose stomach did a few somersaults watching Pep Harris pitch the sixth.

The Angels, on the strength of a four-run second inning and another strong Jason Dickson pitching effort, held a 5-2 lead going into the sixth, at which point Harris might have pitched himself right off the opening-day roster.

Harris, one of the leading candidates for a middle-relief position, faced nine batters, giving up seven hits, including John Jaha’s two-run homer, and seven earned runs, as the Brewers handed the Angels their seventh consecutive loss, 10-7.

“Pep is a sinker-ball pitcher who got the ball up, and when he does that he’s going to get hit,” Collins said. “We’ve got to find someone who can get people out in the middle of the game. That’s my biggest concern right now.”

None of the Angels’ middle relief candidates--Harris, Jim Abbott, Shad Williams, Dennis Springer, Todd Van Poppel and Darrell May--has shined this spring, though Williams and Van Poppel have shown improvement in recent days.

“Everyone in uniform has been given a chance,” Collins said. “There have been tremendous opportunities to win jobs here because of [injuries to] Chuck Finley, Mark Gubicza and Troy Percival. But we’ve given up way too many six- and seven-run innings.”

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Many Angels were emotionally moved Thursday by an hourlong presentation on the perils of smokeless tobacco, given by Joe Garagiola and former Detroit Tiger outfielder Bill Tuttle, whose face has been severely disfigured by five operations to remove cancerous tumors.

“It was a very powerful message,” said pitcher Mark Langston, who chews tobacco. “Everyone always thinks that’s going to happen to someone else, but people need to hear about the downside. I’ll obviously have to re-evaluate things after seeing something like that.”

Garagiola, the former player and broadcaster, is national chairman for the National Spit Tobacco Education Program.

At Tucson Wednesday, Colorado catcher Jayhawk Owens gave Tuttle’s wife, Gloria, a can of chewing tobacco and asked her to throw it away because he was quitting.

“I guarantee you,” Garagiola said, “those guys on the field today are thinking about it.”

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Gubicza, who hasn’t pitched in an exhibition since March 2 because of shoulder soreness, will start against the Rockies tonight in Tucson and is scheduled to throw two innings. Gubicza has thrown in the bullpen three times in the past six days. Abbott will follow Gubicza and is scheduled to throw five innings. . . . First baseman Darin Erstad left Thursday’s game after three innings because of tightness in his throwing elbow. . . . Eddie Murray had a two-run double, Dave Hollins had two doubles and made a nice diving catch of a line drive, and Gary DiSarcina had three hits, including a home run, Thursday. Murray now has 10 runs batted in, second on the Angels behind Tim Salmon’s 11, despite hitting .147.