Tempe Might Not Be Big Enough in Spring

The Angels’ desire to hold their major league and minor league training camps at one site could lead them to abandon their current spring home at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

Kevin Uhlich, the Angels’ senior vice president for business operations, said he plans to meet with Tempe officials next month to discuss whether the Diablo Stadium site can be expanded to include a minor league training camp without sacrificing parking areas for fans. The Angels’ minor leaguers currently train at Gene Autry Park in Mesa, about a 25-minute drive from Diablo Stadium.

If expansion is not feasible, Uhlich said, the Angels would invite Tempe officials to propose alternate sites for a training camp. The Angels prefer to stay in Tempe, he said, and do not plan to look elsewhere until alternatives there are exhausted. Their Diablo Stadium lease extends through 2007.

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As Darin Erstad decides whether to have surgery to remove the troublesome tendon within his right hamstring, there is one valuable piece of information doctors cannot provide. They cannot predict the course of rehabilitation based on past procedures, Erstad said, because doctors have told him no baseball player has had surgery on a hamstring where the tendon is not completely torn.

“They’ve all been ruptures,” Erstad said. “It would be the first time the procedure has been done on a partially torn hamstring.”

Erstad must balance the uncertainty over possible post-operative complications against the knowledge that intensive therapy has not yet resolved the injury to the point where he can play effectively. He must decide whether to opt for surgery by Nov. 1 to allow for rehabilitation before spring training.

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ON DECK

Opponent -- Texas Rangers, three games.

Site -- Edison Field.

TV -- Fox Sports Net tonight; Channel 22 tonight and Sunday.

Radio -- KSPN (710), XKAM (950).

Records -- Angels 75-84, Rangers 70-89.

Record vs. Rangers -- 7-9.

Tonight, 7 -- Aaron Sele (7-11, 5.84) vs. R.A. Dickey (9-8, 5.17).

Saturday, 1 p.m. -- Ramon Ortiz (16-12, 5.19) vs. Colby Lewis (9-9, 7.38).

Sunday, 1 p.m. -- Jarrod Washburn (10-15, 4.43) or Scot Shields (4-6, 2.93) vs. John Thomson (13-13, 4.84).