Parrish Gets Three Hits to Break Out of a 6-for-51 Tailspin

The season moved ahead, but Lance Parrish tried not to look.

“I’ve been trying not to let this sink in too much,” he said. “I knew eventually I’d break out. I was hoping it would be before the All-Star break.”

By the time the Angels arrived home from their latest, six-game trip, Parrish had only two hits more than when he left. He went to work early at Anaheim Stadium Tuesday, batting just .212.

This, from the Angels’ catcher? The man who hit a home run every 20 at-bats last season?

Parrish the thought.

Parrish put up his best numbers since 1985 last season, hitting .268 with 24 home runs and 70 runs batted in. His best months were May and June, when he hit .323.

He made the All-Star game for the eighth time in his career, and won the Silver Slugger Award at catcher for offensive excellence for the sixth time.

But the scene is different this season. Parrish entered Tuesday night’s game with only six hits in his past 51 at-bats.

“A few oh-fors. Who’s keeping track?” Parrish said, teasing.

Plenty of people were. But Parrish put his slump aside, at least for the evening, going three for four in the Angels’ 3-0 victory. He had a double and a bases-loaded, two-run single.

“I’ve been working on some things, but this is only one game,” Parrish said. “I felt very good at the plate tonight. I’m seeing the ball well and felt a little quicker.”

Parrish, slowed by a bad back for much of his recent career before last year, missed some time recently with a shoulder injury. But he said that is behind him.

“Right now, it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Whatever happens from here out is from the neck up.”

While Parrish’s numbers have turned paler this season, Angel Manager Doug Rader said he hasn’t worried too much.

“Lance is a good hitter,” he said “The bigger guys are going to seem a lot more erratic than the smaller, contact hitters. Lance is going to go through periods where he does not look too hot at the plate. When the year ends, he’ll have his numbers. But that’s the nature of the beast. When you’re big and strong, at times you’re going to look real awkward.”

Parrish felt that way last week, after going hitless in four at-bats in a game against Charlie Hough and the White Sox.

Asked if he had trouble with Hough’s knuckleball, Parrish laughed.

“I’ve been having trouble with all kinds of pitches lately,” he said.

But he caused the trouble against the Red Sox Tuesday night.