Finley at Least a Week Away From Return

Tempting as it might be, Angel Manager Terry Collins will not rush left-handed starter Chuck Finley back to the rotation.

“It’ll be 35 degrees and snowing in Cleveland on Friday,” Collins said. “The last thing I need is for Finley to go out there and blow out his elbow.”

Finley, recovering after getting hit in the head by a bat during spring training, will instead make a rehabilitation start Thursday for class-A Lake Elsinore. If that goes well, he will start against the New York Yankees next Tuesday.

Finley, who pitched four strong innings Saturday for Lake Elsinore, is scheduled to throw six innings this time.

“We’ve been here a week and the guys are playing great, but if we don’t stay healthy we’re going to struggle,” Collins said.

Finley said he felt fine after throwing Monday. The swelling around his right eye where he was hit by the bat has gone down. But there is a new problem related to the injury, he said.

“My vision’s OK, but my hearing is messed up,” Finley said. “There’s an echo in my right ear. I don’t know what it is, but it’s driving me nuts.”

*

Much of Monday’s pregame talk centered on closer Troy Percival’s decreased velocity during his rocky ninth inning in Sunday’s loss to Cleveland.

The Angels’ speed gun caught Percival at an average of 94 mph, but ESPN’s gun had him no better than 92 mph.

“What we’re seeing from guys like Percival is guys who haven’t had enough work in the spring,” Collins said. “If the fastball isn’t what it should be, yeah, the batters will get the barrel of the bat on the ball.”

Percival, 0-2 with a 20.25 earned-run average in three games, scoffs at the notion that cutting back on chewing tobacco and drinking coffee has affected his velocity.

*

With his relief corps already fatigued, Collins moved right-handed starter Shigetoshi Hasegawa to the bullpen for the Yankee series. Hasegawa also will be available Friday, when Mark Gubicza is scheduled to start at Cleveland.

“It’s not a penalty on Shige,” Collins said. “He’s the guy who can do it [come out of the bullpen].”

Collins doesn’t expect Gubicza, rebounding from a spring training shoulder injury, to last much past five innings Friday. Gubicza started and pitched 3 2/3 innings Sunday.

*

Collins shuffled his lineup Monday. Orlando Palmeiro played center field and batted leadoff as Jim Edmonds and Darin Erstad did not start. Craig Grebeck started at second base instead of Luis Alicea. Leyritz moved from catcher to first base and Todd Greene got his first start behind the plate this season. . . . Yankee Manager Joe Torre went into the game 12 victories short of 1,000 in his career. . . . Yankee catcher Joe Girardi played for only the third time this season. He has been slowed by tendinitis in his throwing arm.