After Many Off Days, Erstad Takes Day Off

It seemed almost blasphemous coming from Darin Erstad, the Angel left fielder who would sooner steal second base without sliding headfirst than accept a day off.

“I’m not helping the team right now,” Erstad said before Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Giants, “so they’ve got to put someone out there who can.”

Asked if he ever thought he’d hear himself say that, Erstad, who had played every inning of all 57 games before Tuesday’s, said succinctly, “Nope.”

But never has Erstad struggled as he has this season. He is eight for 49 with two runs batted in in his last 11 games, and his average has dropped to .227.

When he hits the ball hard, it’s usually right at someone. Many of the fly balls that carried over the fence in the first half last season have died on the warning track this year. He has struck out 37 times, which projects to 103 for the season.

In Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Giants, Erstad grounded out with the bases loaded, ending the seventh, and struck out with runners on first and second, ending the ninth.

“I’ve been in a lot of situations where I could help the team win and I haven’t,” Erstad said. “That’s frustrating. When you’re used to [success] your whole life, it’s confusing.”

Erstad’s struggles haven’t been confined to 1999. He hit .313 with 18 homers and 59 RBIs in the first half of 1998, but is batting .241 with seven homers and 40 RBIs since last year’s All-Star break.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m hitting the ball hard, I’m not getting the job done,” Erstad said. “I feel a lot better now than I did earlier this year. I’ve watched a lot of tapes and have a good plan. It’s just not working.”

So Manager Terry Collins gave him Tuesday to clear his head.

“He just needs a day to relax a bit,” Collins said. “Some guys it helps, some it doesn’t make a difference.”

*

Randy Velarde was knocked on his rear twice Saturday by Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park. Then Monday night, Giant reliever Jerry Spradlin drilled the Angel second baseman in the back with a 95-mph fastball, leaving a nasty welt.

“I was talking with my wife [Monday] night, and she said, ‘What does the National League have against you? They’re throwing at your back, your head,’ ” Velarde said. “I think I’ll get a longer bat and stay in the back corner of the box.”

Velarde has a touch of tendinitis in his left wrist, which has been bothering him for about a week, but that wasn’t the injury Collins was concerned with after Velarde got smoked by Spradlin.

“Sandy Koufax told me he once he hit a guy in the ribs so hard he put him out for a month,” Collins said. “That was the first thing I thought about when Randy got hit. But he’s a tough guy.”

*

From players to coaches to support personnel, it seems no one around the Angels can escape the injury bug. While running with pitchers on the warning track before Monday night’s game, a batting-practice ball ricocheted off reliever Scott Schoeneweis and hit Brian Grapes, the strength and conditioning coach, in the right eye. Grapes has a purple shiner that makes him look like Rocky Balboa. . . . Injured shortstop Gary DiSarcina returned to Southern California on Tuesday and will have his left forearm X-rayed today. If he is cleared by doctors, he will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment in hopes of returning to the lineup within two weeks.

TODAY

ANGELS’ TIM BELCHER (3-5, 7.23 ERA)

vs.

GIANTS’ CHRIS BROCK (5-4, 4.34 ERA)

3Com Park, San Francisco, 12:30 p.m.

TV--Channel 52 (KVEA). Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--There’s a chance Giant left fielder Barry Bonds, who underwent arm surgery in mid-April, will return today. The Giants were hoping he could be eased back into the lineup as a designated hitter in Seattle this weekend, but Bonds says he’s ready to go now. Omar Olivares was scheduled to start for the Angels today but was scratched because of a strained left hamstring, so Belcher will start on three days’ rest.