Angel Bats Snooze

At some point -- probably soon, considering it’s almost June -- the Angel front office will have to determine whether the team’s hitters are in a lengthy slump that they’ll snap out of or if this is as good as they’re going to get.

That point, in the eyes of General Manager Bill Stoneman and Manager Mike Scioscia, has not arrived, not even after the Angels’ latest lackluster offensive effort in a 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox in front of an announced 42,716 in Angel Stadium on Wednesday night.

Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn gave up Paul Konerko’s three-run homer in the first and Chris Widger’s solo shot in the second, and it was essentially over for the Angels, who scored in the third (Adam Kennedy RBI double) and eighth (Darin Erstad RBI double) innings and stirred briefly in the ninth when pinch-hitter Curtis Pride, with a runner aboard, flied to the warning track in center to end it.

The Angels have been limited to three runs or fewer in 12 of 22 games this month and five runs or fewer in 26 of the last 28 games. They’re batting .245 this season and .230 in May, averaging 3.5 runs this month. The Angels have a major league-worst .297 on-base percentage, lower than all 16 National League teams, whose pitchers bat.

There are several hitters, including Kansas City’s Mike Sweeney, Tampa Bay’s Aubrey Huff and San Diego’s Phil Nevin, believed to be available in a trade, but Stoneman is not in a shop-till-you drop mode.

“We’re leading the division. This isn’t the time to get panicky about anything,” Stoneman said. “We’re not having the year offensively I thought we’d have, but we’re pitching very well, we’re playing good defense. On balance, we’re doing OK.”

OK may cut it in the worse-than-mediocre American League West, where the Angels now share first place with Texas, but if the Angels are going to compete with the likes of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and the White Sox, they’ll need to start hitting or look to upgrade their offense, either from within -- Casey Kotchman? Kendry Morales? -- or from the outside.

“I’m very confident we’ll generate the offense we need in this room ... but if it doesn’t materialize, we’ll first look within the organization for solutions, and if they’re not there, then we’ll look outside,” Scioscia said. “But it’s premature to be talking about that.”

Granted, the Angels are without their best hitter, 2004 American League most valuable player Vladimir Guerrero, who is on the disabled list because of a shoulder injury, but they weren’t exactly clobbering the ball before Guerrero was hurt.

With the exception of Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Bengie Molina, the team has underachieved, and two spots -- center field and third base -- have been of particular concern.

Center fielder Steve Finley is a notorious slow starter, but a .199 average in late May constitutes more than a slow start. And rookie third baseman Dallas McPherson is batting .215 with one homer and three RBIs and has far more strikeouts (31) than hits (20).

The Angels let Troy Glaus walk as a free agent because they said they felt McPherson, who had 40 homers and 126 RBIs in the minor leagues last season, was ready to step in at third, but McPherson hasn’t been convincing, and fans who compare him to the past have been unforgiving.

“I have my own expectations, and I’m as hard on myself as anybody,” said McPherson, whose seventh-inning triple was his first extra-base hit in 14 games. “Whatever fans say, I’ve already said to myself.... I know I’m not going to hit 40 or 50 home runs. But if I can make adjustments and do things to help the team, that will be OK.”

Glaus was overmatched as a rookie, hitting .218 with 51 strikeouts in 48 games in 1998, but he was never optioned to the minor leagues. A minor league demotion does not seem imminent for McPherson either.

“If his frustration level was to a point where he wasn’t producing because of it, he could work things out in the minor leagues,” Scioscia said. “The major leagues is not a proving ground. You have to produce. We feel Mac has potential and that he’ll come around. No one player has a sword over his head. You want guys to feel they’ll get enough at-bats to find their stroke.”

Finley has found his stroke on occasion -- he does have six homers and 21 RBIs -- but not consistently. Just when he thought he found a groove, he suffered a groin injury this month.

“I’ve had a few years where I could have given up, but I just keep going,” Finley, 40, said. “In 2001 I was hitting .207 with two homers and 16 RBIs on June 7 and finished up strong (.275, 14 homers, 73 RBIs).”

Angel Owner Arte Moreno said there is enough flexibility in his payroll -- about $95 million now -- to add a hitter before the July 31 trade deadline.

“We’re focused on building from within the organization,” Moreno said, “but at the end of the day, we want to win.”

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Doing 90

Chicago starter Freddy Garcia has won 90 games over the last six seasons, ranking him ninth among right-handed pitchers. Wins by right-handed pitchers since 1999:

PITCHER... WINS

* Bartolo Colon...105

* Greg Maddux...105

* Russ Ortiz...103

* Pedro Martinez...102

PITCHER... WINS

* Curt Schilling...101

* Roger Clemens...98

* Mike Mussina...98

* Tim Hudson...97