Molina Proves He’s Sorely Needed

He has virtually no chance of making the Angels, but catcher Ben Molina left quite an impression Monday, on Manager Terry Collins and infielder Craig Shipley’s neck.

Molina, who has one major league at-bat in six professional seasons, was the key component of a triple play the Angels turned in an otherwise mundane intrasquad scrimmage.

With Bret Hemphill on third and Shipley on first, Orlando Palmeiro ripped a grounder to first baseman Chris Pritchett. Pritchett fielded the ball, stepped on first and fired home, catching Hemphill in a rundown.

Molina chased Hemphill back to third, tagging him out near the bag, and as Shipley slid into third, Molina’s momentum carried him into a lunging tag of Shipley for the third out, the players crashing into each other.

“That was pretty cool, but I almost killed somebody,” said Molina, who, at 5 feet 11 and 200 pounds, is hardly a featherweight. “I tagged [Shipley] with my body, my mitt, my mask, my elbow, a little bit of my chest. I didn’t mean to do that.”

Shipley, competing for a utility job, said, “He landed right on my neck. I’m OK. I’m just going to have a stiff neck for a couple of days.”

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Center fielder Jim Edmonds, stung by another winter’s worth of trade rumors, vowed to take a more businesslike approach to this season. If that’s the case, Monday was a pretty good day at the office.

Edmonds singled in his first two at-bats and smashed a two-run homer off reliever Omar Olivares in his third.

“He told me coming into camp that he’s got some things to show people, and I agree,” Collins said. “That’s why I think he’s going to have a heck of a year. He can hit. What we want to do is get him into that zone where he can hit anybody.”

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The death of Arizona Diamondback minor leaguer Ken Robinson in an alcohol-related car accident Sunday sent shock waves throughout baseball. Several Angels knew Robinson and John Rosengren, the driver of the car in which Robinson was killed.

“It shook them up a lot--hey, it’s supposed to,” Collins said. “It woke a lot of guys up. It’s a reminder that you have to be careful. Something like that can really tear an organization and a family up. I’m just hoping our guys, if they find themselves in a similar situation, will say, ‘Heck, I’ll call a cab and worry about the vehicle tomorrow.’ ”

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Pitcher Chuck Finley sat out practice for the third consecutive day because of stiffness in his back and was scratched from today’s intrasquad game. “We don’t think it’s worse,” Collins said. “We just want to make sure it doesn’t come back again.” . . . Center fielder Norm Hutchins made a strong showing in the intrasquad game with a triple, a single, a stolen base and a diving catch of Jeff Huson’s drive to the right-center-field gap. Garret Anderson had a double and an RBI single, and Palmeiro had two hits. Mo Vaughn grounded out twice and walked in three plate appearances. . . . Reliever Pep Harris, who will miss the season because of an elbow injury, agreed to terms on a one-year contract.