Slumping Glaus (2 for 27) Can’t Seem to Get It Right

Troy Glaus was batting .359 with five homers and 16 runs batted in on April 29 and receiving high praise for driving the ball to the opposite field.

Know when he got his last hit to right field? April 26, which was 56 plate appearances ago. In his last 28 at-bats, Glaus has hit only two balls to the right side, both infield pop-ups.

The 22-year-old third baseman has two hits and 11 strikeouts in 27 at-bats, and his average has plummeted to .282.

“His swing has gotten a little long, and he might be a little tired,” Manager Terry Collins said. “Early in the year he was hitting well to the opposite field, but sometimes when the team is not playing well, one guy tries to put it on himself to break out.”

When Glaus was feasting on pitching in April, Collins said the true measure of how far he had come from 1998 would be how he handles--and emerges from--his first slump.

To his credit, Glaus has not panicked.

“I’m hanging in there, I’ll get it going,” he said. “I’m seeing the pitches well, I’m just putting bad passes on them. I’m not really worried. I’ll be all right. I’ll start hitting, everyone will start hitting, and we won’t be having this conversation any more.”

Asked if he was pressing, Glaus said, “I’m up there trying to be successful, I’m not going up there saying ‘I have to get a hit.’ There’s a huge difference.”

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Angel starter Ken Hill struck out Jose Offerman and got John Valentin and Brian Daubach to ground out in the first inning Sunday. The rest, as they don’t say, was misery.

The right-hander who had given up only seven earned runs in 28 1/3 innings of his last four starts gave up Nomar Garciaparra’s homer and walked Reggie Jefferson and Scott Hatteberg on eight pitches in the second. He threw a fat 0-2 pitch to Troy O’Leary, who hit a two-out RBI single in the third, and gave up two more runs on three hits in the fourth.

When Collins went to the mound to pull Hill in the fourth, he almost had to yank the ball out of the pitcher’s hand.

“I didn’t want to give him the ball,” Hill said. “I asked, ‘Is that it?’ I wanted to keep battling. Whether I’m up or down, I want to keep fighting. I take pride in what I do. No one wants to get embarrassed.”

Hill has pinpointed his problem. The Red Sox were 0 for 5 with one walk when Hill pitched from a full windup. They were five for nine with two walks and a sacrifice fly when he threw from a stretch.

“I had good stuff, but I got out of whack when I got to the stretch,” he said. “I can’t find a consistent delivery.”

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Tim Salmon, who has sat out six games because of a sprained left wrist, took 25 swings off a tee and off soft toss Sunday and reported no setback. He’ll take early batting practice Tuesday in New York, with hopes of returning during the Yankee series. “It’s an encouraging step forward,” he said. “Does it mean I can play Tuesday? I don’t know.” . . . Second baseman Randy Velarde, who has sat out four games because of a stiff lower back, threw for 10 minutes and also hopes to play in New York. . . . It’s obvious that first baseman Mo Vaughn’s sprained left ankle is bothering him a lot, and Collins may play him at designated hitter in New York. . . . Jack McDowell was ejected in the fourth inning by third-base umpire John Shulock. McDowell, who thought Damon Buford left early from third on a sacrifice fly, has been ejected twice and received a four-game suspension in the past year, all penalties incurred while he was on the disabled list.