DiSarcina Brings a New Outlook

Shortstop Gary DiSarcina had a case of amnesia over the winter, and after arriving at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Monday, he hopes it’s contagious.

“I hit alt-control-delete in my mind,” DiSarcina said of a miserable 1999, in which he missed 2 1/2 months because of a broken forearm and saw the season disintegrate amid a flurry of clubhouse bickering in July and August.

“I don’t remember much about last year. It’s old news. We have a new general manager, manager and coaching staff . . . you have to have a fresh start, a new attitude.”

But can the Angels accomplish that when most of the players from a clubhouse team President Tony Tavares compared to a day-care center last summer are back this season?

“You can’t force chemistry on a team,” said DiSarcina, who will join the Angels for their first full-squad workout Wednesday. “It comes from playing together, winning, losing, traveling, getting in brawls. If guys don’t bond, we’ll have another [bad] year, but I don’t think that will happen.”

What makes DiSarcina so sure?

“Because everyone’s picked us to stink this year,” he said. “When you have high expectations coming out of camp and guys get hurt and things don’t work out . . . a lot of it last year was frustration. This year no one expects us to do anything, so why would last year repeat itself?”

The Angels rarely never seem to handle high expectations well. Many picked them to win the American League West in 1996, and they finished last. The same thing happened in 1999. But when the Angels were picked to finish last in 1997, they remained in the race until late September and finished second.

“This team has taken a beating by everyone this winter--it’s become very fashionable to bash the Angels,” DiSarcina said. “A lot of guys want to prove people wrong.

“Having a new manager is going to make a difference. That might sound like a company line, but he’s been on successful teams, he’ll have a new approach, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s not to say people before him were wrong, but there will be a different way of doing things.”

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Manager Mike Scioscia has been impressed with the youngsters competing for rotation spots the first four days of camp, but he had to install a governor switch on a few of them.

“[Ramon] Ortiz was really lighting it up [Monday], and I had to tell him to back off a little bit,” Scioscia said. “I reminded them they shouldn’t be trying to impress Bud [Black, pitching coach] or me this early. They’re not going to win a rotation spot in their third bullpen workout.”