Joyner Seems to Have the Edge Over Competitors

Wally Joyner had three hits, one a double, in the Angels’ 4-1 exhibition loss to Arizona on Thursday, improving his Cactus League average to .414 with a home run and six runs batted in.

Joyner, 38, appears to have a slight edge over Larry Barnes and Scott Spiezio in the battle for the first base job, a contest Manager Mike Scioscia said probably won’t be decided until the final weekend of camp.

Joyner has said he will retire if he is not the team’s starter, but if a superb spring attracts an offer from another team, might he reconsider?

“It would be pretty tough to match the contract my family offers,” said Joyner, a Utah resident who has a wife and four children.

Even if another first baseman got hurt and a team offered a starting job?

“No,” he said. “I’m playing because I have a great opportunity to come back to where my career started. To go somewhere else for one year, I don’t believe that would mean anything. Not to say it’s etched in stone, but I can’t imagine playing anywhere else.”

Barnes tried to keep pace with Joyner, doubling in his only at-bat. The rookie is batting .303 with three homers and five RBIs. Spiezio is batting .281 and is a proven power hitter, but Joyner’s experience works in his favor.

“He’s been exactly as billed,” Scioscia said. “He’s playing great defense, getting on base and driving the ball.”

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Jose Canseco insisted that the stiff lower back and tight hamstring that have sidelined him for six days are minor injuries, and that the Angels should not be concerned.

“If this was the regular season, I could play with these injuries,” said Canseco, who has been on the disabled list seven times in the last six years. “The injuries I worry about are the ones that require surgery, the ones you can’t play with.”

Canseco, who did not travel to Tucson, said he understands why Scioscia is growing concerned about the designated hitter’s setbacks.

“He’s frustrated because he has a player with talent who can’t help the team right now,” Canseco said. “As long as I can play the last 10 days [of spring training] and get three or four at-bats a game, I’ll be fine.”

Canseco, a 36-year-old with 446 home runs, has lost the equivalent of about three seasons because of injuries in 15 years. He has not lost his sense of humor, though.

When asked Thursday how he was feeling, Canseco said, “I’ll be ready--in about three years.”

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Pat Rapp became the first Angel starter to go five innings, giving up three runs and four hits, one Steve Finley’s two-run homer. The right-hander struck out four and threw only 62 pitches, several of them changeups that kept right-handed batters off balance. Rapp has usually reserved his changeup for lefties. “You need a couple extra pitches in the American League,” Rapp said. “You’re going to hang a few, but watching the hitters, I can tell it’s fooling a few of them now, so I think it’s a good pitch.”

The projected Angel rotation of Jarrod Washburn, Rapp, Ramon Ortiz, Scott Schoeneweis and Ismael Valdes has a combined 3.61 earned-run average so far. “But that means nothing,” Rapp said. “These games don’t count.”

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Infielder Justin Baughman has expanded his defensive repertoire. He played left field Wednesday and center field Thursday and made two nice running catches in the left-center gap against the Diamondbacks.