Bow-Hunting Skills Help Washburn Acquire Target

Jarrod Washburn is an avid bow-hunter who pursues white-tail deer near his Wisconsin home in the winter, a hobby that, strange as it seems, might help make him a better pitcher.

“Bow-hunting challenges you mentally, just as pitching does, because deer are kind of like hitters,” said Washburn, who will start today against the Devil Rays. “They’re consistently making adjustments to the hunter. Just when you think you have them figured out, they do something different.”

Washburn has seen deer looking up in trees as they walk through the woods, because that’s where hunters often are. He has seen deer change their grazing patterns because they smelled a hunter in a certain spot the previous day. And the older the deer--much like the hitter--the wiser.

“I look for trophies, deer that are three years old or more, so they’ve been eluding hunters for three years,” said Washburn, who is 7-1 over his last 14 starts and hasn’t lost since May 8.

“The older they get, the smarter they get, and the more tricks they know. It’s like facing good hitters--the more you face them, the more they learn about you, and they approach you differently. You get them out one way, you have to learn another, because they’ll make adjustments.”

Troy Glaus was on the move again Wednesday, going from the sixth spot in the order to the second spot, but Manager Mike Scioscia said it wasn’t a permanent switch.

Scioscia used Glaus in the two hole against left-handers for the last two months of the 2000 season, and with left-hander Joe Kennedy starting for the Devil Rays Wednesday night and Glaus struggling with a .244 average entering the game, Scioscia batted Glaus second again.

Benji Gil, who homered twice against San Diego Tuesday and had a .342 average entering Wednesday night’s game, started at first base against the Devil Rays, and Scioscia said the utility player could become more of a regular.

“Gil is definitely going to get more playing time, more at-bats,” Scioscia said. “He’s been contributing all year. We’ll stay creative in getting him in the lineup.”

Tim Salmon went hitless in four plate appearances Wednesday in his second and final game of a rehabilitation stint with the Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, leaving after the sixth inning to catch an early-morning flight to Baltimore, where the Angels play Friday.

“I’m not pleased,” Salmon said. “But it’s another day of at-bats. I finally saw some fastballs and got some rhythm going. In the last two at-bats, I got the hands going. It’s just like spring training. You want to get some swings at it and see some 90-mph fastballs.”

Salmon lined out in his final two plate appearances after striking out and walking in his first two. In his two games with the Quakes, Salmon had one single in seven at-bats and struck out four times.

Scioscia believes it’s important for Salmon to get back to a major league setting as soon as possible.

“You can work out some rough edges against minor league pitching, but there are things you’ll see from major league pitchers that you’re not going to experience down there,” Scioscia said.

TODAY

ANGELS’

JARROD WASHBURN

(7-4, 3.61 ERA)

vs.

DEVIL RAYS’

BRIAN REKAR

(1-11, 5.77 ERA)

Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla., 9:15 a.m. PDT

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--After pitching into the eighth inning in four consecutive starts, Washburn has not gone beyond the sixth in his last two starts, against Colorado and Arizona, but Scioscia is not concerned about the left-hander suffering from fatigue. Washburn’s pitch counts--94 in six innings against the Rockies and 99 in five innings against the Diamondbacks--have simply been a little high, so he has not pitched too deep into games. Rekar, who is tied with teammate Albie Lopez for the American League lead in losses, has the lowest run support (2.8 runs a game) in the league.