DiSarcina Doesn’t Want Bitter End

This has been a pressure-packed series between the Angels and Rangers, with the American League West championship and a playoff berth at stake, but Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina doesn’t feel as much pressure to win as he does to play well.

“The only pressure I feel is that I don’t want the year to end on a sour note,” DiSarcina said. “We’ve had a great year, we’ve battled through so much, climbed over so many obstacles . . . I just don’t want it to end with us playing terribly.”

DiSarcina’s comments came before Tuesday night’s 9-1 loss to the Rangers--and after their 9-1 loss to Texas on Monday night, in which the Angels pitched poorly, made two errors and managed seven hits, three more than Tuesday.

“If we’re playing great baseball and they beat us by one game, so what?” DiSarcina said. “If we lose, we lose. Then I’d hope they go on and win the World Series, just as I would hope they’d wish us the same.

“But I just don’t want it to end like the first half of the season, when we lost four games in a row and were playing horribly.”

*

Angel Manager Terry Collins declared right-hander Ken Hill fit for tonight’s series finale. Hill didn’t make it out of the fourth inning of his last start Friday night, giving up three runs on seven hits in an eventual 5-3, 12-inning loss.

Hill, hoping to relieve stress on his surgically repaired elbow, pitched exclusively from the stretch against the Mariners, but he will return to a full windup with no runners on base tonight.

“He tried to adjust his delivery, but he wasn’t comfortable with it and got out of whack,” Collins said of Hill, who would be in line to start a one-game playoff against the Rangers on Monday if one is necessary.

“He says he’s fine, so he’s going to go back to his windup, grind it out and let it go. We’ll worry about what’s going to happen in five days when we get to that point.”

*

Darin Erstad appears to be making steady progress in his recovery from a severely strained left hamstring, and he started at first base for the second game in a row Tuesday night.

“He’ll still play the same type of game--he’s not going to steal any bases or score from first base on a hit,” Collins said. “He looked more comfortable with each at-bat [Monday night], and I feel good having him in there.

“My biggest concern is whether he can score from second on a base hit. I think he can--maybe not on a line drive, one-hopper to [left fielder] Rusty Greer, but most players wouldn’t score on a hit like that.”

*

Angel left fielder Greg Jefferies aggravated his right hamstring running out a groundout in the first inning Tuesday night and had to come out of the game. Collins, looking for more of an offensive spark than a leadoff hitter, replaced Jefferies with Todd Greene instead of Orlando Palmeiro. . . . Ranger second baseman Mark McLemore, bothered by sore knees and a six-for-41 slump, did not start Tuesday night. . . . Pitching matchups for the Angels’ season-ending series in Oakland: Jack McDowell vs. Jimmy Haynes on Thursday night; Omar Olivares vs. Kenny Rogers on Friday night, Steve Sparks vs. Gil Heredia on Saturday, and Chuck Finley vs. TBA on Sunday.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ KEN HILL (9-5, 5.12 ERA)

vs.

RANGERS’ JOHN BURKETT (8-13, 5.87 ERA)

Edison Field, 7:30 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West. Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090), KIK-FM (94.3).

* Update--Ranger Manager Johnny Oates was considering skipping Burkett and starting Aaron Sele on three days’ rest tonight, but Burkett earned the start by limiting Oakland to one run on four hits in eight innings in his last start, a 3-1 victory. Burkett, the only pitcher in Ranger history to win a playoff game when he beat the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 1996 division series, and Hill were the top two pitchers on Texas’ 1996 AL West championship team. Ranger cleanup batter Juan Gonzalez has been on a tear, hitting .417 (35 for 84) with six homers and 20 RBIs in his last 20 games through Monday night.