Watson Not One to Be Penned Up

Allen Watson said he is willing to pitch out of the bullpen if it means not shaking up a successful Angel rotation, but this whole do-what’s-best-for-the-team thing has its limits.

“I’m not an idiot--I don’t want to disrupt the team, and I’ll go to the bullpen if they need me there,” said Watson, who made his third minor league rehabilitation start Friday. “But if it’s going to be for the rest of the season, I don’t want that. That’s not what they got me for. . . .

“I’m not going to sit there and root against someone or for someone to get hurt. That’s not my nature. But I know if I’m healthy I’ll pitch and win. If I don’t play here, I’ll play somewhere else. We’ll see what happens.”

Angel Manager Terry Collins and General Manager Bill Bavasi had a lengthy closed-door meeting before Saturday’s game to discuss the pitching situation, and Collins intimated that Watson, on the disabled list because of tendinitis in his flexor muscle, might not regain his starting spot.

“Allen will be activated [this] week--in what spot I don’t know,” Collins said. “I wouldn’t assume he’ll be in the rotation.”

If Watson, who will earn $2.9 million this season, goes to the bullpen, it’s doubtful the Angels would keep three left-handed relievers--Watson, Greg Cadaret and Mike Holtz.

It’s possible the Angels are contemplating sending the struggling Holtz (6.98 earned-run average) to triple-A Vancouver to find his curveball, or they could demote seldom-used right-hander Pep Harris.

“I wouldn’t assume anything as far as the left-handers go,” Collins said. “Watson will throw on the side [today] and we’ll make a decision Tuesday.”

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Thanks to Angel catcher Phil Nevin, who homered to lead off the eighth inning Sunday, the Padres extended their streak of games without a no-hitter to 4,652.

Nevin is getting quite proficient at the spoiler role. As a Detroit Tiger last season, he broke up Seattle left-hander Randy Johnson’s no-hit bid with a double in the eighth inning.

Sterling Hitchcock faced only 30 batters Saturday, three over the minimum.

“I don’t know if he missed a spot all day,” Nevin said. “He didn’t throw many pitches right down the middle. A lot of guys were swinging at balls in the dirt, and you don’t normally see that.”

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The Angels have a new hot third-base prospect in Troy Glaus, whose back-to-back, multi-homer games last week gave him six home runs for Vancouver since being promoted from double-A Midland on May 27, but their old one is doing pretty well too.

Remember George Arias, who flopped after winning the Angel third-base job out of spring training in 1996 and was sent to San Diego as the player to be determined in last August’s Rickey Henderson trade?

Arias is hitting .322 with a league-leading 20 home runs and 65 runs batted in for the Las Vegas Stars and was recently named the starting third baseman for the Pacific Coast League in the July 8 triple-A All-Star game.

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Padre second baseman Quilvio Veras left the team Friday night to return to the Dominican Republic after his older brother was shot to death near the family home.

General Manager Kevin Towers told the San Diego Union-Tribune Veras would miss at least two games, but added, “He needs to take all the time he needs. . . . We know this is devastating to the family.”

TODAY

ANGELS’ JARROD WASHBURN (3-0, 3.55 ERA) vs. PADRES’ JOEY HAMILTON (5-8, 5.30 ERA)

Qualcomm Stadium, 1 p.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090).

* Update--The Angels believe there is no coincidence that they’ve gone into a hitting slump during a stretch in which they play five consecutive games in National League parks. Designated hitter Tim Salmon has not played in Los Angeles and San Diego, as he recovers from last Monday night’s cortisone shot in his sore left foot. “We’re missing the big guy in the middle of the lineup, and that hurts a bit,” Nevin said. “We only have to play one more game without him. Thank God for the designated hitter, I guess.” Padre left fielder Greg Vaughn, who homered Saturday, has an 11-game hitting streak in which he is batting .455 (20 for 44) with four homers, five doubles and nine runs batted in.