Scioscia Seems to Have Taught Napoli Very Well

Had a chat with the Angels’ designated out Wednesday afternoon, as shocked as the Orioles to see him getting a hit and scoring the go-ahead run, but still curious to know what it’s like to be so inept while swinging a bat.

And still playing.

Naturally, I went to Mike Scioscia first because of his experience in these matters -- being a catcher known best for blocking the plate.

I pointed to Mike Napoli’s stats, the catcher hitting .288 in his first 50 games with the Angels and reaching base in 11 consecutive plate appearances at one point, but hitting .112 in his last 35 games with 29 strikeouts.

“That would’ve been considered a hot streak in my career,” Scioscia joked.

That got me to thinking that maybe Napoli has been watching videotape of Scioscia, which would explain why he has only one home run in his last 35 games.

“I heard he was a pretty good defensive catcher,” Napoli said, “but I have no idea what kind of hitter he was.”

Weren’t you just a little bit interested to look it up, especially since your manager was a former catcher as a younger man?

“I watched some videotape,” said Napoli, who had a double and three strikeouts in the Angels’ 8-4 win. “I saw him blocking the plate, but I’ve never seen him swing the bat.”

What a relief.

Scioscia hit .259 in 13 seasons, while hitting a career-high 12 homers in 1990. Napoli has 13 homers in his first 85 games, and a big fan in Scioscia -- even though Napoli now appears clueless at the plate.

“It’s unbelievable how he’s hit over the last 100 at bats,” Scioscia acknowledged, although Napoli was a .237 hitter in double A last season.

“But look at his production,” Scioscia said. “He scored something like 94 runs one year and 96 or 97 the next.”

He also struck out 306 times the last two years, or once every three times he picked up a bat. Finally, someone the Dodgers’ Mark Hendrickson might get out.

“This guy has a huge upside,” Scioscia said, and now would be a good time to show it.

The Angels are going to need a power surge somewhere down the stretch. They beat the Orioles again, but the A’s magic number dropped to 18 with another win, leaving the Angels little small-ball margin for error.

“Napoli understands how he can influence a game behind the plate,” Scioscia said. “He could go 0 for 30 and strike out 30 times,” which, I would add, is possible the way he’s been hitting.

“But he’s not going to lose his focus behind the plate and he understands what that means to this team,” Scioscia said. “That’s why he’ll keep playing.”

I ran some smart-aleck comments by Napoli, figuring at worst he’d take a swing and a miss, but in return got a rookie who refused to be rattled.

He said he knows he’s struggling, but also knows what his role is, “and I’m never going to take my offensive struggles with me behind the plate. All that matters is winning, and I can play a part in that behind the plate.”

Maybe it’s too early to say if he’s going to swing a bat like Scioscia, but he sure talks like the guy.

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BEFORE WEDNESDAY’S game, Scioscia told the media, “the future is going to be the future.” Wasn’t Yogi Berra also a former catcher?

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IT’S NICE to see that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and I agree California Speedway should be demolished, but apparently for very different reasons.

I have no idea why 100,000 people would make the trek to Fontana to sweat all day while watching a bunch of cars go in circles. Earnhardt, meanwhile, basically predicted in The Times before the weekend activities that the fans would see dull racing because the California Speedway isn’t set up for close racing.

So we agree on a marketing campaign: “Come watch dull racing.”

Earnhardt told The Times they ought to “dig it up and rebuild” the Speedway, which couldn’t have been good news for Gillian Zucker, the track’s president, who had just overseen a $10-million project to improve the fan experience at the track.

“Kyle Petty thinks it’s perfect,” said Zucker in an e-mail replying to Earnhardt’s remarks. “Tony Stewart thinks we should dump dirt on it and have the only two-mile dirt oval in NASCAR. Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon think it should be narrowed. If you talk to 43 drivers, you would get 43 answers. I know this because I have spoken with most of them on this subject.

“What’s the answer to providing the most competitive racing surface in the No. 1 market served by a live NEXTEL Cup event? We’re working on it. In the meantime, the Chase excitement and fuel, or lack thereof, made for a very exciting race. With the exception of non-Kasey Kahne fans and Junior, I think the 100,000-plus here left smiling.”

I know when I got the chance to leave early Friday, I left smiling.

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THE ASSOCIATED Press reported Chargers linebacker Steve Foley was unarmed when he was shot and wounded by an off-duty cop, which is odd. Stories of the incident have already made it clear Foley was armed -- with a girlfriend who was by then driving his car in the direction of the off-duty cop.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Mitch Lehman, representing Camp Fox on Catalina Island:

“My camp leaders have donated a fair amount of money that I can designate to a particular charity ... you are a complete and total jerk, and I would like to donate to the Mattel Children’s Hospital charity you have mentioned in a couple of your articles.”

Obviously, I’m not going to argue.

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.