Arias Works on His Attitude

George Arias knew he didn’t exactly cement his position at third base last season--he hit .238 with six homers and 28 runs batted in 84 games as a rookie in 1996--but he figured he had at least earned the right to win the job this spring.

Then the Angels signed Dave Hollins and Arias came to spring training with a defeatist attitude.

“That was a mistake I wish I could take back,” Arias said. “I had the wrong attitude and the wrong approach. I was disappointed and frustrated and I didn’t concentrate and it showed in my performance. It was a bad first impression I left with [Manager] Terry Collins.”

Arias was called up from Vancouver on Monday and will be be on the roster for four to six days while knuckleballer Dennis Springer gets a couple of starts in the minor leagues. Due to a couple of off days, the Angels go with a four-man rotation for a while.

Arias, who admitted he also made a mistake last year when he “put too much pressure on myself to prove to these guys I belong up here,” hopes to accomplish one thing during this likely short stay.

“Whether I get to play or not, I’m going to show Terry Collins I have the right work ethic and attitude,” he said.

Arias, who recently missed seven games because of the death of his grandmother, batted .205 with five RBIs in 12 games with Vancouver this season.

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Collins has declined to comment since left-hander Allen Watson was charged with misdemeanor assault after a scuffle with a patron at Harrah’s Riverboat Casino on Friday in Liberty, Mo. Monday, he said the incident is over, as far as he was concerned.

“Major league ballplayers don’t go around slugging people for no reason,” Collins said, “but we need to learn from this. We always have to be on guard for this sort of thing.”

As far as changing the rules for his players’ actions on the road, Collins said, “We can’t police people’s lives. It was an off day.”

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Closer Troy Percival, on the disabled list because of a nerve problem in his shoulder, is continuing to receive therapy and do rehabilitation exercises, but he has not started playing catch. Collins said there is no timetable for the return of Percival, who would have been eligible to come off the disabled list today. . . . Right-hander Mark Gubicza, also on the DL because of shoulder problems, told Collins he felt much better after receiving a cortisone injection. Gubicza, who failed to retire a batter in the second inning of his second start in Cleveland on April 11, will be eligible to come off the DL on Sunday. . . . Collins’ assessment of the recent eight-game trip? “We were 4-4 and I’ll take .500 on the road all season,” he said. “We played real good some days and not-so-good on others, so we ended up playing fine overall.”