Greene Sent to Triple A

General Manager Bill Bavasi said Todd Greene will be “a big piece of this club in the future,” but Greene’s immediate future will be in triple-A Edmonton, where the struggling designated hitter/outfielder was sent after Tuesday night’s game.

Greene has been in slumps before, but none like this. It’s not just the numbers--Greene was one for 19, with 10 strikeouts, in his last five games--it’s the quality of his at-bats.

Greene was almost always behind in the count, either 0-2 or 1-2, and most of his strikeouts came on wild swings at pitches a good foot off the plate. Throw a hard slider that starts over the middle and breaks outside, and he had no chance. Offspeed pitches confounded him.

It’s almost impossible to throw a fastball by Greene, who has 12 home runs, and he doesn’t think there’s any problem with his swing, but he was not seeing the ball or tracking it well enough, and he didn’t seem to have a consistent offensive approach.

“This is my first test in the big leagues--I’ve never been tested like this,” Greene said after Monday night’s game. “I can correct this, but it doesn’t come all in one day.”

And it won’t come in Anaheim.

“The move was made to help get him back on track,” said Bavasi, who recalled infielder Tim Unroe. “As distasteful as this is for him, ultimately we hope this will help our club. When you get a pattern that pitchers pitch to, maybe it’s easier to work it out in a fresh environment. We’re going to find out.”

Greene was batting .240 with 24 runs, 12 doubles and 31 RBIs in 65 games, but he had 46 strikeouts and only nine walks and hit only .197 with runners in scoring position.

The ultimate indignity came Saturday night when, with the tying runs on second and third in the fifth inning against Oakland, Greene was lifted for pinch-hitter Jeff Huson, who struck out. In the past, Greene would have fumed about being taken out of a game, “but the way I was swinging the bat,” Greene admitted, “it was the right move.”

*

Tim Belcher played most of 1989 with a cracked knuckle on the pinky finger of his right hand, pitching through pain to have perhaps the best season (15-12, 2.82 earned-run average) of his career.

There will be no such heroics this season, even though the finger Belcher broke in three places tagging out Oakland’s Ryan Christenson on June 26 is the same one he hurt in 1989.

Ten years ago, there was no risk of further damage if Belcher pitched hurt. That’s not the case with this injury. Belcher’s fractures are non-displaced, meaning the bones, even though they’re broken, are still aligned properly. But if he tries to come back before the finger is fully healed, there’s a chance the fractures could become displaced, a more severe condition that would likely sideline Belcher for the rest of the season.

“With this, there’s a probability of making it worse if I pitch with it,” Belcher said. “It also affects the way you pitch because all your power comes from the last three fingers, and you guide the ball with your index finger. And any time you know you have something that hurts in your delivery, it’s going to bother you subconsciously.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ STEVE SPARKS (3-5, 4.98 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’ JAMIE MOYER (8-4, 4.74 ERA)

Edison Field, 7:30

TV--Fox Sports West. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Mariner designated hitter Edgar Martinez was a late scratch from Tuesday night’s game because of a tight left hamstring. Center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. moved to the DH spot to give his sore knee a break. Angel catcher Steve Decker will probably miss Friday’s game in Colorado to return to Illinois for the funeral of his mother, Barb, who died Sunday after a lengthy battle against colon cancer.