Slumping Finley Is Given Time Off

A day after being pinch-hit for with the bases loaded by a guy hitting .221, Steve Finley is being held out for “a few days,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, in hopes Finley can find his stroke with hitting coach Mickey Hatcher.

“As a hitter, you never want time off,” Finley, who signed a two-year, $14-million free-agent contract with the Angels in December, said with a shrug. “But I guess right now, I’m in hitting rehab.”

Finley, who is in a five-for-30 slump and has hit only one home run in his last 35 games and driven in four runs in his last 24, said he underwent a similar shutdown while with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001, a year after undergoing back surgery. The 40-year-old center fielder was on the disabled list from June 22 to July 13 because of a strained right shoulder.

“Physically, I feel fine; my shoulder doesn’t hurt,” he said. “I have to try to get back to basics.”

Said Scioscia: “It’s a matter of when a guy has been pounding his head against the wall and he steps back, he’ll see the handle to the door is right next to where he’s been banging his head.

“We’re going to try to simplify some approaches with Fin.... clean some cobwebs out.”

Finley, who needs seven home runs to join Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Andre Dawson and Barry Bonds in the 300-home run, 300-stolen base club, is batting .229 with eight homers in 83 games.

“I’m not on the three-day banned list,” Finley said with a laugh. “I’m just working on my swing.”

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Yankee Stadium. Angel Stadium. Franklin Covey Field in Salt Lake City.

They’re all the same to Chris Bootcheck, who will be making his second spot start for the Angels tonight.

“That’s something I have to keep in perspective -- 60 feet 6 inches,” said the right-handed rookie, who did not earn a decision Sunday despite limiting the Yankees to one run and five hits in six innings.

A baptism by fire in the Bronx?

“I wouldn’t say that,” Bootcheck said. “Every team, you don’t make good pitches, you get hit.

“I have to continue progressing from start to start. My approach is still the same.”

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L.A. King center Jeremy Roenick, acquired in a Thursday trade, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and backup catcher Josh Paul made him feel at home, Paul carrying a bat with him to the plate as a goalie’s stick and making a glove save on Roenick’s 63-mph “heater.”

The lukewarm response from the Anaheim fans might have meant they had read Roenick’s comments about the rivalry between the Kings and the Mighty Ducks.