Rainout No Holiday for Travel Manager

Tuesday night’s game between the Angels and Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards was rained out and rescheduled for Thursday night, which was supposed to be a day off for both teams.

But what seemed like a logical solution--to play Thursday instead of squeezing five games into four days the next time the Angels are in Baltimore, July 20-23--was anything but.

The Angels begin a four-game series in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, and changing travel plans on such short notice before Memorial Day weekend proved a major challenge for Tom Taylor, the team’s traveling secretary.

“It’s a logistical nightmare,” said Taylor, who was scrambling to switch the team’s charter flight to Tampa from tonight to Thursday night. “I don’t know if we can get a pilot or hotel rooms [in Baltimore] for another night. They might have to stay with host families.”

Taylor was able to reserve rooms for the team in its Baltimore hotel for tonight but was still trying to arrange a new flight late Tuesday night.

Manager Mike Scioscia had no problem with the Orioles’ decision to play Thursday but was concerned that a 7 p.m. EDT start in Baltimore would push their arrival time in Tampa to 3-4 a.m. Friday. Today’s game, originally the second of a two-game series, will begin at 3 p.m. local time.

“I thought [today’s] start was a courtesy to us [because we were traveling afterward],” Scioscia said. “I have no problem making up the game Thursday, but the starting time is an issue.”

After shaking up his lineup by moving struggling No. 3 hitter Tim Salmon to the seventh spot and batting rookie Shawn Wooten cleanup Sunday against Cleveland, Scioscia had another cleanup hitter Tuesday, first baseman Wally Joyner. Garret Anderson was fifth and Salmon sixth.

Joyner had 109 at-bats in the cleanup spot for Atlanta last season, collecting 33 hits, three of them homers, for a .303 average, but he wasn’t talking or acting like a cleanup hitter Tuesday.

“My job is to get on base for one of those big hitters like Garret or Tim,” Joyner said. “We’ve still got five guys hitting behind me.”

Tuesday starter Scott Schoeneweis was held over to today, as was Oriole right-hander Willis Roberts. Scioscia said he will go with the same batting order today.

Just to make sure, Joyner poked his head into Scioscia’s office after the game was called Tuesday and said, “I’m hitting cleanup tomorrow, right?”

Replied Scioscia, “You might be batting cleanup in [triple-A] Salt Lake if you don’t get your act together.”

Catcher Jose Molina, put on the disabled list Monday because of a fractured left thumb, suffered the injury when he tried to catch a low sinker thrown by Al Levine in the seventh inning against Cleveland on Sunday.

Molina, not knowing the severity of the injury, remained in the game, doubled to start the winning rally in the eighth and caught flame-throwing closer Troy Percival in the ninth.

“He caught 98-mph fastballs with a broken thumb--how about that?” Scioscia said. “I think his glove got jammed into the ground [on Levine’s pitch] and the ball hit his thumb. You could see it was affecting the way he was catching the ball.”

Scioscia said Molina probably would be ready to play in about three weeks, “but it probably won’t be totally healed for five or six weeks.”

Reliever Mike Holtz, on the disabled list because of an inflamed throwing elbow, played catch and threw long toss for about 10 minutes before the rains came Tuesday afternoon and was very encouraged.

“I’m not stiff--it feels better than it normally does,” said Holtz, who received a cortisone shot last week. “I’ll probably spin some breaking balls [today]. As long as I keep progressing, I should be able to come off the disabled list Saturday. It feels 100%.”