Team Meeting Has Sense of Urgency

The Angels rank second in the American League in batting average and home runs. Darin Erstad and Troy Glaus are having career years, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson have been highly productive, and catcher Bengie Molina has emerged as a leading candidate for rookie of the year because of his superb defense and .322 average.

They’ve gotten some outstanding starting pitching from some unexpected sources--Seth Etherton, Jarrod Washburn, Scott Schoeneweis, Brian Cooper--their bullpen has been solid for the most part, and they’ve overcome numerous injuries.

The Angels have played better than most expected so far, yet they entered Wednesday’s game 6 1/2 behind first-place Oakland and seemed in danger of fading from the American League West race even before the All-Star break.

“You have to play to the level of competition,” Vaughn said, alluding to the hot streaks Oakland and Seattle have been on. “We’ve done well, but who the heck wants to just do well? We want to win, so whatever we’re doing, we’ve got to do it better. If other teams get a key hit, we have to get two.”

A greater sense of urgency seemed to permeate the Angel clubhouse Wednesday when Manager Mike Scioscia called a pregame team meeting, in which he addressed issues such as focus, intensity and defense.

“This was not a chew-out meeting,” Scioscia said. “These guys are playing hard, the effort is there . . . we just have to do some things better.”

Defense has been a concern--the Angels entered Wednesday with 63 errors, third-most in the league, and Scioscia wants his fielders to be more aggressive. Starting pitchers need to get deeper into games, so as to preserve the roles of relief pitchers.

The Angels need to improve their situational hitting--advancing runners from second with no outs, scoring runs on outs--and not rely so much on home runs. Scioscia would also like to see the killer instinct the Angels display on occasion more consistently--the Angels have not lost more than three straight, but they have not won more than three straight.

“You’ve got to turn the page after a bad day, forget it and move on,” Scioscia said. “But after a good day, you have to carry that momentum over to the next day. I want to see that.”

*

The Angels appear to be lacking at shortstop and designated hitter, and like almost every team in baseball, they could use another top-notch starting pitcher. It’s possible some of these shortcomings could be addressed by the July 31 trading deadline.

But Scioscia and General Manager Bill Stoneman are still convinced the Angels have the necessary players to not only contend for the division title but to win it.

“I have high expectations for this club,” Scioscia said. “We see this team in a special light that a lot of people don’t agree with. It’s a talented group, and I definitely see it as a contender.”

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The Angels are two games into a 10-game stretch against the Mariners and A’s, and they’ll close out the first half with three games against Colorado. If the Angels are within six or seven games at the break, Vaughn thinks they’ll be in good position.

“But if you get eight, nine, 10 games back, you’ve got some problems,” Vaughn said. “Still, we’ve got the whole second half to play. As hard as it is, we have to keep it all in perspective. The A’s could come back from three days off and be dead. We’ll see.”

TODAY

ANGELS’ KENT BOTTENFIELD

(4-6, 5.55 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’ GIL MECHE

(4-4, 3.50 ERA)

Safeco Field, Seattle, 1 p.m.

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

* Update--Bottenfield, who was ripped for six runs on seven hits in five innings of an 11-5 loss to Minnesota Saturday, has been working to iron out a mechanical problem with his release point, which has hampered the pin-point control he relies so much on. Having given up 16 home runs in 14 games, Bottenfield has also vowed to pitch inside more aggressively. Meche is a 21-year-old right-hander who threw seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits, in the Mariners’ 1-0 win over the Angels on May 6.