Johnny Ray Tries to Make Up for His Lost Time : Angel Second Baseman Returns After Enduring ‘Boring’ Stint on Disabled List

Injuries are part of the game, Johnny Ray said. It is just that they had not been part of his game.

His only stint on the disabled list in a career of more than seven years began April 6, only two games into the start of this new season.

After 15 days on the DL, Ray has been back in the starting lineup the past two games, and he offers this one-word review of the DL: “Boring.”

Nothing much to do but stare at a sprained left wrist and urge it to get better. Nothing better to do during games than watch for tendencies of opposing pitchers he would not face that day.

Ray was 0 for 9 in the first two games of the season. He was 0 for 1 in a pinch-hit appearance Sunday. His first hit of the season came Monday, a single in the first inning of a 3-2 victory over Baltimore in which Ray later drove home the winning run on a groundout.

Tuesday, in his second start since coming off the DL, he went 0 for 4, flying out three times and striking out once in the Angels’ 8-1 loss to Baltimore.

The month of April belonged to Ray last year. He batted .438, easily the best month of a season in which he hit .306, becoming the first Angel to bat .300 since Rod Carew in 1983.

Now April has almost come and gone again, and Ray has nothing to show for it but one hit in 18 at-bats.

Never mind that for now, Ray said. At least he is back, and that alone means things are much better. His batting average will not be .056 for long, he said.

“I was ready to get back in the swing,” said Ray, who is wearing padding on the still-weak wrist. “The batting average, that doesn’t mean much. It’s just a matter of getting back.”

As for the April that has all but escaped him, taking with it any chance of repeating last year’s start, Ray says that “April doesn’t mean much to me anyway. What matters is where you are late in the season.”

For a man who had never been on the DL, April has been experience.

“Strange,” Ray said.

And it brought to an end a streak he says he had never much thought about: In seven years, he had never played fewer than 151 games in a season.

Such the picture of health, he is, he had never missed more than 11 games. His rookie year, he played 162 games for Pittsburgh, becoming one of only two rookies to have done that. The other was Dick Allen of Philadelphia.

By missing 15 of the first 20, Ray already has missed the 150 game mark.

“I don’t think about that,” he said. “But I have always prided myself on being healthy.

He always was healthy enough, until the first days of this season. He would as soon this stint on the DL were his last.

“Hopefully,” he said. “Knock on wood.”