McDowell Goes on Disabled List

Jack McDowell registered a 10 Sunday, but those weren’t the type of double figures he was hoping to reach. The right-hander was rating his elbow pain, and it was clear his shoddy outing against the Twins was accompanied by pure agony.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, [the pain] was a 10,” said McDowell, who gave up five runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. “I can’t imagine it being any worse. My fear was that at some point my elbow was going to snap. It’s possible I could have a stress fracture in there now.”

A similar injury sidelined McDowell for most of the 1997 season. The Angels don’t want to risk another season-ending injury, so they will put McDowell on the disabled list today and activate Jarrod Washburn. McDowell, who was also on the disabled list from April 27-May 20, had no qualms with the decision.

“When I go out there and throw I have a chance of breaking my arm,” he said. “It would be one thing if I could go late into the game and give some semblance of what I have to offer. But I can’t.”

McDowell, 32, is by no means ready to give up on this season or his career, but he admits his elbow problems have clouded his future. “If I can get back to where I was at the beginning of the season I’ll be fine,” McDowell said. “But after this season, I don’t know. Obviously my prospects of being a starting pitcher are not that great. Maybe I can set up or close for someone. It depends on my frame of mind after this season.”

*

The Angels are three weeks into the Tim Salmon experiment, in which they seek to determine whether their best player functioning at about 70% can still be a force in their lineup.

“I don’t have a good feel for this whole thing,” Collins said of Salmon, who has been limited to the designated-hitter role because of a slight tear of a ligament in his left foot.

“This guy has to be in the fray. We need his bat in the lineup. But he’s frustrated because he can’t be the Tim Salmon everyone knows and wants.”

Tim Salmon, who is hobbling to such an extent he looks like he’s jogging around the basepaths, batting .211 (12 for 57) with two homers and 10 RBIs in 17 games since returning from the disabled list May 9. “I feel pretty good in the batter’s box, but hitting is more than physical, it’s mental,” said Salmon, who was given Sunday off. “When the only way to help the team is by swinging the bat, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. I’m trying to deal with that frustration.”

*

Cecil Fielder, mired in a nine-for-56 slump that has dropped his average from .258 to .229, joined Salmon on the bench Sunday, marking the first game he has missed this season. Collins used Frank Bolick in the cleanup spot, but Bolick was hitless with a walk in two at-bats. . . . Edmonds’ homer in the fifth extended his hitting streak to 11 games. . . . The Twins are 10-17 in the Metrodome, the second-worst home record in the American League.

ON DECK

* Opponent--Kansas City Royals, two games.

* Site--Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

* Today--5 p.m. PDT.

* TV--Channel 9 tonight and Tuesday night.

* Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090).

* Records--Angels 27-26, Royals 21-32.

* Record vs. Royals--0-2.

TODAY’S GAME

ANGELS’ OMAR OLIVARES

(2-2, 3.22 ERA)

vs.

ROYALS’ JOSE ROSADO

(1-4, 4.28 ERA)

* Update--Rookie second baseman Justin Baughman showed the added dimension he brings to the Angel lineup in the ninth inning Sunday, blazing around the bases for a leadoff triple and scoring the winning run on Gary DiSarcina’s fly ball to medium right field, a ball that many players would not have been able to score on. “Triples are a blast,” said Baughman, the fastest player in the Angel organization. “You start running, and you know you’re going to make it. I love knowing I can do something that not a lot of players can do.”

Tuesday, 5 p.m.--Jarrod Washburn (major league debut) vs. Chris Haney (3-3, 7.68).