Should He Be Changing Anything?

Gary DiSarcina hasn’t been the most rested of Angels this week, the nights of getting home at 12:30 a.m., staying up until 2 a.m. to feed his 5-week-old son and getting up at 9 a.m. the next day taking their toll.

But if DiSarcina is going to hit .625, as he did in the first two victories over the Yankees, perhaps this sleepwalking-through-games thing might not be a problem.

“Maybe I should do it more often,” said DiSarcina, who was five for eight with two runs and an RBI against New York. “Maybe I should bring them on the road with me.”

DiSarcina, who also has a 3-year-old daughter, has been taking the night shift with his new son, Gary Jr., while his wife, Janee, has morning duties.

The shortstop and No. 9 hitter has been so busy he hasn’t even had time to pick up a newspaper and see his name among American League batting leaders, a rare occurrence that he probably won’t get to enjoy much longer.

“All I’ve been doing is feeding and changing diapers,” said DiSarcina, who cooled off to .417 by going 0 for 4 against the Indians on Friday.

“I try to sneak a nap in during the afternoon, but it’s just not there. It’s an adjustment, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. To see the smile on the kid’s face makes it worth it.”

*

Chuck Finley’s new pitch, a two-seam delivery that looks like a tailing, sinking changeup, caught the eye of fellow pitcher Allen Watson on Wednesday night, and Watson plans to incorporate it more often in his repertoire.

But the pitch, which Finley used to get several ground balls and a strikeout or two, is not exactly new to Watson, who said he learned it from San Francisco Manager Dusty Baker when he played for the Giants.

“It’s called a ‘nothing’ pitch, because it just kind of sits there,” said Watson, who is scheduled to start against the Indians tonight. “The hitter goes back to the dugout and says, ‘That guy’s got nothing!’ That’s exactly what it is, a nothing ball.”

Sounds like something Abbott and Costello could have mixed into their routine--but not something a big league pitcher wants to mix in too often.

“It works, but you don’t want to get beat with it,” Watson said. “You’ve got to pick your spots. Chuck has been around for 11 years, and he knows when to use it.”

*

Finley and Yankee starter Andy Pettitte went through several tongue depressors trying to clean mud off their spikes in Wednesday night’s season opener, and Jack McDowell and Indian right-hander Dave Burba were busy pounding their spikes into the rubber Friday night, trying to shake the mud.

“You spend $117 million on a new stadium, you’d think they’d spend $6 to put a scratch pad behind the mound,” Finley said of the plastic, grill-like pads that many East Coast and Midwest stadiums have behind their mounds.

Manager Terry Collins also noticed a potential problem in remodeled Edison Field when Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams and left fielder Darryl Strawberry Thursday nearly collided twice in the gap Thursday night.

“There’s a nowhere-man’s land out there,” Collins said, referring to the additional 10 feet in both gaps. “The added feet is going to make it tough for the outfielders.”

TONIGHT’S GAME

ANGELS’ ALLEN WATSON

(12-12, 4.93 ERA)

vs.

INDIANS’ BARTOLO COLON

(4-7, 5.65 ERA)

Edison Field, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West. Radio--KRLA (1110).

* Update--The Angels might have caught a huge break when Indian catcher Sandy Alomar Jr.’s strained left hamstring, suffered in mid-March, flared up again this week. Alomar, who went six for eight with a homer and four RBIs in Cleveland’s first two games, was not in the starting lineup Friday night and might not play this weekend. Colon, a 22-year-old right-hander, made his big league debut in Anaheim Stadium last April, giving up four runs on six hits in five innings. Watson has tried to modify his approach this spring in hopes of reducing his major league-leading 37 homers allowed in 1997.