DiSarcina Is Steadier in This Year’s Opener : Angels: Two-run home run helps provide a contrast to last season’s opening-day error.

ANAHEIM —  Already one game up on 1992 in the Sanity Column, Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina smiled after his team’s 3-1 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday and let out a little secret.

His fifth-inning, two-run homer that provided the Angels with a 3-0 cushion?

“It was probably a mistake pitch and a mistake swing, to be honest with you,” DiSarcina said. “I was actually looking away.

“I should do that more often.”

The guy is on a roll. He won the team’s NCAA tournament pool Monday night and on Tuesday yanked a Bill Wegman curve over the 362-feet sign in left field. He singled in the seventh, was perfect in the field and now has an opening day that won’t cause him to lay awake at night sweating.

Yes, DiSarcina vividly remembers his first opener, 1992. He scooped up the first grounder to come his way, fired it toward first . . . and the ball landed about 20 feet short of the bag.

“My arm shortened up about six inches,” he said. “I was just tense. Having a year under your belt helps.”

DiSarcina was charged with an error in each of the Angels’ first two games last season and, in the third outing against the Chicago White Sox, Manager Buck Rodgers benched him for one game.

“He was getting pretty excited,” Rodgers said. “He came up at the end of 1991 and played real good, so I knew he could play shortstop. It was just a matter that on opening day, he got all tied up.

“I just had to sit him down so he could reassess things. Every now and then, it helps to realize that the game is not as hard as you’re making it.”

As time ticked away before Tuesday’s opener, DiSarcina made sure to sit in front of his locker and think about that.

“I just tried to relax myself, especially during batting practice,” DiSarcina said. “In pre-game, I wanted to just hang around the clubhouse. Last year, I couldn’t sit down. I was so nervous. I tried to learn from that.

“Last year, I got caught up in a lot of peripheral stuff that was going on--people, the pre-game hoopla. This year, I tried to control my emotions, and it worked. . . . You can’t play this game with a football mentality or you’ll lose your mind.”

It also helped that DiSarcina, despite his early benching, played in 157 games last season. It was the first time a shortstop led the Angels in games played since Rick Burleson appeared in 109 in 1981. Now a veteran of 25, DiSarcina would like to stay consistent and become more vocal in the infield.

“Sometimes, when you’re a young guy, you can wait for others to take charge,” DiSarcina said. “Having gone through it last year, I can be more vocal.”

With rookies Damion Easley and J.T. Snow to DiSarcina’s left, it is something that Rodgers would like to see.

“Anytime you have a young club like this, when somebody takes the bull by the horns, nothing but good things can happen,” Rodgers said. “It’s nice when everyone is talking and knows what’s going on.

“Sometimes with a young club, everyone is reluctant to say something. They say ‘You’re covering’ or ‘I’m covering’ and that’s the extent of it.”

For now, though, Rodgers has another problem. Tuesday’s homer was only the fourth of DiSarcina’s career--his first since Aug. 4 against Kansas City’s Kevin Appier--and you know what can happen if singles hitters start swinging for the fences. . . .

“Now we have to get him out of it,” Rodgers said with a wry smile. “Most guys, you have to get into it. With infielders, my biggest worry is how you get them out of it.”

He didn’t say anything, though, about benching DiSarcina.

Funny.

Anaheim Openers

Date Opp. Result Att. 4/19/66 Chi L, 3-1 31,824 4/11/67 Det W, 4-2 17,839 4/17/68 NY L, 3-2 20,068 4/08/69 Sea L, 4-3 11,930 4/15/70 Chi L, 3-1 18,229 4/06/71 KC L, 4-1 24,434 4/15/72 Tex W, 1-0 13,916 4/06/73 KC W, 3-2 27,240 4/09/74 Tex L, 10-2 25,241 4/07/75 KC W, 3-2 24,105 4/09/76 Oak W, 5-2 30,194 4/15/77 Sea W, 7-0 34,654 4/07/78 Oak W, 1-0 28,194 4/10/79 Minn L, 8-1 33,171 4/11/80 Clev W, 10-2 37,085 4/13/81 Oak L, 3-2 38,076 4/13/82 Sea W, 4-3 33,574 4/05/83 Milw W, 3-2 34,177 4/02/84 Bos W, 2-1 31,760 4/09/85 Minn L, 6-2 35,244 4/14/86 Sea W, 7-6 37,489 4/07/87 Sea W, 7-1 37,097 4/08/88 Oak L, 8-2 45,586 4/04/89 Chi L, 9-2 33,265 4/09/90 Sea L, 7-4 38,406 4/15/91 Oak L, 5-2 44,339 4/07/92 Chi L, 10-4 32,160 4/06/93 Milw W, 3-1 29,843