Angels’ poor season surprises former teammate Vernon Wells

Former Angels outfielder Vernon Wells didn’t get much of a reaction from the Angel Stadium crowd in the second inning on Friday night, with a few cheers, a few boos and a lot of apathy greeting his first at-bat as a Yankee.

And Wells, who drove the first pitch he saw to the warning track in left-center field for an out, couldn’t say that surprised him since he said he had no idea what kind of greeting he would get.

“I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest,” Wells said before the game.

What has surprised Wells, however, is the Angels’ poor performance this season. Last season Wells was part of an Angels team that came out of the gate slowly but rallied to nearly make the playoffs. This season the Angels are still waiting for that rally.

“After going through it last year, it’s pretty much the same group,” Wells said. “Yeah, it’s unexpected. There’s so much talent in that locker room and they’re capable of going on runs that not many organizations can go on.”

Wells has gone on some runs of his own this season, some good, some not so good.

After hitting .300 with six home runs in April, Wells slumped to .221 in May. And June’s been even worse, with Wells entering Friday with four hits -- all singles -- in 42 at-bats this month. His last homer came on May 15.

Add it up and Wells is hitting .229 with 10 homers and 29 runs batted in -- which is still better than the Angels’ Josh Hamilton (.217, 9 HR, 21 RBIs).

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