Not Too Late for Springer Training

Angel catcher Matt Walbeck, relievers Mike Holtz and Rich DeLucia, third-base coach Larry Bowa and traveling secretary Tom Taylor attended a taping of “The Jerry Springer Show” Monday, choosing to spend an hour of a gorgeous off day in one of America’s great cities in television’s gutter.

They could have strolled down Michigan Avenue, gone up the Sears Tower, visited the Art Institute of Chicago or even checked out Wrigley Field. But the lure of a Springer segment called “Somebody’s Man Is Messin’ With My Man” was apparently too strong.

“Man, I feel like I need a spiritual cleansing,” Holtz said. “I was just shaking my head the whole time. . . . That show is definitely not for kids.”

Holtz said “fists were thrown” in three different “love triangle-related” segments, but at least there was no furniture-flinging frenzy.

“My biggest concern was being hit by a chair,” Holtz said. “I could just hear myself saying to Terry [Collins, Angel manager], ‘Uh, Terry, I can’t throw tomorrow because I got hit with a chair on “The Jerry Springer Show.” ’ That would go over real well.”

Bowa said he went to the show for the same reason channel surfers pause when they see guests on a talk show pummeling each other. He was curious.

“You see how it is on TV, and I wanted to see what it was like in person,” Bowa said. “It didn’t look staged.”

Said Holtz: “Some of that stuff would be hard to make up.”

Would Holtz go back?

“No, that was a one-time thing for me,” he said. “Just try not to make me look too sick in the paper.”

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Second baseman Randy Velarde, who has not played in a big league game since Sept. 27, 1996, will be in the starting lineup tonight against the White Sox, Collins said.

Velarde, who sat out the 1997 season because of elbow surgery, probably will take the roster spot of Carlos Garcia or Craig Shipley.

Collins, who acknowledged the Angels were wrong to play Velarde so extensively early in spring training, said Velarde will be limited to three or four games a week to start.

“You bet we’re going to keep a tight rein on him,” Collins said. “We have a lot of games to play. I’ll be damned if he’s going to blow out [his elbow] in his first few games back. . . .

“The reason Randy is being activated now instead of April 1 is we let him go. We assumed he was ready [in February]. Had he not played in spring training, we might have had him earlier.”

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Catcher Todd Greene, who has played six games as Class-A Lake Elsinore’s designated hitter, received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder Sunday and took Monday and Tuesday off. He will return to Lake Elsinore today for a few more games before being sent to triple-A Vancouver to catch in Sunday’s game at Las Vegas. . . . Pitcher Jack McDowell, on the disabled list since April 27 because of an inflamed elbow, is scheduled for bullpen workouts Thursday and Sunday. “If he comes out of those OK, he should be ready to pitch,” Collins said.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ ALLEN WATSON (2-3, 6.41 ERA) vs. WHITE SOX’S MIKE SIROTKA (5-2, 3.73 ERA)

Comiskey Park, Chicago, 5 PDT Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090).

Update--Center fielder Jim Edmonds, who is batting .188 against left-handers, did not start Tuesday night against Chicago left-hander Scott Eyre, and Collins said Garret Anderson will not start tonight against Sirotka, another left-hander. But Edmonds’ average against left-handers wasn’t the primary factor in Tuesday’s decision, Collins said. He wanted to give Edmonds’ injured right wrist an extra day of rest. “His hand was so sore Sunday that he couldn’t shake anyone’s hand after the game,” Collins said.