Even Fans Must Be Willing to Move Station to Station

The Lakers play again today, so the Angels are radio nomads again.

The deeper the Lakers advance in the NBA playoffs, the greater the frustration of Angel fans. The Lakers get first priority on KLAC (570), so Angel fans must check daily to see whether another Laker game has bumped the Angel broadcast to alternate stations KMPC (1540) in Los Angeles and KMXN (94.3) in Orange County.

The Angels, in the third year of a five-year contract with KLAC, say they aren’t aware of any better options. All-sports stations KSPN (1110) and KMPC cannot be heard throughout Orange County and the Inland Empire, XTRA (690) airs the Mighty Ducks but is not interested in carrying the Angels, and Disney’s own KDIS--with the mighty 710 signal that carried Angel broadcasts for many years--believes baseball games are incompatible with children’s programming.

“We hear about it all the time from fans. It’s troublesome,” said John Covarrubias, vice president of advertising sales and broadcasting for Disney’s Anaheim Sports division. “But no one else out there is willing to pick up 100% of our games.”

Tim Belcher, whose 14-year career ended when he retired during spring training, visited his teammates Friday and declared himself free of any withdrawal symptoms.

“The way the last two years went, there’s nothing really to be missed,” he said.

In two seasons with the Angels, he won 10 games and was on the disabled list three times. He just had surgery again, this time to repair a toe damaged by years of driving off the pitching rubber.

“I’m trying to get everything fixed up so I can play soft toss with my son,” he said.

The Angels’ top two prospects are ready to start their injury-delayed seasons. Left-hander Joe Torres (sore shoulder) left the Angels’ extended spring training camp Friday for Class-A Cedar Rapids, and right-hander Francisco Rodriguez (elbow tendinitis) is expected to report to Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in the next few days.

The Angels join the bobblehead doll craze tonight, when fans receive a replica of Tim Salmon.

“When it’s all over and done, it will be another thing to hand out to my nephews and kids,” Salmon said.

He already handed one to his oldest child, Callie, 7. She told her father the doll looked nothing like him.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ JARROD WASHBURN

(2-4, 5.35 ERA)

vs.

INDIANS’ JARET WRIGHT

(0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Edison Field, 7

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KMPC (1540), KMXN (94.3), XPRS (1090).

Update--Wright, who attended Katella High in Anaheim and whose father Clyde pitched for the Angels from 1966-73, makes his season debut, nine months after shoulder surgery.

Tickets--(714) 663-9000.