Angels’ Hideki Matsui starts in left field
Reporting from Chicago — Hideki Matsui spent several minutes in the clubhouse Monday afternoon pounding his glove with a small wooden mallet. Then he used the end of a bat to pound it some more.
The Angels slugger got even more help breaking in the glove a few hours later when he started a second consecutive game in left field for the first time this season.
With Juan Rivera sidelined for a sixth consecutive game because of problems associated with blurry vision, Matsui was again an Angel in the outfield. He made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track in the second inning to rob A.J. Pierzynski of an extra-base hit.
But Manager Mike Scioscia said he anticipated using his primary designated hitter in the outfield on back-to-back days the rest of the season “only out of need.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to play him out there more often because you always are running the risk of setting somebody back if you push things too much,” Scioscia said.
Matsui has thrived at the plate in games he has started in left field, hitting .388 with four homers and 19 runs batted in in 49 at-bats after going 0 for 3 with a walk during the Angels’ 9-2 loss to the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. He is hitting .229 with six homers and 27 RBIs in 231 at-bats as a designated hitter.
Asked about the discrepancy, Matsui said through an interpreter that before his balky knees forced him to become a designated hitter, “playing left field was a normal thing for me, a normal rhythm, so perhaps there might be something there related to that. But on the other hand, I’ve been DHing for a while and I’m pretty used to the routine.
“So honestly I’m not sure from my perspective why the numbers are what they are.”
Scioscia said he hoped Rivera, who has been fitted with glasses to reduce glare, could return Tuesday.
Never give up
After hitting .208 in parts of four seasons with the San Diego Padres, Paul McAnulty spent last year in the minor leagues. It didn’t exactly rejuvenate his career; the utilityman was released by triple-A Pawtucket in July.
When he signed with the Angels in February and reported to their minor league camp, McAnulty had to fight just to make the double-A Arkansas roster.
But the 29-year-old wasn’t about to quit.
“I figured as long as I had a uniform on my back,” he said, “I had a chance.”
He certainly has made the most of it. McAnulty was leading the Texas League with 14 home runs when he was promoted to triple-A Salt Lake at the end of May, and he was hitting .360 with the Bees when the Angels called him up over the weekend to add depth at first base.
Playing before his parents in his first game as an Angel, the former Oxnard High standout hit a two-run homer Sunday at Angel Stadium. McAnulty, still on the stocky side despite losing more than 20 pounds since spring training, laughed when told Scioscia had said he looked like “anything but a guy that’s in the major leagues.”
“That’s actually pretty funny,” McAnulty said.
On the mend
Scioscia said utilityman Maicer Izturis, on the disabled list since June 16 because of a strained left forearm, could resume swinging a bat in a few days and embark on a minor league rehabilitation assignment within a week after that.
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