ANGELS NOTEBOOK: ERSTAD BACK IN LINEUP WITH HEAD ON STRAIGHT.

Byline: David Felton Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - If the Angels weren't feeling good enough with their three-game winning streak, Sunday brought another reason to smile: the return of Darin Erstad.

Anaheim's center fielder and spark plug was back in the lineup Sunday after missing seven games with postconcussion syndrome. Erstad was hurt April 16 when he crashed face-first into the outfield wall chasing a ball hit by Texas' Frank Catalonotto. He re-aggravated the injury three days later in Oakland.

--Starting off right: During their three-game winning streak, the Angels have scored 11 first-inning runs.

``We're doing some things we're very excited about, especially offensively,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``We're putting pressure on teams. That's the kind of offense we have to have.''

Especially considering the kind of defense the Angels have been playing. A first-inning error by third baseman Troy Glaus led to three unearned runs Friday night and a potential inning-ending double-play ball was dropped by second baseman Adam Kennedy in the fifth, allowing another run to score.

``We haven't played textbook defense the last couple games,'' Scioscia said, ``but we've been able to make up for it offensively. We do need to clean some things up defensively.''

--A day off: Sunday was a day of rest for Angels outfielder Tim Salmon.

Scioscia kept the struggling outfielder out of the lineup for Sunday's finale of a three-game home series against Toronto. Orlando Palmeiro started in his place.

Salmon, hitting just .158 in 22 games this season, was hitless in five at-bats in Saturday night's 11-4 victory over the Blue Jays.

``It's a day game after a night game, ... and Orlando is doing a super job for us,'' Scioscia said before the game.

Palmeiro entered Sunday's game batting .350 and went 1 for 4 Saturday with a run scored.

Scioscia brought Salmon in to pinch hit in the seventh with the Angels trailing 3-1. He singled to right off reliever Felix Heredia, the first pinch hit of the season for the Angels in eight attempts.

--Odds and ends: Toronto designated hitter Shannon Stewart elicited various reactions from the Edison Field crowd, all within one at-bat. In the top of the fifth inning, Stewart's bat sailed out of his hands after missing a pitch from Angels starter Scott Schoeneweis, landing among the customers just behind the Angels' third-base dugout and creating a stir in the crowd. The attitude quickly changed to anger when Stewart directed an Angels bat boy to retrieve the bat from the fan who caught it. Stewart, however, sent the same bat boy into the Toronto clubhouse, where he soon emerged with another bat for the fan, drawing cheers from the same fans that had booed him just moments earlier.