Park Feeling the Pressure in Texas

The thick black hair is gone, replaced by a shaved head.

The bubbly personality is gone, replaced by a quiet demeanor.

The impressive pitching statistics also are gone, replaced by a break-even won-lost record and a bloated earned-run average.

Right-hander Chan Ho Park, who thrived in his early years in Los Angeles, is just trying to survive in Texas.

Unable to get the big bucks he was seeking from the Dodgers, Park signed a five-year, $65-million contract with the Rangers in December. Hampered by a hamstring injury since the spring, he is only 3-3 with an ERA of 8.52. In eight years with the Dodgers, he was 80-54 with a 3.80 ERA.

Park’s biggest problem is a hamstring injury he suffered in the last game of spring training. Determined to fulfill his obligations to his new team, he insisted on going ahead with his opening-day assignment, but he was obviously in pain. He went on the disabled list the next day, the first time he had been on the DL, and stayed there from April 2 until May 12.

And he has been playing catch-up ever since.

In a game earlier this month against the Kansas City Royals, he had a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning but pitched poorly and was gone by the sixth.

“Maybe I am putting too much pressure on myself,” he said.

Hoonki Min, a Korean sportswriter who covered Park in Los Angeles and now in Arlington for Sports Chosun, a Korean daily, sees the difference.

“The Rangers gave him a lot of money,” Min said, “and he wants to show he is worth it. It’s a whole new experience for him in a new league with a team that hoped he would be the ace of the staff. Then he got the injury. It’s bad timing.”

In Korea, the shaved head is seen as a sign of determination by some, an act to change one’s luck by others. Park hopes it is both.

*

The Angels are hoping utility man Shawn Wooten, recovering from a pulled muscle on his right side, will be ready to begin a rehabilitation assignment on Friday with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

RAMON ORTIZ

(8-5, 3.34 ERA)

vs.

RANGERS’

AARON MYETTE

(0-0, 9.00 ERA)

The Ballpark in Arlington, 5 p.m. PDT

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--Kenny Rogers, who has an 8-4 record and a 3.24 ERA, had been scheduled to start, but was scratched because of stiffness in his back. His replacement, the 24-year-old Myette, was recalled from the Rangers’ Oklahoma RedHawk farm team for the second game of Monday’s doubleheader. Myette’s only appearance with the Rangers came on June 9 against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched two innings and gave up two earned runs.