ANGELS NOTEBOOK: SALMON INJURY MAY SPUR TRADE.

Byline: Joe Haakenson

Right fielder Tim Salmon will have the cast on his left wrist removed in one week, at which point he'll have the wrist re-examined.

That's when things will get interesting.

The Angels are hoping the sprain - suffered May 3 when he tried to make a sliding catch - will be healed enough for him to begin rehabilitation. The minimum amount of rehab time is two weeks, which would bring him back the second week in June.

The worst-case scenario, though, would be that the wrist ligaments have not healed sufficiently and he'd need season-ending surgery. If Salmon can't come back anytime soon, the Angels will place a higher priority on making a trade.

Reportedly, the Angels nearly pulled off a trade that would have landed outfielder Butch Huskey from the Mariners. In the deal, the Angels would have sent left-handed reliever Mike Holtz (currently pitching at Triple-A Edmonton) to the Yankees. But the Mariners nixed what would have been a three-way deal because they demanded pitcher Ramiro Mendoza from the Yankees and the Yankees refused.

Angels general manager Bill Bavasi refuses to speculate on potential trades but says the club is always looking to improve.

Injury update: Mo Vaughn's sprained left ankle continues to limit him to the DH spot, but on June 4 the Angels begin a stretch of six consecutive games in National League ballparks (three against the Dodgers and three against San Francisco).

The plan is to rest the ankle as much as possible over the next nine days and allow Vaughn to play first base against the Dodgers and Giants.

``He's starting to take ground balls today, and we'll see how it reacts to that,'' Angels manager Terry Collins said. ``My money's on him. He'll be out there. Let's wait nine days and see where we're at.''

Pitching plans: Collins hinted he is leaning toward skipping Steve Sparks' next start in the rotation, which would be Friday against Kansas City. Because of Monday's off day, Collins can move everybody up in the rotation and still give them their normal four days between starts.

Chuck Finley would start Friday in Sparks' place. Sparks is 1-4 with a 6.04 ERA in nine starts this season.

ANGELS vs. BALTIMORE

Time: 7:35 p.m. at Edison Field.

TV/Radio: FSW; KLAC-AM (570), XPRS-AM (1090, Spanish).

Matchup: Tim Belcher (3-3, 8.23 ERA) will go for his third consecutive win against the Orioles' Sidney Ponson (4-3, 4.53). Belcher put together two consecutive quality starts for the first time this season with victories over Tampa Bay (May 14, 6-1/3 innings, two runs and three hits) and Baltimore (May 20, 7 innings, four runs and seven hits). Still, only three AL pitchers have allowed more earned runs than Belcher's 43 - Jeff Fassero (53), LaTroy Hawkins (45) and Mark Clark (44).

- Joe Haakenson

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Box: ANGELS vs. BALTIMORE (See text)