BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Fabregas Doesn’t Want to Be Forgotten

Greg Myers has been getting most of the action behind the plate the last couple of weeks, and Jorge Fabregas, who made only his second start in eight games Saturday night, is starting to feel a little left out.

“Yeah, I’m concerned,” Fabregas said. “Maybe it’s a case of [Manager Marcel Lachemann] going with the veteran down the stretch, but I was catching when the team was winning, so the stretch run and the playoffs aren’t going to affect me.

“I don’t like sitting on the bench. You start to wonder what’s going on. Has he lost confidence in me?”

Lachemann said he was opting for Myers’ offensive prowess over Fabregas’ defensive skills, especially while designated hitter Chili Davis was out of the lineup with a hamstring injury.

“You get a hot hand now and you’ve got to play it,” Lachemann said.

Myers is batting .294 with two RBIs during the current home stand. Fabregas has three hits in his last 15 at-bats.

“I’ve had a few big hits, a few good at-bats and I’m sure that’s part of it,” Myers said. “Maybe he feels like I’m getting comfortable in there. I have been seeing the ball well.”

Fabregas, however, has thrown out 20 of 54 would-be base stealers. Myers has caught only four of 28.

“I think I’m doing a much better job throwing lately,” Myers said. “I was playing DH there for a month when Chili was out the first time, and throwing is a lot like hitting, the more chances you get, the better your timing will be.”

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Former Angel Manager Gene Mauch, now Kansas City bench coach, didn’t like the new playoff system when it was first announced. And he’s not sure he likes it much better now, even though the Royals are in the thick of the wild-card race despite trailing Cleveland by 24 games going into Saturday night’s game.

“I tell you the one good thing that’s come out of it,” Mauch said. “It’s sustained the interest of about 400 players in both leagues. We’re seeing a lot of games played as hard as they can be played, and that’s something you don’t usually see in the major leagues this time of year.”