ANGELS NOTEBOOK: DICKSON'S ELBOW PROBABLY OK.

Byline: Marc J. Spears Daily News Staff Writer

Jason Dickson is expected to keep from joining Chuck Finley, Mark Gubicza and Mark Langston on the Angels' injured list.

During Saturday's loss to Kansas City, Dickson's right pitching elbow was hit by a Larry Sutton line drive in the seventh inning. The rookie All-Star suffered an elbow bruise and was immediately taken to Anaheim Memorial Hospital, where the X-rays were negative.

Dickson is tentatively scheduled to start Wednesday against Oakland and will throw on the side today, when Angels manager Terry Collins will make a decision.

``It doesn't feel too bad now,'' said Dickson, who had a painless game of catch Sunday. ``(Saturday) it was very, very stiff. I've been icing it, keeping the swelling down. I think I can pitch Wednesday, but I'm not for sure. It feels all right.

``If I got hit on the bone, it would have been a little bit more serious. So I guess I was lucky in a sense.''

In Dickson's previous three outings entering Saturday, he was 0-3 after allowing 17 runs and 14 hits, including five home runs, in 14-1/3 innings. Against the Royals, however, he tied a career high by striking out eight. He allowed just one run on a homer and four hits in 6-2/3 innings.

Concern for Erstad: In the fourth inning, the Angels' Darin Erstad reinjured his right shoulder on a popout. He was replaced by Luis Alicea, who played third as Jack Howell moved to first.

A concerned Collins said that Erstad had numbness in his shoulder and would receive an MRI today.

``That tells me there is something wrong,'' said Collins about Erstad, who had numbness in his left hand earlier this season. ``We can do a lot of things and not lose feeling in our arm. This kid has too bright a future. Sometimes you get caught up in the pennant races and you forget that you got to keep these guys healthy. In order to compete, we need Darin Erstad and we got to be very careful in what we do.''

Etc: After batting seventh Saturday, the Angels' Rickey Henderson was moved back to leadoff Sunday and ended a hitless streak at 0 for 14 with a single in the seventh inning. . . . Angels catchers Chris Turner and Angelo Encarnacion are 1 for 17 throwing out base stealers. . . . The winner in each game during the Angels-Royals series had fewer hits than the loser.