Now the Bullpen Has the Blues Too

Uneven starting pitching and atrocious hitting have been the Angels’ most glaring weaknesses while fading from playoff contention since the All-Star break. But an examination of box scores revealed an equally distressing flaw: a suddenly suspect bullpen.

Angel relievers had been scored upon in each of the last nine games before Ben Weber pitched two scoreless innings Friday, including a loss Thursday during which closer Troy Percival surrendered the winning run to the New York Yankees in the 10th inning.

Setup man Brendan Donnelly has given up two earned runs in his last three outings, as many runs as he had surrendered in his previous 42 appearances, and Weber has been tagged for four runs over his last 7 1/3 innings.

“We’re not perfect,” said Weber, a member of a relief corps that still leads the American League with a 2.73 earned-run average. “We’re going to go through spells too, just like anybody else.”

Pitching coach Bud Black said the issue is ineffectiveness, not overuse.

“My analysis is, probably over the last nine games, they haven’t been able to make that one pitch that will get them out of an inning,” he said.

Said Percival: “We haven’t thrown well for probably a week and a half to two weeks. Guys don’t really sweat it. We go back out there and we’ll start throwing up zeros again.”

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Alfredo Amezaga didn’t question Mike Scioscia on Friday when the manager told the shortstop he was starting at third base for the first time in his professional career.

“The first thing I told him was, ‘I’m ready,’ ” said Amezaga, who had made his two starts for the Angels this season at shortstop.

Scioscia said playing Amezaga at third was a way to get the prospect -- hitless in his first seven at-bats -- additional plate appearances. Scioscia said Amezaga has worked with infield coach Alfredo Griffin on learning the position.

“Everything happens a little quicker at third base,” Scioscia said. “It’s more of a reaction position than shortstop or second.”

Amezaga went 0 for 3 Friday but handled several grounders cleanly.

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Tim Salmon was back in the lineup at designated hitter after missing three games because of back spasms. Scioscia said Salmon was capable of returning to right field, but the manager said he preferred to keep Jeff DaVanon in the outfield for the time being.... Scioscia said third baseman Troy Glaus could be used as a designated hitter during a minor-league rehabilitation assignment next week if he continued to progress in his recovery from a bruised right shoulder. Glaus said he didn’t feel any pain when he swung Friday.