Injuries Don’t Alter Scioscia’s Attitude

So, Jarrod Washburn suspects that he slept in an awkward position, prompting him to wake up with back and neck spasms that forced him to leave his Sunday start against the Houston Astros after only two innings, and the question is this: Do you still have the nerve to ask if the Angels are through the worst of this non-stop injury wave?

Well, the question is asked, and Darin Erstad asks one of his own.

“Are we through the worst?” he says. “Who knows? For whatever reason it’s just been a raft of injuries or one thing after another ever since I’ve been here. You just have to take it in stride and go out and play. I mean, we’re past the point of shaking our heads.”

Good thing, because it might just lead to an injury of one kind or another.

It has been that kind of season, with the Angels having put 11 players on the disabled list and the only certainty being that Manager Mike Scioscia will put a healthy spin on it.

The Angels fed off of his “one at a time” mantra en route to their World Series title in 2002, and he hasn’t wavered from what is a characteristically positive, stable and largely impassive approach -- off which a largely veteran team has again fed amid the challenges of 2004.

Even when the Angels resembled the Salt Lake Stingers, Scioscia was selling “championship caliber.”

“Well,” said Erstad, “regardless of the circumstances you want it to be the same every day and it is here. Even if Scioscia is not forgetting what happened yesterday or a week before, he doesn’t show it, and that definitely helps us turn the page as well.”

Of course the security of a contract extending through 2007 contributes to an aura of stability, and it’s easier to remain positive when the owner has invested more than $100 million in a roster that still featured a healthy Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Guillen when four of their key colleagues in the starting lineup were injured.

“I don’t do a lot of self analyzing, but I’m basically an optimistic person,” Scioscia was saying as the Angels returned to Anaheim on Monday.

“I can’t imagine coming to the park, or my staff coming, and not expecting to win.

“In addition, one of the things I realize after being in the game for as long as I have is that things seldom go smoothly. Your best laid plans are maybe good for an hour, and an hour later they’ve blown up and you have to turn to plan B, C or D. Well, our plan B , C and D still revolves around a very good ballclub.

“The last two weeks [notwithstanding], we played at a high level even with a lot of guys out of the lineup and that’s encouraging.”

Perhaps, but those last two weeks have been far more troubling than encouraging.

In a strange pattern, the closer that the Angels get to full health, the more they’ve tended to struggle, losing five straight series and 16 of their last 24 games as they came home to a four-game series with the Oakland Athletics, an important American League West interlude between the seven interleague games of the trip to Pittsburgh and Houston and the intensity of the three interleague games with the Dodgers this weekend.

With the Angels having scored three runs or less in 12 of those 24 games, Scioscia cited the lack of consistency and continuity from his lineup and said, “It seems like we’ve been pitching with our backs against the wall. We’re much better offensively than we’ve shown.

“Hopefully, now that we’ve got people healthy and reestablished our depth, we can get another push going and get to where we want to be.”

That’s October, of course.

Anything short of that will be a disappointment considering the investment, but it may not come easily.

The Angels are in a dogfight with the resilient A’s and surprising Texas Rangers, all virtually tied for the West lead after the Angels routed the A’s, 10-3, in front of a Monday night sellout of 43,058.

David Eckstein, returning to the top of the lineup, and Bengie Molina, returning to the bottom, delivered key hits as the Angels had 13 in all in a possible sign of things to come.

“Right now, aside from the opening week of the season, this is the strongest and most depth we’ve had in our lineup,” said Scioscia, who has started his projected nine only once.

“We’re better equipped to meet the challenge than we’ve been. You never know what’s around the corner, of course, but we’re definitely feeling more comfortable now because of the depth and the health we’ve reestablished.”

The “One at a time” Scioscia would never try to turn the corner before he gets there, but the club’s disabled list is down to five players and only third baseman Troy Glaus is definitely out for the season.

In fact, Aaron Sele is expected to be activated in time to start Saturday against the Dodgers, closer Troy Percival is making progress and even Washburn was improved Monday and still scheduled to start Friday night’s series opener against the Dodgers.

Said Erstad, getting back to the initial question:

“You never know if you’ve been through the worst, but through the course of the season all you want to do is come up to the last couple months with a shot.

“You’d love to play better and build up a huge lead, but the chances of that, especially with the competitiveness of our division, aren’t very good.

“You’ve just got to stay within striking distance, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Directed by a manager who spins positive no matter the extent of the turmoil or the speed of the turntable.

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Irregular Lineup

The Angels have played their projected everyday lineup just once this season, a 6-3 win against Oakland on April 17. The lineup and games missed:

*--* Player Pos. GM 1. David Eckstein SS 17 2. Darin Erstad 1B 32 3. Vladimir Guerrero RF 1 4. Garret Anderson CF 43 5. Troy Glaus 3B 40 6. Jose Guillen LF 1 7. Tim Salmon DH 43 8. Bengie Molina C 34 9. Adam Kennedy 2B 3

*--*

Note: The Angels have put 11 players on the DL this season (five currently), sitting out a combined 319 games. Glaus is the only player listed above on the DL.