Collins Wants Players Rested, Too

Manager Terry Collins helped create the monster, but now the beast is starting to haunt him. Collins wanted to the Angels to be more aggressive, more relentless, but they might have gone overboard.

“I’m tired of starters complaining that they don’t play every day,” Collins said Monday. “I respect the fact that they don’t want to come out of the lineup, but they also need a day here and there to rest.

“And I’m telling you, there’s going to be a time when a guy sitting on the bench is forced into the lineup, and he’d better have some playing time and at-bats because he has to be prepared.”

Collins didn’t name any names, but he didn’t have to. Center fielder Jim Edmonds, who has torn knee cartilage, and second baseman Luis Alicea, who has a strained hamstring, have been in and out of the lineup and both have insisted they were OK to play on days they weren’t starting.

“I know Jim’s knee can go at any time but I didn’t want it to be on the AstroTurf [in Minnesota over the weekend],” Collins said. “I want to keep Jim so he can help us in the next 100 games, not just one game.”

With a clubhouse full of tough guys such as Dave Hollins, Tony Phillips, Darin Erstad and Jim Leyritz, Edmonds admits there is peer pressure to play hurt.

“It’s good to be known as a guy who will gut it out every day,” Edmonds said. “I didn’t have that attitude in the minor leagues, but there’s more pride at stake here. It’s more team-oriented, you want to win, and it’s important for the nucleus of the team to feel that way.”

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Fans attending the first game of each interleague series in Anaheim Stadium will receive commemorative tickets, suitable for framing. The Angels are also offering ticket packages, ranging from $56 to $116, for seats to all eight interleague games. The July 2-3 games against the Dodgers are already close to being sold out. And for those fans wondering if interleague games count in the standings--many fans have phoned the Angels with that inquiry--the answer is yes, they do.

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Ken Hunt, who had 25 home runs and 84 RBIs in the Angels’ inaugural season in 1961, died Sunday in Westchester. He was 62. Hunt is survived by his wife, Sherry, two sons, Steve and Chris, and a daughter, Kerry.

TONIGHT’S GAME

ANGELS’ JASON DICKSON (7-2, 3.43 ERA) vs. ROYALS’ KEVIN APPIER (4-4, 2.44)

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo., 5 p.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KTZN (710).

* UPDATE: Appier, who has a 10-4 record against the Angels, will try for the seventh time to notch victory No. 100. The right-hander, who leads the league in complete games (four), ranks third in earned-run average and third in strikeouts (94), has three losses and three no-decisions in his last six starts. Jack Howell, who is seven for 14 with a home run against Appier, will start at third base for the Angels in place of Hollins, hitless in five at-bats against him. The Royals will be without closer Hipolito Pichardo for this series. He suffered a deep bruise on his right arm when he was hit by a comebacker in Sunday’s game against Texas.