ANGEL NOTEBOOK : Easley Shows Subtraction Is Equal Measure of Success

They don’t give you an RBI for a run-saving catch or a diving stop that keeps a runner at third, but is a run scored worth any more than a run saved?

Second baseman Damion Easley doesn’t think so.

“If I can’t help by scoring runs, I’ll help by taking them away,” he said.

Easley, who had just five hits in 31 at-bats with two RBIs on the home stand, made a number of spectacular plays along with all the routine ones as the Angels streaked to the top of the American League West standings, winning nine of their last 13 games.

His performance in the fifth inning Wednesday night against Baltimore was typical of his play afield this season. With Jeffrey Hammonds on first and one out, Easley sprinted to his left to stab a shot off the bat of Rafael Palmeiro, spun 180 degrees and fired to shortstop Gary DiSarcina covering second in time to nip Hammonds. Then he made a nice play on a smash by Cal Ripken Jr. to end the inning.

Easley’s only error this season came May 15 in Minnesota.

His offensive output may be sub-par so far, but Easley isn’t envious of his teammates’ success at the plate.

“I’m not competing against these guys, I’m playing with them,” he said. “I’d feel a lot worse if we were losing and I wasn’t hitting. Right now, the guys are picking me up, that’s what a team is all about.

“Eight of the nine guys in the lineup and the bench are producing and I’m the one who’s not. But I’ll do what I can with my defense until my bat comes around. Defense comes first, anyway. That’s not my view, that’s fact. You have to have defense up the middle if you’re going to win.”

Defense may come first, but it isn’t just talent and instinct, especially when you’re struggling offensively. Batting slumps often breed defensive lapses.

“It takes a conscious effort, trust me,” Easley said. “I just make sure I think through every possible situation and what might happen and what I have to do. That keeps me focused in the field.”

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Leather or wood? Catcher Greg Myers is having some problems throwing out runners, but his bat is keeping him in the lineup.

Myers, who homered to right in the fifth inning during the Angels 5-3 loss to the Orioles Wednesday night, has an RBI in eight of the last nine games. He left the game in the seventh inning because of a cramp in his left quadriceps. Myers missed the first nine games this season because of a broken toe.

“It feels really good to be part of the everyday lineup and contributing,” said Myers, who has been in a platoon situation for most of his six seasons in the majors. “I’ve been coming up with guys on and been able to drive some in.”

He also threw out Bret Barberie trying to steal in the fourth inning, but it was an oddly timed delayed steal and Barberie was an easy out. It was only the second time this season Myers has thrown out a runner attempting to steal. Eleven others have been safe.

“Throwing is like hitting, you have hot and cold streaks,” he said.

Much of the blame for a stolen base rests on the pitcher, but Myers thinks there have been “four or five” times this year when an accurate throw would have resulted in an out.

“Sometimes you don’t think you have much of a chance and you hurry and make a bad throw,” he said.

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Crooked pitches: Chili Davis says there is no such thing as a curveball hitter.

“Nobody hits the really good curveballs, those nose-to-toes snappers,” Davis said. “If you hit a really great curve, it’s probably luck. That’s why you hardly ever look for a breaking ball, unless it’s a hunch or something.

“What you hit are the hangers, the ones that kind of float up there and just roll over. And those are the ones you have to hit. If you can’t hit a bad breaking ball, you’ll never see anything but curveballs.”