Fyhrie Gets Big Chance

Mike Fyhrie’s arm was killing him, he was nearing the end of his eighth professional season having experienced a mere whiff of the big leagues--two relief appearances for the Mets in 1996--and reality was staring him down last August like Roberto Duran before a championship fight.

“I was ready to give up,” Fyhrie admitted.

Then a doctor discovered a bone chip in Fyhrie’s pitching elbow and performed surgery on the right-hander. Suddenly the pain that hindered him during a poor season for triple-A Norfolk was gone. And retirement was no longer Fyhrie’s first option.

The former UCLA standout signed a minor league deal with the Angels and came within one cut of winning a bullpen job in spring training.

He joined the rotation at triple-A Edmonton and pitched well enough (8-5, 3.40 earned-run average) to earn a promotion to Anaheim, where Fyhrie, 29, will make his first major league start tonight against the Mariners.

“I’m going to have a lot of family and friends here, so I’m going to be nervous,” Fyhrie, who went 15-6 with a 3.04 ERA at Norfolk in 1996 and was named International League pitcher of the year, said. “Plus, Seattle has three or four future Hall of Famers, so I have to bear down.”

Fyhrie joined the Angels on Monday, and the team optioned left-handed reliever Mike Holtz to triple-A Edmonton to clear a spot for Fyhrie on the roster.

Fyhrie is not overpowering, but what impressed Angel coaches this spring was his ability to throw four pitches--fastball, curve, slider and changeup--for strikes. Fyhrie struck out 106 and walked 33 in 106 innings at Edmonton.

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General Manager Bill Bavasi said he won’t rush top pitching prospect Ramon Ortiz to the big leagues, but the right-hander from the Dominican Republic may leave the Angels no other choice but to call him up this summer.

In his first game for triple-A Edmonton, Ortiz equaled a club record with 12 strikeouts in a 9-3 win over New Orleans on Sunday. Ortiz, who went 9-4 with a 2.82 ERA and 86 strikeouts at double-A Erie, gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings.

Jack McDowell, on the rebound from shoulder and elbow surgery, made his first minor league rehabilitation start for Edmonton on Monday, giving up four runs and five hits in five innings, walking two and striking out one.

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Steve Decker, who started at designated hitter Monday night, will probably miss Friday’s game in Colorado to return to Illinois for the funeral of his mother, Barb, who died Sunday after a lengthy battle against colon cancer. . . . Tim Salmon, sidelined since May 3 because of a sprained left wrist, hit off a tee Monday. Salmon has no timetable for a return, “but this is a progression,” he said.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ MIKE FYHRIE (SEASON DEBUT)

vs.

MARINERS’ GIL MECHE (SEASON DEBUT)

Edison Field, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Unlike the Angels, the Mariners have no qualms about bringing young arms to the big leagues. They could have plugged veteran journeyman Paul Abbott into this rotation spot but chose instead to go with Meche, a hard-throwing right-hander who was the team’s first-round pick (22nd overall) in 1996. Meche will be the 23rd pitcher the Mariners have used this season, most in the major leagues and two short of the club record of 25. He will be the 11th rookie to pitch for Seattle.

* Tickets: (714) 663-9000.