Reliever Gives Himself Options

Reliever Brendan Donnelly came to spring training in 2002 hoping to perfect a split-fingered fastball but struggled so much with it he “put it in my pocket” when the season started. Not until 2004 did the split-fingered pitch become an integral part of Donnelly’s repertoire.

This spring, Donnelly has added another wrinkle, experimenting with a sinker to go with his fastball, slider and split-fingered fastball.

“Every year you’ve got to try to add something different,” Donnelly, 33, said. “Next year I’ll start throwing a knuckleball.”

The right-hander has been encouraged so far by his sinker, a pitch he says he hopes will be about 5 mph slower than his 92-mph fastball and about 5 mph faster than his 82-mph split-fingered fastball.

Donnelly threw six or seven sinkers in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 6-2 exhibition loss to the Oakland A’s, getting one swing and miss, several foul balls and inducing a bases-loaded, inning-ending double play from Bobby Kielty. After sitting out most of spring training last season because of a broken nose, Donnelly has a 2.16 earned-run average in 8 1/3 innings this spring.

“Today was the first day I’ve really concentrated on throwing enough sinkers to see if it will be effective or not,” said Donnelly, who learned the sinker grip from fellow set-up man Scot Shields. “I still have some work to do, but it’s going in the right direction. You’re trying to throw pitches that look like a fastball. I’ve never had a sinker, but if I can develop it, it will help us.”

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Third baseman Dallas McPherson played in his first game since being diagnosed with a herniated disk in his lower back in early March, getting one single in eight at-bats and playing three innings of defense at the Angels’ minor league complex in Mesa, Ariz.

McPherson said he “squared up some balls,” at the plate, struck out once and was able to sprint to first base out of the batter’s box with no problems.

“My swing felt good, and my timing wasn’t far off,” McPherson said. “And I dove for a line drive, made the play, got up and felt no pain. I had a couple of tests today, and it held up well.”

McPherson will take ground balls and batting practice today, but he won’t play in a game. He’s scheduled to play in consecutive games Monday and Tuesday, but he’s unsure whether it will be in big league or minor league exhibitions.

“It would definitely be nice to see some big league pitching,” McPherson said, “but if I don’t get a chance, I’ll have to quicken the learning curve.”

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While Donnelly and Shields (0.00 ERA in eight innings) have been dominant this spring, Esteban Yan, the third reliever in what Manager Mike Scioscia calls his “triangle” in front of closer Francisco Rodriguez, has struggled, the right-hander’s shaky command leading to a 6.97 ERA in 10 1/3 innings.

Yan, the former Detroit reliever who signed a two-year, $2.25-million deal with the Angels in December, was rocked for three runs and three hits, including Jermaine Clark’s two-run triple, in the eighth inning Saturday.

“He needs to get his fastball in good zones, get ahead of hitters and put them away,” Scioscia said.

Said Yan: “This is not the spring training I was looking for.”

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Angel ace Bartolo Colon, who is in line to start the April 5 season opener against Texas, showed a crisp fastball during a 6 2/3 -inning, six-hit stint in which he gave up three runs -- two earned -- struck out four and walked one Saturday. The right-hander had no recurrence of the lower-back spasms that forced him out of his last Cactus League start after two innings on March 16.

“My body, my mind, everything is ready to go right now,” Colon said through an interpreter.

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Barring a trade, the final bullpen spot will come down to left-hander Jake Woods or right-hander Chris Bootcheck. The competition narrowed Saturday when right-hander Scott Dunn was reassigned to minor league camp, along with infielder Zach Sorensen, bringing the roster to 39 players.