Rodgers Works at Teaching Angels How to Manufacture Runs : Baseball: Manager tries to convince players they have ability to score even if power hitters continue to sputter.

Luis Sojo was so surprised to see third base coach Bobby Knoop flash the bunt sign in the 10th inning Saturday, he had to look twice.

“Now, you’ve got to be ready for anything,” said Sojo, whose bunt was botched by the White Sox for the decisive run in a 3-2 Angel victory.

With Buck Rodgers managing the Angels, the bunt and the hit-and-run signs are the signs of the times.

In his effort to coax runs out of a team built around sputtering power hitters, Rodgers is weaning the Angels off the notion that hitting home runs is the only way to win. In the 19 games since he succeeded Doug Rader, Rodgers has tried to create movement on the basepaths and involve every player in some small way, whether by encouraging aggressive baserunning or ensuring everyone knows to hit behind the runner.

He may not be able to change his personnel much before the end of the season, but he’s intent on changing the way his players think.

“I want these guys to have confidence that we don’t have to score seven, eight runs to win,” Rodgers said. “It’s not going to be all (hit-and-run). I want to overemphasize it now because I want there to be a blend. So if we have a tough pitcher out there who’s shutting us down, we do have the option to go the other way.

“Basically, I don’t think this club has had that option and has had the idea that you can manufacture runs. Maybe if you can manufacture (runs) and play the game, you can come out winners, 2-1 or 1-0, because in most cases we’re going to get good starting pitching.”

The notion has sunk in. Successive bunts by Gary Gaetti and Sojo Saturday produced the winning run against the White Sox, just as the first two runs were products of baseball fundamentals. Luis Polonia reached base on an infield hit, stole second, was sacrificed to third by Dave Gallagher and scored the first run on a single by Wally Joyner; the second run resulted when Gallagher walked, took second on a Joyner sacrifice and scored on a single by Dave Winfield. On Friday, Winfield chipped in with his fifth stolen base of the season.

“You can’t just rely on the offense to start itself,” Winfield said. “Sometimes you need to jump-start it.”

Said Sojo: “You have to concentrate more because we run more. Bobby Knoop, he talks to us every day, because before, (Rader) didn’t call too many hit-and run plays. Every time you get on base you’ve got to check. When he (Rodgers) first got here, we missed a lot of plays, a lot of hit and runs. Now we’re ready because we know he’s going to pull something off.”

The Angels’ lack of speed limits their ability to pull off such plays, and the infusion of speed into the lineup is among Rodgers’ priorities for next season.

During the Angels’ six-game trip, which begins tonight in Texas, Rodgers will discuss his impressions and ideas with Whitey Herzog, who on Monday began his term as the club’s senior vice president and director of player personnel, and with Dan O’Brien, the senior VP and director of baseball operations.

No formal meetings are planned, O’Brien said, but the three will discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

The need for a diversified offense is obvious. The Angels are near the bottom in the AL in runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, 11th in stolen bases and last in sacrifice flies and walks. That offsets their improved defense--they’ve been at or near the top of the AL in fielding percentage--and their pitching, which ranks among the league leaders in several major categories.

“If Gaetti, Winfield, (Lance) Parrish and Joyner don’t hit the ball out of the ballpark, this team has trouble scoring runs,” Rodgers said last week. “You can’t do anything about team speed right now, and the ability of those guys to pound the ball has been sporadic. . . . With the type of club we have, we have to be able to start some runners because we can’t straight steal too often.

“We’ll talk about execution in spring training. We’ll lead the Cactus League in being thrown out at third. We’re going to go from first to third every chance we get in every game. It’s not going to come in a day, but hopefully by the end of the season we should have a pretty good idea.”

The final weeks of the season will provide Rodgers an idea of what to expect from the young players he knew little about a month ago.

He’ll continue to watch pitchers Kyle Abbott, Joe Grahe and Scott Lewis, with each getting at least one start on this trip. Rodgers rated Abbott “a little ahead” of Lewis before Abbott’s 4 2/3-inning stint Sunday in a 9-2 loss to Texas, and he said he’s not opposed to making Abbott the fourth left-hander in the starting rotation next season if Abbott is ready. Kirk McCaskill, yanked from the rotation last week, will get a start Sunday at Chicago.

Rodgers is also assessing his catchers and plans to carry two next season. Parrish, 35, is hitting a disappointing .218 with 46 RBIs--three fewer than leadoff hitter Polonia. John Orton, considered a solid defensive prospect, hit .224 for triple-A Edmonton this season but is four for 13 since being recalled. “I want to see the kid. He’s got some tools,” Rodgers said.

He also likes Ron Tingley, whom he described as “very impressive.”

“He’s a second-string catcher who can block, call a good game and throw. But he hasn’t hit, and I don’t think at 30 all of a sudden that’s going to change.”

His chance to judge center fielder Junior Felix will be limited while Felix recovers from a strained rib-cage muscle.

Overall, Rodgers is pleased with the players’ response to his innovations. “I see the guys looking at the third base coach and looking for situations. That’s good.”