Napoli stays hot at plate

Monday dawned dreary and overcast in Oakland, the kind of day that makes you want to stay inside in front of a television.

Which is exactly how many of the Angels spent part of their afternoon, crowded around a clubhouse TV eating potato chips and watching a movie.

Mike Napoli was not one of them.

Around the corner from the clubhouse, in the bowels of the aging Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Napoli lay alone next to a medicine ball on the floor in the weight room, stretching.

The TV would have to wait. Napoli was on a roll and he wasn’t about to relax now.

“I have a routine,” he said. “Before I didn’t know how to have a routine.”

And that’s not all his has. He also has a streak.

Four days and a continent away, the Angels catcher, making his first career start as a designated hitter, drew a second-inning walk at Yankee Stadium, starting a streak in which he would make only one out over his next 13 plate appearances.

And in his last nine times at bat, he hasn’t made any outs, a streak he continued Monday, collecting a career-high four hits in the Angels’ 5-2 win over Oakland.

Not that he’s counting, mind you.

“I don’t really pay attention to it,” said Napoli, who has raised his average more than 100 points, to .364, over the last week. “I guess I know now. I feel good at the plate. I’m seeing the ball well, obviously. I’m just trying to go out and keep it the same. Just keep playing.”

Napoli said his current hot spell is actually a carryover from last season, which he closed by batting .453 in September.”It showed me I can get on a hot streak,” Napoli said.

Also helpful was a second start in three games as the Angels’ designated hitter. “I like it,” he said. “It’s way different than catching a game. It’s a lot less stressful.”

As Napoli has heated up, so have the once-struggling Angels (11-13), who have won five of their last seven games, pulling to within two games of .500 for the first time since April 17.

Napoli played a big part in both Angels rallies Monday, driving in Torii Hunter with a single in a three-run third inning, then driving in Bobby Abreu with a two-out double in a two-run fifth.

Chone Figgins also singled and scored in both innings, finishing three for five and stealing his 10th base, and Abreu was two for four, raising his average to .363.

Joe Saunders (4-1), who struck out a season-high seven batters in 6 2/3 innings, was the beneficiary of the 12-hit attack. After allowing three of the first six Oakland batters to reach base, the left-hander settled down to retire eight batters in a row and 12 of the next 13 hitters he faced.

The streak ended in the sixth inning when the Athletics turned two leadoff singles, a two-out walk and a balk into a run. Saunders’ outing ended an inning later when Kurt Suzuki, after fouling a full-count pitch off his foot, got up and hit a fastball over the wall in left field, drawing Oakland another run closer at 5-2.

Saunders said he benefited from a recent bullpen session with pitching coach Mike Butcher.

“I was kind of slowing my delivery down a little bit and that was kind of throwing me off,” Saunders said. “He really just said to be aggressive.”

Relievers Jose Arredondo and Brian Fuentes combined to set down the last seven batters with Fuentes earning his sixth save.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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ANGELS TONIGHT

AT OAKLAND

Time: 7.

Where: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

On the air: TV: FS West. Radio: 830, 1330.

Pitchers: Shane Loux vs. Dallas Braden.

Update: Loux is coming off his first win since September 2006. It came in an impressive six-inning effort in Baltimore in which he gave up only one run. Loux, who was effective even though he didn’t have his sinker in Baltimore, got only four ground-ball outs, the only time this year he got more outs in the air than on the ground. Braden, whose 2.10 earned-run average was the second best in the American League before Monday, has won his last two starts. His roughest outing was his first of the season when the Angels got three runs and nine hits against him in six innings.

-- Kevin Baxter