Scioscia Is Not Wild About Sweep

The Angels regard themselves as an excellent team playing mediocre baseball, not as a mediocre team. After another loss dropped the Angels below .500 on Sunday, Manager Mike Scioscia held a brief but pointed closed-door meeting to remind his players of that.

“I’ve seen him worse,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said.

The Chicago White Sox scored the winning run on a ninth-inning wild pitch by Scot Shields, capping a 6-5 victory that completed their first regular-season sweep in Anaheim since 1992. The White Sox swept three games here last October, en route to the World Series championship, and at 17-7 they’re off to the best start in the major leagues this season.

They’re playing with confidence, with a strong offense and with a sound pitching staff. The Angels are playing with none of the above, and as a result they finished April at 12-13, their first losing record in the month since 2003.

“We stink,” center fielder Darin Erstad said. “We’re just not putting it together. We’ll have a good game, then we’ll have a bad game. We just haven’t got to a good stretch yet. It’s about time we started doing that.”

Said Kennedy: “You’d like to think you’re a lot better than .500, but we just haven’t played that way. There’s still more in the tank waiting to come out, hopefully.”

For a defending division champion with a $103-million payroll, “hopefully” sounds a bit pessimistic, but it’s reality. It’s too early for a tirade, as Scioscia realizes, because the Angels can’t be sure what their season might hold. His message to his players, according to Kennedy: “Keep playing aggressive, play hard, play with confidence.”

Orlando Cabrera homered, doubled, singled and drove in three runs Sunday, but for the most part the Angels have yet to prove there’s much to their lineup beyond Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson. Curiously, leadoff batter Chone Figgins leads the team and ranks among league leaders in strikeouts.

The Angels rank 11th in the league in runs, 11th in home runs and next to last in on-base percentage.

Erstad, in the No. 6 spot, is batting .238, with three hits in his last 24 at-bats. Kennedy, in the No. 9 spot, is at .324, but he’s two for 15. Of the rookies batting between them, first baseman Casey Kotchman is at .162 and catcher Jeff Mathis is at .108.

“The litmus test is producing in the big leagues,” Scioscia said. “If guys are struggling and we feel there’s a benefit for us to make changes, we’ll consider that. But nothing has changed our confidence these guys will be very good major league players -- and this year.”

But Scioscia said his offense is not his No. 1 concern, not in a week when injuries will force him to use Hector Carrasco and Kevin Gregg as replacements for rotation anchors Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar, certainly not when no one knows how much longer Colon might sit out.

“What’s disturbing to us right now is when you see Bartolo Colon not be able to take the ball and Kelvim Escobar having to miss a start,” Scioscia said. “The depth of your pitching is critical. Obviously, ours is being tested right now.”

The Angels got five hits Sunday and still had a chance to win. They lost, with a taste of small ball, when pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna stole second base, took third on a sacrifice and scored on Shields’ wild pitch.

“It’s hard to lose a game that way,” Shields said, “but I have to deal with it.”

Across the clubhouse, Erstad answered all the questions reporters had to ask, then asked jokingly, “You got any ideas how to hit?”