Angels Socked in Chicago

Misery found some company Tuesday night. To an underachieving offense, the Angels added some shoddy starting pitching, and the result against the team with baseball’s best record was predictably ugly.

The defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox used a six-run third inning, powered in part by Jim Thome’s American League-leading 14th home run, to shred right-hander Kevin Gregg and the Angels, 9-1, in U.S. Cellular Field.

Right-hander Freddy Garcia (5-1) gave up one run and five hits in eight innings, retiring the last 16 Angels he faced, and Gregg (2-1), who sparkled in a seven-inning, one-run, three-hit effort at Detroit on Thursday, was tagged for seven runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.

The Angels, with a $103-million payroll, have lost 10 of 12 games, have scored one run in three consecutive games and are six games under .500. They’re batting .197 (93 for 473) with 40 runs in their last 15 games, their average with runners in scoring position has dropped from .300 to .243 in two weeks, and they’d have a hard time outscoring the Mighty Ducks right now, let alone the White Sox.

They showed life early Tuesday, with four hits and a run in the first three innings, but Gregg fell behind in too many counts, gave up seven hits in the third, including Thome’s three-run shot and Jermaine Dye’s solo shot, and the Angels were done.

“There’s a frustration level with the club right now, but we don’t feel our hands are tied,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s not a hopeless situation, but certainly there’s a sense of urgency to get this moving in the right direction.”

It begins with baby steps, Angel veteran Tim Salmon said.

“Everyone is frustrated, but you have to let the last at-bat go,” Salmon said. “Take the next one and battle the guy. The mind-set has to be, ‘I’m going to go up and give this guy a tough at-bat.’ We can’t give away at-bats. Don’t let the pitcher off the hook. We’ve got to fight through this.... If, as a whole, we have good at-bats, it can turn.”

The Angels are so desperate for offense they dipped into their depleted triple-A roster Tuesday and got Dallas McPherson, who was batting .235 with 49 strikeouts and seven walks in 102 at-bats for Salt Lake.

But McPherson hit five home runs in his last five games, which qualifies him as a hot hitter, so when struggling first baseman Casey Kotchman was put on the 15-day disabled list, the Angels inserted McPherson, a third baseman, at first, his sixth professional start at the position.

“It was nice to put together a few good games,” McPherson said before the game. “I would feel better if it was a good month.”

Indeed, McPherson, who was trying to shorten his swing at Salt Lake, looked very much like a work in progress Tuesday, striking out swinging in the second and fourth innings and looking in the seventh.

“I’m not expecting to be a savior,” McPherson said. “Hopefully, I can come in, get the job done at first and get some hits.... I may go 0 for 30 to start here, who knows? But I’m starting to feel better.”

The Angels already have rushed prospects Howie Kendrick, Mike Napoli and Tommy Murphy to the big leagues this season, but McPherson is not as wet behind the ears. He opened 2005 as the Angels’ starting third baseman but sat out most of the season because of injuries.

Has the whole experience of the last year -- the injuries, the struggles, the demotions to the minor leagues, the second chances -- made him any wiser?

“I’d like to think so, but at times I wonder myself,” McPherson said. “I know I’ve got to be more patient at the plate, get my strikeouts down, my walks up, and still do what I’m supposed to do, hit for power.”

Right now, the Angels will take what they can get.