BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Polonia to Fans: No Autographs

After being booed for failing to catch two fly balls in left field Monday--and later tipping his cap in mock thanks after making a catch--Luis Polonia said he will no longer sign autographs because of what he saw as a betrayal.

He stood by that decision Tuesday. “For right now,” he said, “if they want to be bad to me, I’ll be bad, too. I don’t need them.”

If he sticks to that vow, it probably won’t earn him many fans’ All-Star votes. But no matter, Polonia, batting .306 and leading the American League in stolen bases with 22 before Tuesday’s game, is hoping to be chosen as a reserve.

“No matter what I do, I’m not going to have enough votes. It’s going to take (AL Manager) Tony La Russa picking me to go,” Polonia said. “No matter if I have a .400 batting average, I still wouldn’t have enough votes to get it.”

He bristled about the booing, but later shrugged it off.

“It surprised me, but it doesn’t hurt,” he said. “They can boo and yell, it’s OK. They paid to come to the game, and I get some of that money. Keep coming.”

Fernando Valenzuela will make his second start for the Angels today, facing Milwaukee in a rare weekday day game, starting at 1 p.m. The Brewers are the same team Valenzuela faced in a spring training game with the Dodgers at Monterrey, Mexico, in what proved to be his best outing of the spring. Valenzuela, facing a lineup that included about half regulars, allowed one run on two hits over five innings in that game, striking out four and walking one.

In his first major league start for the Angels Friday, Valenzuela went five innings against Detroit, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and striking out five. He also gave up back-to-back home runs to Tony Phillips and Lou Whitaker.

Valenzuela said Tuesday that watching from the dugout for two days is helping him prepare to face the Brewers. Because Valenzuela was not on the roster before his first start, he was not able to watch from the dugout the night before.

“I think this will help me,” he said. “I like to watch what they do, whether they’re first-ball hitters or whether they like to run. You have to look for yourself. Watching the game is a lot different from seeing film.”

Catcher Lance Parrish, who strained the flexor tendon in his right forearm Sunday, did not start for the second consecutive game. X-rays taken Tuesday proved negative. “Today is better than yesterday, so I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll be all together before too long,” Parrish said. “I don’t know if that will be (today) or Friday or when. . . . Left-handed reliever Floyd Bannister, on the disabled list since May 20 with tendinitis in his biceps, pitched a few innings of a simulated game Tuesday. “I feel good,” Bannister said. “It’s just a matter of what they want to do. I feel I can pitch.” . . . Infielder Bobby Rose was recalled from triple-A Edmonton in exchange for outfielder Ruben Amaro partly to give the Angels another right-handed bat off the bench. Amaro, a switch-hitter, bats better left-handed. Rose also can catch in an emergency.