High Demand, Low Supply Cause Angels’ Energy Crisis

There’s obviously no quit in our local college boys, but unfortunately the same can’t be said about our so-called professional nine.

Garret Anderson struck out, the ball got away from the catcher and Anderson appeared ticked he’d have to start running to first, slowing enough to allow the catcher to tag him before he got anywhere.

I’m telling you, it’s just not a good sign when the ushers running on to the field for the seventh-inning stretch display more energy than the starting left fielder who is getting paid millions to play a game.

It got so bad Saturday night after the White Sox scored three in the first inning, one in the third and another in the fourth, that when Anderson blooped a single to left in the last half of the fourth, he waited at home plate to see if the ball would be caught so he didn’t waste the effort of running to first.

I think we know who demands the use of a cart when they play golf; I’m just waiting to hear the same request to play baseball.

The fans in the stands are paying full price and getting only a half-hearted effort at times from one of the team’s so-called leaders. And apparently it’s contagious. The Angels fell behind Friday, again Saturday in the first inning, and then collectively rolled over dead.

“I think you hit it right on the nose; our energy level is way down,” said hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. “That’s what Mike [Scioscia] told the team after the game in a little session in here. It’s the facial expressions and walking back to the dugout after an out -- no energy. We see the same thing, and I think Mike did a good job addressing that with the team.”

We’ll see today, or we won’t see the Angels again this season.

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IT’S A good thing the kids at UCLA and USC still thought they could win when it appeared they were doomed. If Anderson were playing for the Bruins or Trojans, he’d have suggested falling on the ball and just getting it over.

Why play half-hearted at times? That’s what I asked Anderson, and he seemed surprised.

“I’ve been that way my whole career,” he said, as if it’s an acceptable excuse he hasn’t played hard his entire career.

Then he said he didn’t understand my question, asking that I be more clear, so I spelled it out: his reluctance to run on a bloop single, the lack of hustle on a pair of dropped third strikes, and doesn’t this send a bad body-language message to the rest of the team?

“I come to play baseball every day,” he said, and I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything other than a half-hearted answer.

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AND THEN there’s Vladimir Guerrero. Anderson and Guerrero are the Angels’ two best players, the guys who are looked upon to set the offensive tone, and yet Anderson is so laid back it appears he’s sleep-walking, while Guerrero is so impatient it appears he can’t wait to swing the bat and get back to the dugout.

The other day on Dan Patrick’s ESPN radio show, his guest was Yankee fan Donald Trump.

Asked about Alex Rodriguez’s performance in the playoffs, Trump said, “He plays very big in games that don’t mean anything. I’m disappointed in him, very disappointed in him. He’s a very good ballplayer when it doesn’t mean anything.”

Just imagine if Trump were an Angel fan and asked for his opinion of Guerrero.

In 11 playoff games with the Angels over the last two years, Guerrero is nine for 45 with eight singles. They covered the infield after Saturday’s game with a tarp, which by coincidence covers Guerrero’s hitting area during this series.

But it gets worse. When he hits the ball on the ground, he paces himself while running to first, just like Anderson.

What happened to going all out on every play, at least in the playoffs?

In Chicago, I believe they call it “pulling a Pierzynski,” or running to first base and even risking embarrassment just on the off-chance you might be safe? It might even mean the difference between winning and losing, as the evidence now shows.

I’d like to get an explanation why an athlete thinks it’s all right to hustle only some of the time, especially at a time of year it is supposed to mean something special to still be playing.

Anderson has proved at times in these playoffs he can turn it up a notch, when he wants to chase down a ball in left, make a bullet throw to second or race around the bases. Apparently it’s too much to ask him to play nine innings as if every one of them means something, the excuse being that he’s played that way his entire career.

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I HAVE no idea what excuse the umpires might have for not measuring up to the challenge of postseason play, but it’s also inexcusable. There was the blown call at first, the catcher’s interference that wasn’t called, the blown call on a steal, or as Joe Buck was saying on Fox, “I’ll say this, they’re all missing them.”

I don’t recall ever agreeing with something said on Fox -- until now.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Rev. James Cliffe:

“Keep sticking it to the McCourts for their hiring of DePodesta and their combined ruination of the Dodgers. No PR firm can stem the trouble they have caused. You’re our only hope for keeping the heat on them and keeping them accountable to us. Salma loves you.... “

I’m glad you said that, because my wife keeps telling me different.

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.