Back Injury Puts McPherson on DL

Dallas McPherson bent over to field a ground ball during batting practice Friday, something he does hundreds of times a week. Only this time, his lower back locked up and the subsequent spasms sent the third baseman to the 15-day disabled list Saturday.

“There was no indication” this would happen, said McPherson, the second Angel to go on the DL in two days, following Darin Erstad. “I’ve been feeling great all year, doing all my exercises. This came out of nowhere. It just grabbed on me.”

The Angels can only hope the spasms don’t keep hold of McPherson like they did last spring, when McPherson sat out the entire exhibition season after aggravating the herniated disk he first suffered in the minor leagues.

Neither McPherson, who will be examined today, nor Manager Mike Scioscia believe this injury is as severe as last year’s, but it will take at least a week for the inflammation to subside, leaving the Angels no choice but to put McPherson on the DL and recall infielder Erick Aybar from triple-A Salt Lake.

Scioscia said Maicer Izturis, who drove in three runs in Wednesday’s win over San Francisco and Friday night’s win over Arizona, will draw most of the starts at third base in McPherson’s absence, leaving the Angels lineup with a lot less power. Center fielder Chone Figgins will also play some third, with Tommy Murphy playing center.

The Angels considered recalling infielder Howie Kendrick, who is batting .389 with 23 doubles and 49 runs batted in at Salt Lake, but Kendrick is a second baseman who has played only six games at third, a “position he’s not real familiar with,” Scioscia said.

*

If Angels fans still fume about the loss of relievers Bobby Jenks and Derrick Turnbow, who were claimed off waivers, think how they would feel if rookie catcher Mike Napoli was batting .313 and cracking home runs for another club right now.

It could have happened. After hitting .282 with a league-leading 29 home runs and 118 RBIs for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2004, Napoli was exposed to the Rule 5 draft, meaning any team could have plucked him from the Angels as long as they kept him on their major league roster for the entire 2005 season.

Napoli was not chosen, and two years later he has emerged as the Angels’ starting catcher.

“Our intelligence suggested that other clubs were not as aware of him as we were,” General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “We took a chance. It was an educated guess. Had another club liked his catching skills as much as his hitting skills, they would have taken him. That wasn’t the case.”

*

A questionable call by umpire Mike Everitt in the second inning Saturday may have cost Napoli a chance to tie Bobby Grich’s franchise record of reaching base in 12 consecutive plate appearances.

Everitt called a 3-and-0, shin-high pitch a strike, when it probably should have been ball four. Napoli went on to strike out, ending his string at 11.