BOSTON -- For those who were hoping for some kind of shakeup to help snap the Angels out of their six-game slump, Thursday’s lineup might be a disappointment.
It’s the same nine guys in the same order it has been in most of this season. Erick Aybar -- batting .167 on this trip -- remains in the leadoff spot. Brandon Wood, the struggling young third baseman, remains in the No. 9 hole. Hideki Matsui is in the lineup again, his 30th straight game without a day off, despite a four-for-36 slide.
Manager Mike Scioscia met with his coaches Thursday afternoon and talked over multiple new looks, but they’re all being stymied right now by a shoulder injury to utility infielder Maicer Izturis.
Izturis is the Angels’ only other viable leadoff man and he’s the only player they would consider playing every day at third base. Izturis hurt himself diving for a ball Monday night while playing third. He said it aggravated an injury to his labrum that he had surgically repaired when he was in the minors in 1999.
The Angels are considering putting Izturis on the 15-day disabled list.
“He’s a guy who would definitely be able to get in there and hit in a variety of positions and take some pressure off some guys or give us a spark,” Scioscia said. “He could play the field in an emergency, but we’re trying to stay away from that.”
The Angels approach to snapping out of it seems to be to try and relax. Scioscia canceled on-field batting practice Thursday.
“We need to try to calm down and go out and do our thing, not try to do too much,” Torii Hunter said. “Because we’re in a skid, we’re going to try to do too much. I’m going to try to do too much, to give my team a boost.”