Belcher Hits a Detour on Road to Recovery

After giving up only one run and five hits in five innings of a triple-A rehabilitation start Tuesday, Tim Belcher said he was throwing the ball better this month than he did at any time last season.

That all changed after Thursday’s bullpen workout. Belcher, who had elbow surgery in November, experienced some soreness in his arm and was scratched from today’s scheduled start for Edmonton.

“He’s going through a little dead-arm phase, like pitchers go through in spring training, so we’re going to hold him back a bit,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

Belcher plans to throw in the bullpen Tuesday, and if he feels OK after that workout, he expects to start for Edmonton on Friday. The right-hander was scheduled to make at least three triple-A starts, so this problem should only set him back five or six days.

“I guess it’s better to have a little pause in the action now than to be activated and have to miss a start,” Belcher said.

“I don’t think it’s a huge setback. I’ve gotten heavy-duty treatment [Saturday], and it already feels better. It’s probably a three- or four-day thing.”

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Devil Ray pitcher Steve Trachsel, a graduate of Troy High in Fullerton, said Saturday he would have no extra incentive taking the mound today against the Angels, a team he hoped to sign with this past winter and a team that rebuffed the right-hander’s advances.

Trachsel was being tactful, though.

The 29-year-old revealed his true feelings earlier in the week, when he told the St. Petersburg Times:

“They told me I was too old. They said they didn’t want an old veteran, that they’d rather have a young prospect.

“Then they go out and sign [42-year-old] Tom Candiotti the next week. They’re the first team that ever told me I was too old--and the only one.”

Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said age wasn’t the primary factor in his decision not to pursue Trachsel.

“They were asking for a two-year deal for something like $13 million,” Stoneman said. “That just blew my mind. When I heard that, I thought Scott Schoeneweis [who makes $210,000] looked pretty good to me.”

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The Angels have made tentative plans to push Jason Dickson’s next scheduled start from Thursday in Baltimore to Saturday in Seattle. Dickson, who was pulled from Friday night’s 11-2 loss to Tampa Bay in the second inning because of a strained left hip flexor, probably won’t attempt a bullpen workout until Tuesday.

“I’ll get some treatment and some rest, and [Monday’s] off day should help me,” Dickson said.

“You have normal aches and pains, but I’ve never had anything like this before. You want to go out there and be 100%. Time will tell.”

TODAY

ANGELS’ KENT BOTTENFIELD (1-3, 4.80 ERA) vs. DEVIL RAYS’ STEVE TRACHSEL (1-1, 6.08 ERA)

Edison Field, 1 p.m.

Radio--KMPC (1540), KIK-FM (93.3), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Bottenfield rebounded from his shoddy start (nine runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings) in Toronto on April 20 with a 7 2/3-inning, three-run, eight-hit effort against Detroit on Tuesday. There have been some encouraging signs in the bullpen recently, but overall, the bullpen outside of closer Troy Percival has lacked consistency.

* Tickets--(714) 663-9000.