Santana’s latest woes again baffle Scioscia

SEATTLE -- No quote could have better summed up how the Angels feel about Ervin Santana than the one Manager Mike Scioscia delivered Wednesday in the wake of Santana’s one-third of an inning, five-run, four-hit flop against Seattle on Tuesday.

“When you see what happened in Boston, you go, ‘Wow!’ ” Scioscia said, referring to Santana’s 6 1/3 -inning, one-run, four-hit effort Aug. 17. “And when you see [Tuesday] night, you go, ‘wow’ ”

Not since the enigmatic Ramon Ortiz has an Angels pitcher so confounded Scioscia and his coaches. Santana was 28-16 with a 4.42 earned-run average in his first two seasons but has been awful in 2007 outside of a handful of starts.

The 24-year-old right-hander was demoted July 18 to triple-A Salt Lake with a 5-11 record and 6.22 ERA. He was dominant in his return against the Boston Red Sox, hitting corners with his 94-mph fastball and keeping hitters off-balance with his slider.

But he regressed Thursday against Toronto (five runs, eight hits, six innings) and bombed Tuesday, a performance that is expected to cost him his rotation spot again.

Though Scioscia said he and pitching coach Mike Butcher are “talking about a couple of things,” it appears Dustin Moseley, who threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Santana on Tuesday, enabling the Angels to rally for a 10-6 victory, will replace Santana and start Monday night against Oakland.

“It’s frustrating,” Scioscia said. “If you look at Ervin and where we still project his career, we’re as excited as ever, because this guy has the potential to be good for a long, long time. We’ve tried a lot of different things with him, and I think the long-term confidence we have in him is still high.

“But right now, I think Ervin has to bring his stuff, which includes a confident approach, into games to have a chance. The frustrating thing is that we’ve just not seen that as often as his talent says it should happen. . . . But we haven’t given up on him. We’re going to keep going until we get him fixed.”

After spending months adjusting to hitting in the middle of the order, Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. found himself Wednesday right back where he started from: the leadoff spot.

First baseman Casey Kotchman returned after sitting out six games because of a sprained left middle finger and bruised left thumb, but Scioscia wanted to keep the hot bat of Kendry Morales, who was nine for 20 while filling in for Kotchman, in the lineup.

Scioscia also wanted to keep Maicer Izturis, who began the game with a .417 average with runners in scoring position, in the fifth spot, so he started Morales at designated hitter and Matthews in the leadoff spot in place of Reggie Willits. It was the first time Matthews led off since May 3.

“Mike seems to do a good job of plugging guys into different spots and getting results,” Matthews said. “Players aren’t always crazy about it, but you can’t deny the results.”

Scioscia said Matthews’ stay in the leadoff spot would be “a short-term thing,” but if Morales, who had a double, two singles and an RBI on Wednesday, continues to hit, Matthews will probably remain in the leadoff spot -- and Willits on the bench -- until Chone Figgins returns from a bruised left wrist.

Figgins hopes to take some dry swings for the first time Friday and is not expected back until next week, at the earliest.

Vladimir Guerrero was eight for 14 (.571) with two doubles, one home run and four RBIs against Seattle this week and is batting .500 (29 for 58) with five homers and 17 RBIs against the Mariners this season.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com