Roenicke Fills In Blanks for Scioscia

Ron Roenicke was like a high school student trying to cram for an exam during his lunch break. The bench coach had about half an hour Thursday evening to learn the signs he would need as acting manager before the Angels played the Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium.

Give Roenicke an “A.” The Angels won, 5-2, and Roenicke didn’t commit any glaring mistakes while filling in for Manager Mike Scioscia, who was serving the first game of a three-game suspension after his team’s brouhaha with the Texas Rangers.

“It was fun, I have to admit,” said Roenicke, who interviewed for the Mariners job in 2002 and acknowledged that he still had the desire to manage at baseball’s highest level.

Roenicke, who turns 50 today, spent five years as a minor league manager, most recently in 1999 with the triple-A Fresno Grizzlies. He guided Class-A San Bernardino to a California League title in 1995 and double-A San Antonio to a Texas League title in 1997.

“He’ll be a terrific manager if and when he gets the opportunity,” Scioscia said. “He knows the game, he’s great with people and he knows what he’s doing.”

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Joe Saunders said he hopes an extra day of rest before his next start will help him rebound from the worst outing of his career. The rookie left-hander issued a career-high five walks and gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- in 2 2/3 innings Wednesday during a 9-3 loss to Texas and acknowledged that fatigue may have been a factor.

“The innings part might have something to do with it,” said Saunders, whose 164 2/3 innings between triple-A Salt Lake and the Angels are five innings short of the personal best he set last season. “I’m coming into uncharted territory with my arm right now.”

Saunders did not blame the fatigue for his lack of command -- “I couldn’t throw a strike regardless,” he said -- but suggested that it may have hindered his velocity.

“I was trying to throw hard and thought I was throwing hard but it wasn’t really going very fast,” he said. “It was something that just hit me. I tried to reach back and nothing was there.”

Saunders, who will start Tuesday against Boston on five days’ rest, said he declined pitching coach Bud Black’s offer to skip a start or take an additional day of rest. Saunders also said that he didn’t think it would be necessary to put him on a pitch limit later to ward off exhaustion.

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Vladimir Guerrero, still experiencing soreness several days after fouling a ball off his right foot, was the designated hitter Friday but could return to right field as soon as tonight. Juan Rivera replaced Guerrero in right field Friday.... An Orange County Superior Court judge on Thursday refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles psychologist who alleges that the Angels discriminated against men by giving tote bags only to women during a Mother’s Day game at Angel Stadium. A procedural hearing was set for Aug. 30.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.