More Work Left for Langston

Mark Langston had another strong rehabilitation start for Class-A Lake Elsinore on Thursday night.

Langston went five innings, giving up four hits and no runs, with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 57 pitches.

The veteran left-hander, trying to rebound from elbow surgery May 27, will start at least one more game there, then Manager Terry Collins will have the difficult task of finding a place for him in the Angel rotation.

Dennis Springer seemed the natural candidate for a stint in the bullpen, but the right-handed knuckleballer has been remarkably resilient. Whenever he’s about to pitch himself out of the rotation, he responds with a job-saving performance.

He gave up nine runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-2 loss in New York on July 22, then shut out Cleveland for eight innings of a 2-0 win in his next start.

He gave up five runs in six innings of a 6-2 loss to Baltimore Aug. 8, then rebounded with a six-hitter in Thursday’s 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

“I want to be a starter, one of the five guys who gets us into the playoffs,” said Springer, who didn’t record his first big league victory until last season, when he was 31. “I’m just trying to do my job.”

Said Collins, “You can’t count him out. Knuckleballers are different types of pitchers. They can be brilliant or they can struggle real quickly.”

*

Tony Phillips, arrested on felony cocaine charges Sunday in Anaheim, left the team Thursday for New York, where he met with a management doctor. He is supposed to meet with a union doctor today. Collins still expects Phillips to return to the lineup tonight. . . . Catcher Todd Greene barely flinched when Milwaukee’s Jeff Cirillo crashed into him while scoring on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. “I’m not going to whimper, or let anyone think they got the best of me,” Greene said. “It didn’t feel great, but I’m OK. That’s part of the game.”

ON DECK

ANGELS’ CHUCK FINLEY (12-6, 4.08 ERA) vs. BREWERS’ BRYCE FLORIE (3-3, 4.45 ERA)

County Stadium, Milwaukee, 5 PDT

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KTZN (710).

* Update--Finley has had the same linescore in his last two starts, and Collins wouldn’t mind seeing a three-peat--the left-hander gave up one run and five hits in eight innings, struck out three and walked four against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 3 and the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. Finley has won his last nine starts, and a win tonight would tie the franchise record for consecutive victories, held by Bert Blyleven (1989) and Ken McBride (1962). Second baseman Luis Alicea broke out of a six-for-56 skid with three singles Thursday. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong, why pitches I usually hit for line drives I’m popping up,” Alicea said. “It seemed like everything clicked in batting practice today. I felt good . . . but when I screw up, I screw up good. There’s no in-between.”