DOWN THE LINE

Winning can be a pain

Six of the seven teams that began the weekend with at least a share of the lead in their divisions have dealt with significant injuries, with only the Arizona Diamondbacks remaining relatively healthy.

Philadelphia started the season without Chase Utley, is still missing closer Brad Lidge and Friday put Roy Oswalt on the disabled list.

Milwaukee didn’t get Zack Greinke until May. Texas was without Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz at the same time.

Cleveland lost Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner and Matt LaPorta for varying lengths of time, and Boston has Carl Crawford, Clay Buchholz, Jed Lowrie and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the disabled list.

“Injuries are part of the game,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you.”

But it’s hard not to feel for the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost 20-game winner Adam Wainwright in spring training, saw Matt Holliday go on the DL when he was leading the league in hitting, and are now without Albert Pujols, who is out at least a month because of a broken left forearm.

Despite all that, the Cardinals started Saturday a game back of the Brewers in the National League Central.

And the schedule gives the Cardinals a chance to stay close since they don’t see the Brewers again until August, by which time Pujols is expected back.

Twelve of St. Louis’ 18 games against Milwaukee come in the season’s final two months.

Taking the hit

Offense is way down throughout the majors for the second consecutive season, and hitters aren’t the only ones who have paid a price for that.

Three teams -- Cleveland, Texas and Florida -- fired their hitting coaches in the last 21/2 weeks. Cleveland and Texas did so despite leading their divisions at the time.

The Indians replaced Jon Nunnally with minor league hitting instructor Bruce Fields. The Rangers dumped Thad Bosley in favor of triple-A hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh. The Rangers, who were fourth in the majors in batting at .264 under Bosley, are hitting .269 since the change. The Indians hit .220 in their first five games under Fields.

But at least those teams hired men already in uniform. Florida dumped John Mallee in favor of ESPN commentator Eduardo Perez, a .247 career hitter in the big leagues but a successful manager in the Puerto Rican winter league.

Perez is already working with his second manager since joining the team June 9, and the Marlins entered Saturday hitting .230 since he came aboard.

Stat watch (college edition)

Although Long Beach State hasn’t qualified for the college postseason since 2008, the 49ers still are making an impact on the big league level.

When the Diamondbacks called up reliever Bryan Shaw this month, he became the 14th Long Beach State alum to appear on a big league roster this season -- more than any other program.

That’s still shy of the school record of 16 big leaguers in a season, set last year. Among the former Dirtbags in the pros are the Angels’ Jered Weaver, Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria and Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi.

-- Kevin Baxter