Sele Doesn’t Plan to Hold Back

Aaron Sele said he would not have to pace himself when he faces Tampa Bay on Monday, the first time the Angel starter will pitch without a five-inning limit since June 24.

“You really don’t change your approach,” said Sele, who won all three starts in which he was held to five innings by Manager Mike Scioscia in an effort to improve the right-hander’s stamina following off-season shoulder surgery.

“You go out there and you’ve got to go pitch by pitch, hitter by hitter. I know it’s what every pitcher says, but it’s really a successful formula.”

Pitching coach Bud Black said Sele, who will pitch on 11 days’ rest, shouldn’t have any problems throwing 100 pitches against the Devil Rays. Sele (6-6) had thrown as many as 100 pitches during his nine starts before the five-inning limit was imposed.

Sele gave up one run over the 15 innings of the experiment and displayed enough improvement to convince Scioscia and Black to let him pitch as long as he is effective.

“We saw him hold his velocity, keep his stuff through five innings, whereas before we saw it starting to tail off a little bit into the fifth and sixth,” Black said. “By setting that limit, he was able to sharpen his focus, turn the ball loose, and by doing that he was able to increase his stamina.”

Sele said it doesn’t matter how far into the game he pitches Monday as long as he is getting outs.

“If I can go out there and keep my team in the game and it’s five innings, great, if it’s seven innings, great,” he said.

Pitchers who have undergone similar procedures told Sele that he would need to throw about 3,000 pitches before regaining the muscle memory he had before the surgery.

“If you look at 100 pitches a start, that’s 30 starts, one year,” Sele said. “Talking to guys like [Angel pitcher Kevin] Appier and some other friends who had shoulder surgery before, they said, ‘Your first year, it’s going to be a grind. It’s going to be a mental grind, a physical grind. It is what it is, deal with it.’ That’s what we’re doing.”

Said Black: “It takes a while to bounce back from surgery. History tells you that from other pitchers. But we’re seeing improvement over time, which is very encouraging for the rest of the season and into next year.”

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Troy Glaus connected for his first homer since July 1, sending a pitch from Baltimore Oriole starter Sidney Ponson into the left-field seats in the second inning Saturday for a solo shot, but the third baseman’s slump shows no signs of abating.

Glaus finished one for four, dropping his average to .252, the lowest it has been since April 11.

“It’s been a pretty good drought that we’re looking at,” Scioscia said. “But I think he still brings an important package. He’s been getting on base, getting other guys ahead of him pitches to hit. We’re going to welcome the day when Troy’s swinging a little better, because we’re going to need his production.”