BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Winfield Wants to Hit His 400th Homer at Home

Dave Winfield would like to hit his 400th career home run at Anaheim Stadium, but today will be his last chance before the Angels leave for an 11-game trip. Since hitting his 399th homer

Monday, Winfield had gone 0 for 11, dropping his batting average to .267 before Saturday’s game.

The team’s slump and the uncertainty over the status of Manager Doug Rader haven’t helped Winfield’s concentration.

“The toughest part is staying focused when the team isn’t playing well,” he said. “It can distract you and take you all out of character. You try to do too much. I know I was guilty of that.

Finally I said to myself, ‘You can only do what you can do.’

“I go through these periods where I don’t hit (homers), then I hit a lot. I’ll get ‘em. I’d like to get it here, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to swing for a home run. I don’t want to be

hitting .250 when I hit it.”

Winfield described Rader as “a more verbal manager than any I’ve heard,” and Winfield has heard plenty. Counting each of Billy Martin’s stints separately, Winfield played for 13 managers

with the New York Yankees, five in San Diego and one with the Angels. “I’ve probably got the major league record,” he said. “I’ll be a trivia question one day.”

Chris Beasley, who attended Costa Mesa High and Orange Coast College, was scheduled to return to triple-A Edmonton but remained when Bryan Harvey was granted a leave to attend his

grandmother’s funeral. In three appearances this week, Beasley has pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings.

“I look at it as a second opportunity, my staying,” said Beasley, who has a scoreless streak of 7 1/3 innings over four outings. “It would be a lot sweeter if we were doing better. All I can

do when I get the opportunity is take advantage of it.”

Before Saturday’s game, no Angel was hitting .300 at home, but four (Dave Gallagher, Wally Joyner, Luis Polonia and Winfield) were hitting .300 on the road. The team batting average was .242

at home, .279 on the road and .260 overall. . . . A’s left fielder Rickey Henderson sat out Saturday because of a bruised left elbow. Jose Canseco, bothered by a sore back, was the

designated hitter.