Mathis Hasn’t Caught Hold Yet of Victory

Manager Mike Scioscia says three games is too small a sample size to draw conclusions about the play of Jeff Mathis, the rookie catcher who was so highly regarded by the Angels that they let two-time Gold Glove Award winner Bengie Molina go to clear room for him.

But Mathis looks at the results, and it’s hard not to notice a trend. The Angels have lost all three games he has started, 6-4 to Seattle on April 5, 10-1 to the New York Yankees on Sunday and 11-3 to Texas on Wednesday night. That’s 27 runs the Angels have given up with Mathis behind the plate.

They have given up 23 runs in the six games veteran Jose Molina has caught, going 5-1 in those games.

“You think about it,” Mathis said after Wednesday night’s game. “You wonder whether you’re throwing down the right finger or whether they’re swinging the bat well or if they’re throwing a good pitch and they just hit it....

“I hate getting my fanny whooped. I’ve always been that way. I’ve gotten better as I’ve played, but I don’t like losing at all.”

The pitcher-catcher relationship is the foundation of the Angels’ defensive philosophy, and Scioscia stresses it from the first day pitchers and catchers report for spring training to the last game of the season.

Those who haven’t learned how to call a game, how to handle the many nuances of the position, or haven’t mastered all of the fundamentals simply won’t last long with the Angels. But Scioscia thought Mathis proved he was ready in spring training, and he’s not about to lose confidence in the catcher after three games.

“He takes it hard,” Scioscia said of Mathis. “He’s been well-coached in the minor leagues on what’s important to our organization. He knows the part a catcher has to bring for us to be successful, and he’ll bring it -- he’s going to be a terrific catcher.

“But three games is too small a cross-section to make any kind of comparisons. He’s going to get more playing time. We’re going to need him, and we’re very confident we’re going to have the results we need with him catching.”

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Reliever J.C. Romero knew he needed a change of scenery after clashing with Minnesota Manager Ron Gardenhire at the end of last season, but not until he spent an entire spring training with the Angels and opened the 2006 season with his new team did the left-hander realize how much he needed that change.

“I’m just happy and enjoying the game again,” said Romero, who has thrown 4 1/3 scoreless innings in four games, giving up one hit and stranding all six of his inherited runners. “I guess I got away from that a bit. Like any job you do for so long, sometimes you get to a new environment and you feel invigorated.”

Romero has fit in well with his new teammates. Clutch performances will do that for a new guy in the bullpen.

In his Angel debut, Romero bailed out Bartolo Colon of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in a season-opening 5-4 win over Seattle. He threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in a 3-2 win over the Yankees on Saturday and a scoreless inning to gain the win in a 5-4 victory over Texas on Tuesday night.

Romero doesn’t feel as if he’s pitching any different than he did in the last two seasons with the Twins, when he allowed 40 of 87 inherited runners to score, but there does seem to be a little more of an edge to his work, an Angel attitude that has rubbed off on him.

“These guys continue to be aggressive no matter the situation,” Romero said. “When you do that, good things are going to happen. They take a lot of pride in what they do. They have the mentality that the team needs them.”

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Starting pitching and defense were supposed to be strengths, but through the first nine games, the Angel rotation had a 6.22 earned-run average, and the team led the major leagues with 10 errors after tying a club record and leading the league with a .986 fielding percentage in 2005.