Old Advice Rings True for Anderson

Garret Anderson heard it from many veterans over the years.

“Make sure you take care of your legs, because hitting is all legs,” Anderson said, recalling the advice of those players. “If your legs aren’t healthy, it’s tougher to hit.”

Anderson knows it too well. He has played all season with a painful bone spur in his left heel, sat out five games in early May because of a sore left hamstring, and is suffering the consequences.

Despite hitting two run-scoring singles Monday night, Anderson is batting .274 with four home runs, 29 runs batted in, 16 runs and 12 doubles in 51 games, a sluggish first trimester that put the Angels left fielder on pace for 13 homers, 92 RBIs, 51 runs and 38 doubles. He has not homered since April 22, a span of 114 at-bats.

Those numbers might be acceptable for a No. 7 or No. 8 hitter but not a middle-of-the-order slugger such as Anderson, who averaged 30 homers and 120 RBIs from 2000 to 2003.

“I’ve dealt with failure plenty of times -- I know how to handle that,” Anderson said. “But the thing that’s frustrating about this is not being healthy. I can’t put a degree on it; I can’t say I’m 60% or anything like that. I’m just not healthy. But I can’t let things creep into my mind. I’m not going to quit on myself or the team.”

Nor is Manager Mike Scioscia -- not that he has much choice. Scioscia could drop Anderson in the lineup, but who would provide protection for Vladimir Guerrero?

Dallas McPherson has the raw power but doesn’t make contact consistently enough. Tim Salmon is 37 and can’t play every day on his surgically repaired knee. Juan Rivera, with a .226 average, three homers and 14 RBIs, is a shadow of the hitter he was in 2005. Kendry Morales has the potential, but Monday night was only his sixth big league game.

“Our confidence in Garret is as high as it’s always been,” Scioscia said. “As he gets his legs under him, which it looks like he is, he’s going to drive the ball. He’s all about production, squaring the ball up with runners in scoring position. He’s been swinging the bat better the last couple of weeks and doesn’t have a lot to show for it.”

Actually, Anderson is batting .235 in May (19 for 81) after hitting .309 in April. He had 17 RBIs in April; he has 12 RBIs in May. He’s batting a solid .295 (13 for 44) with runners in scoring position, and 13 of his 29 RBIs have given the Angels a lead.

“I’m too far along in my career to say I’m hitting the ball good and not getting results,” said Anderson, who sat out 50 games in 2005 because of an arthritic condition in his upper back.

“This is a results-oriented game, and the bottom line is the amount of runs I drive in, not necessarily my average or home runs. In my mind, I’m not doing the job to my expectations.”

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Ace Bartolo Colon will begin a scheduled two-game minor league rehabilitation assignment Thursday at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, where he is scheduled to throw 60 pitches.

Barring a setback, Colon would start June 6 for triple-A Salt Lake, pushing his pitch count to 75-80, before returning to the Angels rotation June 11 against Seattle.

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Taking negotiations down to the wire, the Angels on Monday signed Grossmont College pitcher Sean O’Sullivan, a third-round pick (103rd overall) in last June’s draft, for a bonus in the $550,000 range.

Had O’Sullivan not signed by Monday, he would have re-entered the draft.