Carew Gives Batters Some Verbal Swats

Tim Salmon has been back for 10 games and Gary DiSarcina for a month, Randy Velarde is hitting over .300 and Garret Anderson just under .300, Mo Vaughn’s ankle is better, and Troy Glaus and Darin Erstad appeared to put lengthy slumps behind them.

And still, the Angels can’t score. They managed four hits against Tampa Bay right-hander Bobby Witt in Monday night’s 7-0 loss, advancing two runners to second base, one on catcher’s indifference in the ninth.

Witt became the first pitcher this season to throw two shutouts. He needed five pitches to retire the Angels in the eighth. The Angels have scored one run or less five times in this 11-game losing streak.

“Maybe some of them aren’t capable of being big league hitters, I don’t know,” Angel batting instructor Rod Carew said. “Maybe we need to clean house.”

The cleaning often begins at the top. When hitters or pitchers struggle for a long time, batting instructors and pitching coaches sometimes get fired.

“But I have not questioned myself, and I never will, because I know looking at tapes, talking to them, bringing them out for extra work . . . what else can you do? I can’t step out to the plate with them.”

Carew feels as though he does.

“I live and die with them on every pitch,” he said. “I’m trying to think along with them, to see if their head is where mine is. A lot of times, it’s not. . . . I don’t think there’s a thought process [with them] at the plate. Sometimes, no matter how much talking you do, you wonder if it’s getting through or if they’re brushing it off. I wish I could read their minds.”

Carew thinks the Angels are reading too much of their own minds and not enough of his.

“What happens is sometimes you get guys telling other guys what to do, what to look for, and not everyone can do that,” Carew said. “We’re getting ourselves out, the pitcher is not getting us out, and that’s what is frustrating.”

The Angels’ biggest problem: When ahead in counts, they often swing at bad pitches, usually breaking balls or off-speed stuff. When behind, they often swing too hard instead of trying to make solid contact. With two strikes, they don’t shorten their strokes enough.

For proof, listen to Witt: “The first five innings I was kind of erratic in the strike zone,” he said, “but fortunately they were swinging.”

*

Trade interest in Angel pitcher Omar Olivares is probably waning after the right-hander suffered his second consecutive shoddy start, giving up six runs on 10 hits, including Fred McGriff’s two home runs, in 4 2/3 innings Monday night. Olivares (8-9) gave up eight runs on nine hits in two innings Wednesday night at Texas.

“I feel great, but I’m leaving the ball over the plate,” said Olivares, who gave up four runs in the fifth. “They’re hitting my mistakes. There’s no one to blame but myself. I’m putting the ball where they want it.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ STEVE SPARKS (4-7, 5.16 ERA)

vs.

DEVIL RAYS’ MICKEY CALLAWAY (1-0, 6.00 ERA)

Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla., 4 p.m. PST

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--With the Angels trailing, 7-0, Monday night, shortstop Gary DiSarcina made a spectacular diving grab of Fred McGriff’s seventh-inning shot up the middle and threw out McGriff, and Randy Velarde ranged deep in the second base hole to field David Lamb’s eighth-inning grounder and throw him out. “Darin Erstad dives for fly balls in a 10-0 game, DiSarcina made a diving play and Randy went to the hole [Monday night] . . . you see the effort,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “I don’t think that’s the issue.” Here’s an issue: The Angels are batting .246 with runners in scoring position, with Troy Glaus (.207), Garret Anderson (.214) and Matt Walbeck (.214) at the bottom of the pack. Callaway is a right-hander who was called up from triple-A Durham Monday night.