Big Mac Now Has Minor Problem

When it became apparent late in spring training that Dallas McPherson would start the season at Salt Lake, the frustrated third baseman, who lost his job to Chone Figgins, said he had “nothing left to prove in triple A.”

Those words might come back to haunt him. After nine games at Salt Lake, McPherson was batting .143 with 22 strikeouts in 35 at-bats.

“You have to prove yourself every day wherever you are,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Right now he’s having a rough go of it. Him going down ... I don’t think that got into his head mentally. He has a big swing, he’s a power hitter, and right now he’s in one of those spells power hitters go through. But he can turn it around in a hurry.”

McPherson slugged 40 minor league home runs in 2004, and the Angels let Troy Glaus go as a free agent to clear third base for McPherson last season. But hip and lower-back injuries limited McPherson to 205 at-bats in 61 games, in which he hit .244 with eight homers, 26 runs batted in and 64 strikeouts.

The Angels, believing first baseman Casey Kotchman deserved more of an opportunity to play than McPherson, moved Darin Erstad from first base to center field. Figgins, who was expected to play center, moved to third.

McPherson was left hanging, and unless he turns things around at triple A he’s going to be hanging around Salt Lake a lot longer than he expected.

“He’s trying to find his stroke,” said Tony Reagins, player development director. “He’s normally been a slow starter who catches fire in the second half. He’s been making adjustments to his swing, and after being out for so long last year, it’s taken a while to get going. We’re not panicking. It’s only the second week of the season.”

McPherson, who spent the spring trying to shorten his path to the ball in order to reduce his strikeouts, could be an important piece to the Angel offense should Erstad or Figgins suffer an injury, because he has the raw power so many Angel hitters lack. But for him to return to the Angel depth chart, he’ll have to find his stroke.

“We haven’t gotten any feedback on the root cause [for the high number of strikeouts], but I know Mickey [Hatcher, Angel batting instructor] has been in touch with [roving hitting instructor] Ty Van Burkleo,” Scioscia said. “He’s trying to get back to the simpler mechanics he used before. He just needs to see the ball and settle in.”

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Erstad returned to the team Saturday after two near-sleepless nights -- the center fielder was up all Thursday night while his wife, Jessica, was in labor, and after their daughter, Jordan Elizabeth, was born Friday morning, Erstad took a red-eye flight from Southern California to Baltimore Friday night.

Erstad, who arrived at about 6:30 a.m. local time Saturday, did not play in the afternoon game. Asked what was more stressful, the birth of his first child or watching the Angels’ 6-5 loss Friday night to the Orioles, Erstad said it was the birth, hands down.

“It was weird watching the game on television, but holding her and listening to her cry, I didn’t pay that much attention to the game,” Erstad said. “It was a long day, but it was well worth it.”

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Of the Angels’ 27 losses in Camden Yards since 1997, 13 have come by one run.