Loss of Erstad Could Stretch to End of the Season

The Angels are increasingly concerned that Darin Erstad’s latest hamstring injury will make him to miss the rest of the regular season.

Test results revealed Erstad suffered a second-degree strain of his left hamstring Wednesday at Cleveland. According to Manager Terry Collins, doctors consider it more serious than the one that sidelined him for 15 days last month.

The regular season ends in 22 days. Doctors will evaluate Erstad again in seven to 10 days, and only then will they consider placing a timetable on his recovery.

“Are we counting on him for the next two weeks? The answer is no,” Collins said.

Erstad, perhaps the Angels’ most valuable player this season, is hitting .303 with 19 home runs and leads the team in RBIs (79), doubles (39) and stolen bases (20). He declined to comment Friday.

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Want to pay for your playoff tickets by credit card? Too bad, if you’re an Angel fan.

Season-ticket holders wishing to reserve tickets for potential playoff games in Anaheim must pay in full this week by cash or check only. Major league baseball, which sets playoff ticket prices and collects money from participating teams, allows teams to accept credit card payments but refuses to reimburse them for the 3% fee typically charged by card issuers.

That, according to Angel spokesman Tim Mead, could cost the team up to $400,000. That explanation, however, did not mollify Joan Swearingen of Villa Park, a 25-year Angel season-ticket holder facing a $5,900 bill for playoff tickets.

“After 25 years of paying thousands and thousands of dollars, they’re deciding they don’t want to pay the 3%?” Swearingen said. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”

The Angels are not alone in their policy, but they are in the minority. Of eight other potential playoff teams surveyed, only two do not allow season-ticket holders to pay for postseason seats by credit card.

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Jim Abbott makes his first major-league start in two years tonight, for the Chicago White Sox against the New York Yankees. After losing his velocity and confidence during a 2-18 summer with the Angels in 1996, Abbott sat out last season and worked his way back through each level of the minor leagues this season, playing for teams with the nicknames Crawdads (Hickory, N.C.), Warthogs (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Barons (Birmingham, the same club Michael Jordan played for) and Cannons (Calgary).

Marcel Lachemann, the Angels’ longtime pitching coach, offered a tip of his cap to Abbott for his perseverance.

“That’s what he was going to have to do, go somewhere where he could start over,” Lachemann said. “You can’t do that in the big leagues.”

In Abbott’s last major-league win, a 4-2 victory at Minnesota on Sept. 8, 1996, at Minnesota, the Angels turned a triple play: third baseman Jack Howell to second baseman Rex Hudler to first baseman J.T. Snow.

ANGELS’ JACK McDOWELL(3-3, 4.45 ERA)

vs.

ROYALS’ BRIAN BARBER (2-1, 6.00 ERA)

Edison Field, 7 p.m.

Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090)

* Update--With Erstad injured, Collins said he would rotate the position among Chris Pritchett, Todd Greene and Craig Shipley. The Angels activated Shipley from the disabled list Friday. Catcher Charlie O’Brien started for the first time Friday and, within the first three innings, threw out two runners trying to steal.