Anderson Plays, and It Pays

Manager Mike Scioscia benched center fielder Garret Anderson and his one-for-15 slump Friday and planned to give him Saturday off as well.

But after a late Friday night meeting with Anderson, batting instructor Mickey Hatcher and third base coach Ron Roenicke, at which all agreed Anderson should use a lighter bat, Scioscia changed his mind and started Anderson Saturday night.

“Garret will have more bat control and be more potent with a bat he can handle better,” Scioscia said. “He had a great workout Friday, and we didn’t think it would be productive for him to sit out another day.”

Smart move. Anderson, who prides himself on playing every day and would rather hit his way out of a slump than rest, pounced on an 0-and-1 Jason Johnson fastball in the third inning and drove a three-run homer into the right-center field seats for a 6-0 Angel lead.

Anderson, who now has 17 home runs and 45 runs batted in this season, didn’t think switching to a lighter bat--he used an Orlando Palmeiro model--was that significant.

“I switch bats all the time during the season, it’s just a matter of what feels right in your hands at a certain time,” Anderson said. “I’ve just been a hair off and needed to make an adjustment.”

*

Mark Petkovsek, who pitched two scoreless innings Friday in his first appearance in a month, is relieved to be relieving again after experiencing severe flu-like symptoms and having so little energy he could barely get out of bed for a week in May.

Petkovsek had a viral syndrome that was actually a mild form of meningitis, an acute inflammation of the membranes covering the brain or spinal cord.

Though the meningitis was caused by a virus and was not as dangerous as the bacterial form of the disease, which is highly infectious for children and young adults and can lead to death if untreated, Petkovsek didn’t think there was anything minor about his condition.

“If that’s the mild form of meningitis,” he said, “I don’t want to experience the severe form.”

Petkovsek fell ill at about the time Angel pitcher Kent Mercker suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, but doctors told him the two conditions were completely unrelated.

“The fever separated us,” Petkovsek said. “Kent was having the same symptoms but without the temperature. That’s how they knew mine was a bug.”

*

Kent Bottenfield, sidelined since June 8 because of shoulder tendinitis, threw 80 pitches in a bullpen workout before Saturday’s game. If the right-hander has no problems with a simulated game Tuesday, he will return for Saturday night’s game against Minnesota.

The Angels were hoping Jason Dickson, out since May 15 because of a sore shoulder and tendinitis in his left hip, would need only one more minor league rehabilitation start before being activated.

But after getting bombed for eight runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings Friday night with triple-A Edmonton, Scioscia said Dickson may need at least two more starts before returning.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ SETH ETHERTON

(1-1, 5.06 ERA)

vs.

ORIOLES’ SCOTT ERICKSON

(3-3, 6.19 ERA)

Camden Yards, Baltimore, 10:30 a.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--With Scott Schoeneweis going on the disabled list because of a strained rib-cage muscle Friday, Etherton will remain in the rotation even when Bottenfield returns next weekend, because Bottenfield will be the Angels’ fifth starter, and the Angels will send a reliever back to triple-A Edmonton when he is activated.