Hatcher looking hard for answers

It can’t be too comforting for critics of Mickey Hatcher to hear the batting instructor size up the Angels’ slump and say, “I just wish I had some answers for it.”

Many fans think Hatcher should have all, or at least some, of the answers -- it’s why every time the Angels go into a lengthy offensive funk, they flood Internet message boards and radio call-in shows with pleas for Hatcher to be fired.

That probably won’t happen any time soon. Manager Mike Scioscia supports Hatcher, players speak highly of him, and Hatcher has weathered far longer and deeper slumps in his eight seasons in Anaheim.

But the question remains: When a team struggles like the Angels, who have lost eight of 10 games, a stretch in which they’re hitting .216 with 19 runs and .152 with runners in scoring position, how much of it falls on the batting coach?

“I go to bed every night thinking about how to help these guys,” Hatcher said. “We’ve got some young guys, some veteran guys, some guys who need to turn it up a bit. But I can’t go up there and hit for them. I try to keep them motivated, get them going, but what are we, 15 games into the season? I’m not going to panic.”

Asked how culpable the hitting coach should be, Scioscia tiptoed a bit around the question.

“Mickey works hard at this every day, and he’s very creative, whether it’s a concept or a drill with a guy,” Scioscia said. “He’s got a great ability to get through to a guy, and he’s had a good impact with guys getting back in grooves.... I think our offense has performed the way it should when guys are healthy.

“We feel we’re deeper this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect. The offense will re-emerge. The first week of the season, I think I think you saw a lot of things we’re capable of doing, but it hasn’t materialized in these last eight or nine games. That’s not totally unusual.”

Injuries took a bite out of the depth this week -- slugger Vladimir Guerrero missed two games because of a bruised right wrist and hopes to return this weekend, and second baseman Howie Kendrick, who is batting .327, was placed on the disabled list Wednesday because of a broken bone in his left hand.

But Guerrero played in three and Kendrick five of the last six games, when the Angels scored six runs and were limited to five hits or fewer four times.

No one has stepped up. The Angels have gotten little production out of five regulars -- Shea Hillenbrand (.143), Mike Napoli (.172), Gary Matthews Jr. (.232), Casey Kotchman (.235) and Garret Anderson (.226).

The Angels, citing good health, expected a bounce-back season from Anderson, but the cleanup batter is in a two-for-24 slump, has two runs batted in and has apparently slipped in stature to the point that one Oakland pitcher doesn’t consider him the Angels’ second-best hitter.

“Eric Chavez told me we needed to win both these games with Vlad out,” A’s right-hander Dan Haren said after Oakland’s 3-0 victory Wednesday. “You never take any lineup for granted, but when you look at their lineup without Vlad and their second-best hitter, Kendrick, you’re thinking this is a game you should win.”

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As if the Angels don’t have enough injury problems, the player who has been a pain in their neck, Seattle right fielder Jose Guillen, returns to Anaheim tonight for the first time since July 2005, when he ignited a bench-clearing brawl after tipping off then-Washington manager Frank Robinson that Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly had pine tar on his glove.

Guillen, a former Angel, is still mad at the Angels for suspending him for the final eight regular-season games and the playoffs in 2004, punishment for Guillen’s on-field tantrum after being pulled for a pinch-runner and an ensuing clubhouse altercation with Scioscia.

“I will be really pumped, I can tell you that,” Guillen said this week. “I will be pretty fired up.”

Guillen, who went five for 13 with three RBIs and a game-winning homer for the Nationals in that 2005 series, is hoping for a hostile reception in Angel Stadium.

“What did you guys see when I went there with Washington, what happened, huh?” Guillen said this spring. “I love when 50,000 fans are on top of you, booing you, I take that as motivation. It makes me play even harder. It makes me want to quiet the fans.”

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Reliever Greg Jones cleared waivers and was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com