Metrodome Is One Giant Blind Spot

Count Angel left fielder Darin Erstad among those who would love to see the Minnesota Twins build a new retractable-roof or open-air stadium. Or maybe they could just raise the roof on the Metrodome.

Erstad was so befuddled by Terry Steinbach’s high fly ball in the eighth inning Friday night he said he had “no chance� to catch it.

“I saw it off the bat and then I said, ‘Oh, boy, somebody help me,’ � Erstad said. “I thought I could see it and make the adjustment, but I didn’t even see it again until it hit the ground.

“Without a question, that’s the most helpless feeling you can have in this game. You’re out there on an island when you can’t see the ball.�

Dave Hollins had the same feeling in the sixth inning Friday when he lost Todd Walker’s foul pop, which shortstop Gary DiSarcina raced over and caught. There was no such rescue mission for Erstad--Steinbach’s ball dropped for a double, and it cost the Angels a run.

“It stinks that a routine fly ball can turn a game around here,� Angel right fielder Garret Anderson said. “You could be pitching a great game, you pop a guy up, and then you have a chance to get a no-decision or a loss. That’s bad. One swing can change the complexion of the game.�

The problem is the Metrodome roof is almost the exact color--dingy white--of the rubbed-up baseballs used in games, so when fly balls clear the dark blue background of the bleachers, they are extremely difficult to track.

“Tim [Salmon] gave me some advice, which he got from [former Twin outfielder] Kirby Puckett,� Erstad said. “He said you have to trust your read [of the ball off the bat] and go to the spot you think it’s going to land.

“Being that I haven’t been in the outfield much this season, I’m not reading the ball well anyway. It’s strange, because I can see the balls hit to center and right fine. It’s the ones right to me I’m having trouble with.�

If you do lose a ball in the roof, Anderson has this advice: “Act like you’re going to catch it, so the baserunners can’t advance too far.�

*

Todd Greene’s options for the immediate future were reduced by one Saturday. Manager Terry Collins said Greene, who will not catch again this season because of a shoulder injury, will concentrate solely on first base and will not try to play the outfield.

Greene’s minor league rehabilitation assignment ends Tuesday, and he likely will join the Angels on Wednesday in Seattle to plot the next course of action.

Greene could join the Angels as a reserve, being used as a part-time designated hitter and pinch-hitter, or it’s possible the Angels might ask him to undergo arthroscopic surgery, sit out the rest of 1998 and concentrate on returning strong for 1999.

“I’m not sure if we can fit him in here,� Collins said. “Can we get him into the lineup and get him enough at-bats to keep him sharp? Once every seven days is not enough.�

*

Reliever Mike James responded so poorly to a brief workout Friday he will not throw again on this trip. James has been on the disabled list since May 8 because of a partial tear of the flexor muscle in his right forearm, and now it appears it will be at least another two weeks before he returns.

“His elbow has regressed,� Collins said. “The pain was pretty substantial even when he just tried to play catch, so that inflammation has to be quieted down. He’ll be reexamined when we get home.�

ON DECK

ANGELS’

JACK McDOWELL

(1-2, 4.00 ERA)

vs.

TWINS’

MIKE MORGAN

(2-1, 3.98 ERA)

Metrodome, Minneapolis, 11 a.m. PDT

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

* Update--New second baseman Justin Baughman has been superb defensively since being recalled from triple-A Vancouver on May 17, but the rookie discovered this past week how humbling big league pitching can be. Baughman went hitless in 15 at-bats in four games, his average dropping from .440 to .275, and Collins gave him Saturday night off. “It had nothing to do with how he’s done the last few games,� Collins said. “I had to get [Norberto] Martin a game.� McDowell will be starting for the first time since May 21, when he left a game against Oakland after five innings because of a sore elbow.