It’s Not a Lack of Effort That’s Holding Back Erstad

Angel coaches watch the shallow fly balls and weak grounders come off Darin Erstad’s bat, see his strikeouts pile up at an alarming pace and come to what sounds like a very odd conclusion:

“It looks like he’s trying too hard,” third base coach Larry Bowa said. “You can almost see him squeeze the sawdust out of the bat when he’s up there. He might be putting too much pressure on himself. He has too much ability to play like this.”

That ability burst through in the first half of 1998, when Erstad tore up American League pitching for a .313 batting average, 18 home runs and 59 runs batted in, earning a spot in the All-Star game last summer.

But since then, in 609 at-bats--the equivalent of a little more than a full season--Erstad is batting .250 with 10 homers and 59 RBIs, shocking numbers for the No. 1 pick in the 1995 draft, a 25-year-old who several managers predicted would be one of the game’s top all-around players.

“When you feel comfortable you have a relaxed intensity, you don’t even think about what you’re doing,” said Erstad, who is batting .245 with nine homers, 36 RBIs and 79 strikeouts this season.

“When you’re struggling, you’re up there battling, and sometimes you can overdo it. When you’re scuffling you want to make things happen. I guess that’s what you’d consider pressing.”

With the exception of a one-month period, in which he raised his average from .227 in early June to .269 in early July, Erstad has not looked comfortable at the plate.

He has been baffled by hard sliders and curves that break inside at thigh level or lower, pitches that right-handers began feeding him with regularity last July.

The Angels are by no means ready to give up on Erstad, but his struggles have made some in the organization wonder which is the real Erstad--the one who pulverized pitching in the first half of 1998, the one who has been perplexed by it since then, or something in between?

“I’m sure everyone is concerned, but when you’ve never been through adversity, you don’t know how to deal with it,” Bowa said. “Maybe in the long run this will be a blessing in disguise. When he goes into a slump he can look back to 1999 and see how he handled it, how he made adjustments.”

*

Center fielder Garret Anderson was scratched from Saturday’s game because of a sprained left ankle, an injury he suffered in the ninth inning Friday night when he slipped and fell while fielding Troy O’Leary’s two-run double.

The sprain is not believed to be serious, and Anderson was listed as day to day. He was replaced in center by Jim Edmonds, who played his first game in the outfield without incident--meaning, he didn’t crash into a wall or dive and re-injure his surgically repaired right shoulder.

*

The Angels reported no change in the condition of first baseman Mo Vaughn, who is suffering from a staph infection of the right shin. Vaughn was at Edison Field for Saturday’s game but was not in uniform. . . . The Angels’ only bright spot Saturday was Tim Salmon’s two-run homer in the ninth, his first home run since April 29, a span of 87 at-bats. “When Salmon starts hitting, they come in streaks,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “Hopefully this is a good indication.”

Tonight

ANGELS’ JACK McDOWELL

(0-3, 7.20 ERA)

vs.

RED SOX’S PEDRO MARTINEZ

(15-3, 2.48 ERA)

Edison Field, 5

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090)

* Update--After two impressive starts, in which he gave up three runs and 13 hits in 12 innings against the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, McDowell was rocked for nine runs and 10 hits in three innings of Monday’s 12-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Martinez, the Red Sox ace, came off the disabled list Tuesday and gave up one run, three hits and struck out seven in a no-decision against the Cleveland Indians.

* Tickets--(714) 663-9000.