Anderson’s Power Outage Still Mystery

Garret Anderson continues to pile up hits -- just not the variety to which his teammates had become accustomed.

The center fielder stroked four singles in five at-bats Thursday in the Angels’ 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, raising his batting average to .317. But his prolonged power outage showed no sign of abating.

Since hitting two homers against the Dodgers on June 26, Anderson has had two extra-base hits -- one homer, one double -- in his last 31 games. Those are puzzling statistics for a player who hit 29 homers and led the American League in doubles in each of the last two seasons.

“I’m just not hitting in the gap and not hitting it over the fence,” said Anderson, adding that he did not believe that the arthritis in his upper back and neck that forced him to miss 43 games this season was a factor.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia attributed the decline in extra-base hits to a flaw in Anderson’s swing in which “he’s not staying behind the ball as well as we’ve seen him.”

General Manager Bill Stoneman said he was unconcerned because Anderson, who has seven homers, eight doubles and 31 runs batted in in 62 games, is still productive.

“He’s getting his hits, some of them where he’s hitting the ball hard and square,” Stoneman said.

Said Anderson: “I never claimed to be a power hitter. I’m a hitter first. My line drives go out of the park, and it’s not happening right now. As long as I’m getting hits and helping the team, I don’t really care.”

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Although Stoneman has known Andres Galarraga for more than 20 years and called him “one of the best people” he knows, Stoneman said he signed Galarraga to a minor league contract to help the Angels, not to assist him in his pursuit of 400 homers.

“Knowing him and the type of person he is helped,” said Stoneman, who negotiated Galarraga’s first major league contract when Stoneman worked in the Montreal Expo front office. “But when you take a look at the stats and recent stats, I said, ‘Hey, there’s still a chance there’s something left there.’ ”

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One player who might not be thrilled to see Galarraga arrive is Tim Salmon, whose playing time has been significantly reduced because of injuries and ineffectiveness.

“I haven’t gotten to the point of thinking that far ahead yet,” said Salmon, who singled and drove in a run Thursday in his first start in August.

“With the role I have right now, I don’t know how [Galarraga] fits into the plans or how I’m going to fit into the plans once he gets here, so you have to take one day at a time.”

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Jarrod Washburn scrapped a scheduled session of long toss because of continued discomfort in the strained ligament in his left rib cage. “He’s making progress, but he’s not where he wants to be to go out there and test it yet,” Scioscia said. ... Jeff DaVanon, who played his first rehabilitation game Thursday with triple-A Salt Lake, is expected to rejoin the team Sunday and be activated for Monday’s game against Kansas City.

ON DECK

Opponent -- Kansas City Royals, four games.

Site -- Kauffman Stadium.

TV -- Channel 9 tonight, Saturday and Monday.

Radio -- KSPN (710), KTNQ (1020).

Records -- Angels 58-50, Royals 39-67.

2003 record vs. Royals -- 6-3.

Tonight, 5 PDT -- Kelvim Escobar (5-8, 4.37) vs. Darrell May (8-11, 5.13).

Saturday, 4 p.m. -- Bartolo Colon (10-8, 5.39) vs. TBA.

Sunday, 4 p.m. -- John Lackey (9-10, 4.80) vs. Mike Wood (1-4, 5.13).

Monday, 5 p.m. -- Ramon Ortiz (3-7, 4.26) vs. Brian Anderson (2-9, 6.33).