Anderson’s Streak of Games Played Broken

One of Garret Anderson’s goals is to play all 162 games in a season, and the Angel left fielder was on pace to achieve that this year, having played in every one of the Angels’ first 132 games. But that streak was broken Wednesday night when Anderson sat out the Angels’ 6-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Anderson returned to Southern California on a chartered jet after Tuesday night’s game to attend to a family matter regarding one of his children, and he flew back to Kansas City in time to arrive for the beginning of Wednesday night’s game. Manager Mike Scioscia planned to used Anderson as a pinch-hitter if the tying run came to the plate in the later innings, but that need never arose.

“I’m not the least bit disappointed,” said Anderson, who has been the Angels’ most productive hitter (.281, 24 home runs, 100 runs batted in) this season. “I didn’t ask to play, and it wasn’t my decision. Any time you miss a game it’s different, because you’re used to playing, but it’s not that big a deal.” Anderson declined to go into detail about his family matter but said it won’t affect his performance on the field.

“It’s personal, but it’s not going to be a distraction,’ Anderson said. “I keep my family business at home and my baseball business here, so it’s not going to be a problem. Sometimes these things can be a distraction. You’re only human, and they can affect you to a certain degree. But in this situation, it’s not going to affect me.”

The next time Angel shortstop David Eckstein is hit by a pitch this season, he will gain a share of a major league record that was set 79 years ago. If Eckstein, who has been hit by pitches 16 times, gets plunked two more times, he will break the American League rookie record for being hit by pitches, 17, set by Detroit’s Heinie Manush in 1922.

What does Eckstein plan to do to celebrate? “I don’t know,” he said. “Ice?” Eckstein’s top priority as the Angel leadoff batter is getting on base, and if that means freezing in the batter’s box as a 94-mph fastball tails into his arm, he’ll do it. Eckstein was hit by pitches 25 times in each of his last two minor league seasons.

Remarkably, Eckstein has not been seriously injured by a pitched ball this season, though he came close Tuesday night. A Jeff Austin fastball that appeared headed for his head hit Eckstein in the back of the left shoulder. “That one probably hurt more than the rest of them this season,” said Eckstein, who took a .294 average and a .365 on-base percentage into Wednesday night’s game. “But luckily, I haven’t been hit in places where it could really affect me that much.”

Anderson’s absence forced Scioscia to juggle his lineup, but one of Scioscia’s switches had nothing to do with Anderson’s status: Scioscia moved struggling right fielder Tim Salmon from the sixth spot to the second spot, in hopes that Salmon will see some better pitches to hit. Salmon will probably remain there for a while. Salmon is batting .218, but Scioscia didn’t hesitate moving him into the two hole because Salmon has a solid .357 on-base percentage, the result of his 77 walks. Salmon lined out in the first inning Wednesday, walked in the third and hit an RBI triple to snap an 0-for-19 skid in the sixth.

“I see some better swings from Tim, but he’s not quite where he needs to be,” Scioscia said. “He can’t dwell on his overall statistics. Looking at the short term, we all see some positive signs.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

JARROD WASHBURN

(11-6, 3.51 ERA)

vs.

ROYALS’

CHAD DURBIN

(7-13, 4.64 ERA)

Kauffman Stadium,

Kansas City, 5 p.m.

TV--Channel 9.

Radio--KLAC (570),

XPRS (1090).

Update--While the rest of the rotation has struggled in the last nine games, Washburn has given up only four earned runs on 18 hits in 20 innings of his last three starts, victories over Detroit and Cleveland and a no-decision against New York. Durbin is 0-4 with a 4.61 earned-run average in his last four starts and 1-7 with a 5.03 ERA in his last 11 starts dating to July 3. His last victory came July 28.