Edmonds Denies Trying to Show Up Nagy

Center fielder Jim Edmonds said he didn’t know why he picked up the ball and flipped it back to Cleveland starter Charles Nagy after getting hit in the right arm by an eighth-inning pitch.

Soon enough, they began taunting each other and the benches and bullpens emptied. No punches were thrown, Edmonds went to first base, Nagy returned to the mound and everyone else left peacefully.

The beaning stemmed from Edmonds’ 427-foot homer to center field in the sixth inning.

“He told me, ‘You admired it too much,’ ” Edmonds said. “I told him, ‘You’ve got nothing.’ The umpire was yelling at me. I think he thought I was going to throw the ball at [Nagy].”

“I’m not trying to show anybody up. The game is all about emotions. I wasn’t mad enough to lose any money. Besides, I don’t think my manager would be too happy with me charging the mound and getting suspended.”

Said Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove: “Edmonds was Cadillac-ing after the home run. Charlie took exception, as he should have.”

There might be fallout of another kind awaiting Edmonds today, however. He wore a No. 13 on his batting helmet as a tribute to catcher Jim Leyritz, who was traded Tuesday to Texas for pitcher Ken Hill.

“I wanted to show him some respect,” Edmonds said. “He was a lot more than just a player on this team. He gave us a lot of veteran leadership. I’m excited to have Ken Hill here. Unfortunately, we had to lose somebody.”

*

Second baseman Tony Phillips also got beaned, but it was only by a peanut fired by an unknown assailant seated behind the Angel dugout.

The cops were summoned by Phillips in the fifth inning and several fans were hauled off for questioning. None confessed and all returned to their seats. No more peanuts were thrown at players.

“People shouldn’t throw things at people,” Phillips said.

*

Mark Langston made his second rehabilitation start for Class-A Lake Elsinore on Wednesday and gave up three runs on four hits with two strikeouts in five innings. He did not walk a batter in his 67-pitch performance.

Langston’s final rehab start is scheduled for Monday. If that goes well, he is expected to start Aug. 9 for the Angels against the Baltimore Orioles at Anaheim Stadium.

*

Left-handed relief pitcher Greg Cadaret made his first major-league appearance in three years, facing two batters in the eighth inning. The Angels designated former first-round draft pick Pete Janicki, a minor-league pitcher, for assignment to make room for Cadaret on the 40-man roster.

“My stuff might be better now [than in 1994],” said Cadaret, a member of the Oakland A’s World Series teams in 1988-89. “But it’s tough to break back into the majors when you’ve been in the minors for a while. People in general say there must be something wrong.”

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ON DECK

* Opponent--Chicago White Sox, four games.

* Site--Anaheim Stadium.

* Tonight--7.

* Radio--KTZN (710).

* Records--Angels 60-47, White Sox 52-53.

* Record vs. White Sox--3-2.

TONIGHT’S GAME

THE ANGELS’ JASON DICKSON (10-4, 3.24 ERA) vs. THE WHITE SOX’S JAMIE NAVARRO (8-9, 5.14)

* Update: The Angels’ experiment with a four-man rotation has ended with the acquisition of right-handed starter Ken Hill. Extra rest between starts should help solve Dickson’s arm stiffness. Although he pitched well in the four-man rotation, Dickson suffered a flare-up of his early-season stiffness last week in New York. He has been tied by Chuck Finley for the team lead with 10 victories, but Dickson still has the lowest earned-run average of any Angel starter. Chicago’s clubhouse has become a cranky place in the wake of Tuesday’s trade that sent Harold Baines to the Baltimore Orioles and management’s apparent unwillingness to negotiate new contracts for pitchers Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez. The White Sox stopped a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory Wednesday over Detroit.

* Friday, 7 p.m.--Allen Watson (8-6, 4.85) vs. Wilson Alvarez (9-8, 3.03).

* Saturday, 7 p.m.--Dennis Springer (6-4, 5.80) vs. Danny Darwin (4-8, 4.13).

* Sunday, 5 p.m.--Chuck Finley (10-6, 4.42) vs. James Baldwin (7-11, 4.98)