BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Polonia Worried About Rangers

Even before Texas completed a three-game sweep of the Angels for its fifth victory in the teams’ seven games over 10 days, Luis Polonia picked the Rangers as the most formidable threat to the Angels’ pennant hopes.

“If their pitching staff holds up, they could do it,” Polonia said. “It’s hard to keep those guys off base. But we can’t just worry about one team, and we can’t take Oakland for granted.

“Oakland and Texas, those are the teams we’ve got to get out of the way. I don’t even worry about Minnesota. They had that big streak and now they’re starting to fall.”

The Angels hadn’t been swept by the Rangers since June 12-14, 1989, also at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers’ sweep was the second absorbed by the Angels this season. The A’s swept them in three games April 26-28 at Oakland.

After the game, the Angels announced they had sent pitcher Joe Grahe and outfielder Mark Davis to triple-A Edmonton and recalled infielders Bobby Rose and Chris Beasley. . . . Dave Parker has accounted for 24 of Nolan Ryan’s 5,424 strikeouts. Others: Polonia five, Max Venable eight, Wally Joyner two, Dave Winfield eight, Lance Parrish 14, Gary Gaetti one, Donnie Hill three and Luis Sojo two. . . . Ranger second baseman Julio Franco was cleared to play in the All-Star game after tests found no cause for his chest pains besides a combination of heat and caffeine. . . . Winfield played in his 2,475th game, tying him with Napoleon Lajoie for 34th place on the career list. Other milestones he’s approaching: With 396 home runs, he ranks 24th and is three behind Al Kaline; with 1,573 RBIs he’s 21st, five behind Rogers Hornsby’s 20th-place total.