Players Receive a Vote of Confidence

After a 10-game homestand in which the Angels scored 15 runs, batting coach Mickey Hatcher said he and Manager Mike Scioscia met with the team’s hitters to express confidence in them and to remind them that an injury-depleted lineup was no excuse for abandoning the Angels’ unselfish offensive approach.

“A lot of it is a lack of confidence,” Hatcher said.

That confidence is reflected when players work counts, move runners over and generally sacrifice themselves, trusting that teammates will come through. That trust is more difficult to come by when, as Scioscia has noted, the Angels fielded lineups last week without No. 3 hitter Tim Salmon, No. 5 hitter Troy Glaus and No. 6 hitter Brad Fullmer.

“Don’t put pressure on yourself to get four hits,” Hatcher said the players were told, “and don’t think, ‘I need to go 4-for-4 to salvage my year.’ ”

Hatcher was well aware that the Dodgers fired hitting coach Jack Clark Sunday. There is no parallel here -- Hatcher, in the first year of a two-year contract, does not appear to be in any danger, and Clark basically fired himself with his statements to the media -- but Hatcher understands there are no guarantees either.

“That could happen to me,” he said. “But guys are willing to work. It’s tough to get mad at anybody with the effort in here. If we were a healthy club, I believe we would be right there where we were last year.”

*

While the Angels look toward next year, the pitcher they discarded last week is scheduled to start for a first-place team this week.

Jeff Borris, the agent for Kevin Appier, said Tuesday the Kansas City Royals have agreed to sign Appier and plan to start him Friday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

With Jose Lima on the disabled list, the Royals needed a starter. They will pay Appier just under $100,000 for the rest of the season -- the prorated part of the minimum salary -- with the Angels responsible for the $15.6 million left on his contract.

The Royals waited to sign him until he passed an MRI examination, thus supporting the Angels’ contention that the tendinitis in his right elbow was not serious enough to explain his ineffectiveness. He went 7-7 with a 5.63 earned-run average for the Angels.

*

Glaus began a rehabilitation assignment at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Tuesday. He hopes to get about 30 at-bats, mostly at designated hitter, and play some at third base, and could rejoin the Angels Monday. Scioscia said Glaus, who has not played since July 21 because of a sore shoulder, would not play every day on defense when he returns.... Outfielder Jeff DaVanon’s average fell below .300 for the first time since May 27. He is hitting .145 since July 12.... Outfielder Darin Erstad, who last week broke two of the off-the-shelf knee braces he wore to protect his sore right hamstring, broke in a custom-made brace Tuesday. The new brace is larger and, accordingly, will limit his movement.