ANGEL NOTEBOOK : Coaches’ Prank Right on Target

MESA, Ariz. —  A camp full of replacement players didn’t prevent Angel coaches from pulling a major-league prank on catcher Joel Smith Sunday at Gene Autry Park.

After fielding a variety of 85-m.p.h. fastballs from a pitching machine, Bill Lachemann, Angel catching coach and brother of Manager Marcel Lachemann, wrapped a towel around Smith’s helmet and facemask so he couldn’t see.

From about two feet away, Lachemann tossed a few balls into Smith’s mitt and had him go from the crouch to a throwing position. It’s a visualization drill designed to make the catch-and-release motion come more naturally.

“Now let’s do it off the machine,” Lachemann said.

“Off the machine?” a stunned Smith cried.

“Don’t worry, Joel, the ball will go right in your glove, trust me,” Lachemann said.

Two other coaches cranked up the pitching machine in front of the mound and aimed it straight up. A split second after they launched a ball into the sky, Lachemann, from two feet away, tossed another ball into Smith’s mitt, making it seem as if the ball came from the machine.

A disoriented Smith dropped the ball, and Lachemann repeated the routine with the machine and toss. After Smith dropped a second ball, several other players and coaches broke into laughter.

“It was freaking me out,” said Smith, a 25-year-old from Florida who spent about three weeks as the Angels’ bullpen catcher in 1992. “I thought they were getting ready to kill me or maybe they wanted me out of here. It scared me for a minute, but I figured it out.”

Lachemann wasn’t so sure.

“He thought he was catching off the machine,” Lachemann said. “I’ve been doing that one for years. We have a lot of fun with it, and it breaks up the monotony.”

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Hard sell: If fan turnout during the Angels’ first weekend of training camp and exhibition-game ticket sales are any indication, replacement baseball is not going to be a big hit in Tempe Diablo Stadium come March.

Only one fan was on hand when the Angels began practice Friday morning and just a handful--no more than 12 each day--trickled through Gene Autry Park Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Kevin Uhlich, team vice president of stadium operations, said the Angels have sold about 10,000 tickets for 15 Cactus League games, down from about 15,000 at this point last season. Some 486 spring season tickets have been sold, compared to 586 last year.

The Angels have sold 9,500 season tickets for the regular season, down from 12,300 last year.

The Angels, who team President Richard Brown said lost more than $10 million during the strike-shortened 1994 season, figure to go deeper into the red this spring.

Because replacement players are receiving major league meal money (about $53 a day) and are being housed in a hotel, the cost of this spring training is virtually no different than if major leaguers were here.

Uhlich said the Angels usually recoup most spring training costs during the annual Freeway League series, from which the Dodgers and Angels retain all revenues from home games.

But because only one game of the three-game series is in Anaheim this year, Angel revenues will be down. Factor in reduced ticket prices for replacement games, in Tempe and Anaheim, and the Angels could suffer six-figure spring training losses.

“It’s a little too early to get too worried because so much may happen in the next few weeks,” Uhlich said.