Mike Napoli, Kevin Frandsen fill a couple of holes — but for how long?
Kendry Morales’ season-ending injury and Brandon Wood’s season-long struggles created a pair of unexpected holes in the Angels’ infield.
Even more startling has been the play of the duo that filled them.
First baseman Mike Napoli’s three-run home run in the fourth inning Sunday against Colorado was his team-leading 13th of the season, and Kevin Frandsen has emerged as a capable third baseman who leads the Angels with a .352 batting average.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Angels will stick with either player at his respective position for the rest of the season.
Although the Angels are 20-8 since Morales suffered a freak leg injury during a home-plate celebration last month, they continue to assess whether to trade for help as the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline approaches.
Might Napoli provide as much offensive punch as anyone the Angels could acquire?
“He certainly has the big bat that could fill that void,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.
Scioscia said he would like to see more run production from Napoli, whose 31 runs batted in rank seventh among Angels hitters. Napoli also has a team-leading 75 strikeouts and has cooled considerably this month, hitting only .223 after posting a .322 average in May.
Asked whether the Angels’ need for help on offense trumped their need for pitching, Scioscia said he didn’t “know if one’s greater than the other because there are things we need to do on the field on a consistent basis that we’ve seen in the last month how it can impact our wins, because we’re doing it. We need to continue to do it for a whole year, and to do that sometimes you need to establish more depth than you might have.”
Back to form
Scot Shields in recent outings has started to look more like the pitcher who was selected as setup man of the decade by Sports Illustrated, helping the veteran right-hander move closer to reclaiming the late-inning role he lost earlier this season.
Scioscia summoned Shields with two outs in the seventh inning Sunday after Clint Barmes’ run-scoring single had pulled Colorado to within 5-3. Shields gave up a single to Jonathan Herrera to put runners on first and second before getting Todd Helton to fly out to left field to end the inning.
Shields said he has made strides during three recent outings in which he pitched at least two innings and did not give up an earned run.
“I think I ironed some stuff out, and if I’m not going to pitch a lot I think multiple innings do help because it gets me more pitches to help me get back into my groove,” he said. “I feel good right now.”
Plagued by command problems in April, Shields has walked only three batters in his last 10 2/3 innings.
“I haven’t gotten into too many three-ball counts,” he said. “I’ve been getting early outs and making pitches when I need to.”
Short hops
Hideki Matsui has four homers in 12 starts as a left fielder and six homers in 60 starts at designated hitter. Matsui’s grand slam Saturday was the first on a 3-and-0 pitch in the major leagues since Houston’s Jason Lane hit one off Milwaukee’s Dan Kolb in August 2006. … Erick Aybar went two for five in his first game back in the leadoff spot since returning from the knee injury that had sidelined him since June 14.
Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
