First Impression Is Not a Winner

Howie Kendrick had never played first base before, not in Little League, high school, junior college or the minor leagues, and the entirety of his experience at the position was a crash course in first base defense from Angel coach Alfredo Griffin on Tuesday.

Wednesday night, Kendrick started at first base for the Angels.

That’s how desperate the Angels are for offense, but like so many lineup-shaking moves of late, this one had no impact. Kendrick, whose lethal bat has made him one of baseball’s best second base prospects, was hitless in four at-bats and struck out to end the Angels’ 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Comerica Park.

While the resurgent Tigers have won six consecutive games, the Angels (12-16) have lost six in a row for the first time since April 8-13, 2002. It’s the first time they have been four games under .500 since the end of the 2003 season (77-85).

The Angels are hitting .188 (52 for 277) and have scored 24 runs in the last nine games, their offense resembling the sluggish, power-starved group that muddled its way through much of 2005.

“This is one of the toughest stretches we’ve had here in a long time,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Some guys are on some tough streaks; some are hitting in some tough luck. We’re looking for guys to get into their game and for some hits to fall. When you’re not executing in one part of the game, it puts stress on the other parts.”

The first fallout from the Angels’ slump came after Wednesday night’s game when rookie catcher Jeff Mathis, who was hitting .103 with one home run and two runs batted in, was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake.

Catcher Mike Napoli, who was hitting .244 with three homers, 10 RBIs and 29 strikeouts in 78 at-bats at Salt Lake, was recalled and will join the Angels today. Mathis was also struggling defensively -- the Angels were 2-9 in the 11 games he started behind the plate.

“He needs to relax and get into a good rhythm behind the plate,” Scioscia said of Mathis. “His confidence has wavered a bit. Right now he’s got to take a half-step backward to hopefully take a step forward.”

Mathis, so highly regarded by the Angels they let two-time Gold Glove Award winner Bengie Molina go to clear a spot for him, admitted the possibility of a demotion was weighing on him.

“Playing the way I’ve been playing, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it,” Mathis said. “It’s tough, but I wasn’t producing. It was different going from playing every day to every third day, but that’s no excuse for what I was doing.”

Had the Angels been hitting and winning, Mathis’ rocky start, as well as the struggles of young first baseman Casey Kotchman (.159), wouldn’t be so magnified. But the Angels haven’t done much of either this season.

Wednesday night, they took a 1-0 lead against left-hander Nate Robertson in the first inning when Chone Figgins singled, stole second, took third on Orlando Cabrera’s single and scored on Vladimir Guerrero’s sacrifice fly.

The Angels advanced two runners to second base the rest of the game, wasting a fine effort by Jeff Weaver, who gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings, his shutout broken up by Brandon Inge’s home run in the sixth inning.

Detroit scored the game winner in the eighth inning when Inge walked on a controversial full-count check swing and second baseman Adam Kennedy made a questionable decision to throw to second on Ramon Santiago’s slow roller to the hole.

Inge beat the throw to second and scored on Alexis Gomez’s two-out single to center field against Scot Shields, who hadn’t given up a hit or a walk to a left-hander in 19 at-bats this season.

“What [stinks] is I gave up the winning run and Jeff is tagged with the loss,” Shields said. “I’d much rather the loss go to me.”