Lackey Will Help in Doubleheader

Faced with a doubleheader on Monday against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, and in the middle of a schedule that calls for 14 games in 13 days, the Angels will call up right-hander John Lackey from triple-A Salt Lake to pitch Monday’s second game.

Lackey is 8-2 with a 2.57 earned-run average for Salt Lake.

“There are a lot of things I like about him,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Lackey. “He has such an upside potential and he’s starting to realize it.”

The arrival of Lackey will necessitate a roster move. That’s why he’s pitching in the second game. The Angels can make the move between games, keeping whomever he replaces available for the first game.

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Orel Hershiser, named pitching coach of the Rangers on Saturday, received a hearty endorsement from Scioscia, his teammate on the Dodgers.

“Orel is going to do a great job,” Scioscia predicted. “He’s a great communicator. He can do everything from the front office down to the field. He has always been a guy to use his influence to try to make a young pitcher better. He would go out of his way to do so.”

TODAY

ANGELS’

KEVIN APPIER

(5-6, 4.48 ERA)

vs.

BREWERS’

BEN SHEETS

(4-7, 4.00 ERA)

Miller Park, 11 a.m. PDT

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

Update--After winning five consecutive decisions over a span of seven starts with a 2.95 ERA, Appier has lost his last five starts. It isn’t as if the Angel right-hander can blame the slide on bad breaks or poor support. His ERA over that period is 8.31. Scioscia blames the problem on mechanics. “He fights for consistency,” Scioscia said. “He fights to be where he needs to be and that’s because of the delivery. It’s in him, but he’s not too far from where he needs to be.”