Slumping Cabrera Gets the Day Off

Every time he hits a fly-ball out -- which is far too often lately -- Orlando Cabrera returns to the clubhouse, watches the at-bat on tape and sees his evil twin.

“It’s like I hate the ball too much,” Cabrera said. “I see the ball, and I want to hit it in two pieces. I see the same swing. I’m not swinging too hard; I’m trying to hit the ball too hard.”

Whatever the root of his struggles, whether he’s feeling pressure to drive the ball more in the No. 3 spot, is fatigued from starting all but four of the first 119 games or slowed by a right thumb injury he revealed for the first time Tuesday, they landed Cabrera on the bench for his first game off since July 9.

Not that the shortstop, whose average has dropped from .306 to .281 since moving from the second to third spot on June 27, thought he needed a breather.

“I will feel the same [today] whether I had the day off or not,” Cabrera said. “I think it’s more a mental than a physical break. It doesn’t matter how many times you rest; some days you’re going to feel more hurt than others.”

Cabrera has felt more hurt the last six weeks than he did the first three months of the season, when he batted .302 and reached base in 63 straight games. Soon after moving to the three spot, he was jammed on an inside pitch and injured his right thumb, which is still swollen and hurting.

“That’s when my average started going down,” Cabrera said. “But it would take two weeks without playing to get it right.”

Cabrera tried wearing a thumb pad in Kansas City in late July, “but it didn’t feel right, so I took it off during the at-bat,” he said.

When Cabrera moved to the three spot, behind Chone Figgins and Maicer Izturis, he was told by Manager Mike Scioscia he would remain there “for a few days,” Cabrera said.

Six weeks later, Cabrera is still batting third, and Scioscia plans to keep him there, even though Cabrera was much more effective in the two spot (.297, 48 runs, 43 runs batted in) than he has been batting third (.247, 42 runs, 15 RBIs).

“The lineup, as a whole, has been productive in the past six weeks,” Scioscia said. “Though Orlando’s numbers have been soft, he’s still working counts and doing things to set the table for” Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Juan Rivera.

“There are a lot of positives spinning out of the lineup. Until there’s an option that really pushes us forward offensively, we’re going to stay with the three little guys in front of the three big guys.”

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Anderson, who sat out the final three games of the New York series because of tightness in his lower back, returned to the lineup as the designated hitter Tuesday. Izturis, who sat out two games because of a tight right hamstring, started at shortstop.