Sele Earns a Starting Spot

Having failed to display any progress over five exasperating starts, Ramon Ortiz was demoted to the bullpen Monday in favor of Aaron Sele, who delivered five shutout innings Saturday during a spot start against the Minnesota Twins.

Sele will start Thursday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and could remain in the rotation if he continues to pitch like he did against the Twins, when he allowed two hits and displayed the devastating curveball that made him a winner with the Seattle Mariners.

“For the number of innings he threw, that was probably our best starting performance this year,” General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “He’s throwing a curveball that is the old Sele curveball, a sharp downer that was breaking, and he was hitting his spots with a good fastball. What I saw was a guy who really looked sharp.”

Manager Mike Scioscia said Ortiz’s ineffectiveness over his last 20 starts dating to last season prompted the switch. The right-hander lost five his last eight decisions in 2003 and is 1-3 with a 9.28 earned-run average this season and struggled with fastball command and the consistency of his slider.

“He’s tried everything from analyzing mechanics to what his pitch sequence is being to just going out there and thinking about repeating pitches and just simplifying things,” Scioscia said. “The progress we’re seeing is not what we’d hoped. The best thing right now is to take a step back.”

Said Ortiz: “Right now I’m not pitching good. You want to do the best thing for the team. I’ll go to the bullpen and work on getting opportunities to pitch one inning or two innings.”

Sele worked himself into the rotation by allowing one run over his last seven innings of relief before his solid start Saturday, though Scioscia indicated the Angels would have taken Ortiz out of the rotation even if Sele had struggled. Scioscia said he did not regret starting the season with Ortiz in the rotation even though Sele had outperformed him in the spring.

“Aaron’s throwing the ball better now than he did in the spring,” Scioscia said. “His couple of outings in relief definitely worked toward getting him to where he needs to be. Everything from his command to his consistency has improved.”

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Garret Anderson resumed running Monday, an encouraging sign for a center fielder who has missed more than a week with a mysterious ailment in his upper back. Stoneman said he was relieved that tests ruled out anything serious.

“The good thing is that they can’t find anything really unusual in there,” Stoneman said. “The bad thing is that something’s been bothering him and we’re still not sure what it is. I’ll take the good there because he’ll be back at some point.”

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Troy Glaus, still bothered by mild shoulder discomfort, played designated hitter for a third consecutive game but could return to third base as soon as tonight, Scioscia said.