The Lost-Ball Trick Is Getting to Erstad

The ball hit Brad Fullmer’s bat in the third inning Tuesday night, and that was the last Darin Erstad saw of it. The Angel center fielder lost the routine fly ball in the twilight above Edison Field, and it fell 15 feet behind him for a double, paving the way for a three-run Blue Jay inning.

“I can honestly say I never saw the ball after it hit his bat,” Erstad said Wednesday. “That ball could have hit me in the top of the head and I wouldn’t have seen it.

“I was yelling for Tim [Salmon, Angel right fielder] to get over here. The amazing thing was, the next hitter, it got just dark enough for me to see the ball fine.”

This was the third time in four years Erstad has lost a fly ball in the dusk. The first came in July 1998, during a 5 p.m. Sunday game in which second baseman Justin Baughman lost track of a line drive that hit him in the face. The second was this past April 16 against Oakland.

Erstad has noticed a trend: “The three days I’ve lost balls have all been overcast,” he said.

In an effort to improve his vision during the early innings of night games at home, Erstad began Wednesday’s game against Toronto wearing the amber-colored glasses he usually wears inside Minnesota’s Metrodome. He had a little trouble tracking Tony Batista’s first-inning fly ball but made the catch.

Erstad will also try a pair of orange-tinted contacts, which he uses for day games and 5 p.m. games. St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire wears the same contacts.

“That’s why he always looks like he’s freaking out on TV,” Erstad said. “They help cut down on the shadows. Anything that helps, I’m going to try.”

Reliever Mike Holtz’s bullpen workout was over before it began Wednesday. The left-hander, who has been sidelined since Saturday because of tightness and stiffness in his throwing elbow, threw a couple of warmup pitches from the front of the mound but didn’t feel strong enough to continue.

“I don’t know what direction I’m going, whether I’m getting better or worse,” said Holtz, who had reconstructive elbow surgery in 1992. “I loosened up a bit, but I wasn’t comfortable enough to really let it go.”

Holtz will try it again today. If he is able to throw 100% and feels OK Friday, he should be available to pitch Friday night against Cleveland.

If not, Holtz, who underwent a CT scan Tuesday, probably will have an MRI test and could go on the disabled list. He has been taking anti-inflammatory medication and feels better but knows he’s not strong enough to get major league hitters out.

“It’s nothing like the pain I had in 1992,” Holtz said. “It feels like I got punched there and it’s bruised, but I never bumped into anything. I’ll try to throw [in the bullpen today]. How I come out of it Friday is the big question. In my role, I have to be able to throw every day.”

Troy Glaus, the Angels’ 6-foot-5 third baseman, made a nice leaping catch of Raul Mondesi’s liner in the sixth inning Tuesday night. Asked how many David Ecksteins it would take to make the catch, Manager Mike Scioscia said: “About 2 1/2.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

RAMON ORTIZ

(3-3, 4.30 ERA)

vs.

BLUE JAYS’

JOEY HAMILTON

(1-2, 4.99 ERA)

Edison Field, 7

TV--None. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--Ortiz will look to make amends for his defensive lapses in his last start, when his two fielding errors helped Detroit score four unearned runs in a 7-6 victory Friday night. The right-hander has been inconsistent for much of the season, following one or two strong starts with a shoddy one. Tim Salmon entered Wednesday night’s game with a .217 average, .071 with runners in scoring position.

Tickets--(714) 663-9000.