Lackey Losing Mind Games

Hanging curveballs weren’t the only topic during Monday’s closed-door meeting among Manager Mike Scioscia, pitching coach Bud Black and struggling starter John Lackey.

Among subjects covered was Lackey’s penchant for losing his cool in the face of adversity, a tendency that often leads to mental lapses, mistake pitches and big innings for opponents.

“John has the ability to make pitches in tough situations, but when he hits a bump in the road, his frustration level elevates,” Scioscia said. “He has to realize that everything he does is not going to turn to gold....

“We talk about mound presence. At times, John has been swallowed up by the circumstances of a situation. Instead of trying to throw the ball harder or make the break [of his curve] bigger, he just needs to make pitches. We’re talking about consistency. This is not a guy who’s never done it.”

That’s what makes Lackey’s performance all the more perplexing. The 6-foot-6 right-hander seems to alternate between superb and shoddy, usually from start to start, sometimes from inning to inning.

He burst onto the big-league scene in June 2002, finishing 9-4 with a 3.66 earned run average that season and winning Game 7 of the World Series, but he has been inconsistent ever since, going 24-29 with a 4.65 ERA over the last two years.

In his first start this season, Lackey needed 49 pitches to throw four no-hit innings against Texas on April 7 before collapsing during a four-run, 48-pitch fifth. Sunday in Oakland, Lackey couldn’t hold three leads and gave up a game-winning homer to No. 9 batter Marco Scutaro. Lackey is 1-1 with an 8.22 ERA.

“John is searching for consistency,” Scioscia said. “His career at times has been spectacular; at times he needs to clean some stuff up. Right now, he’s on a plateau. We need to get him back to how he was throwing the ball at the end of last year. He needs to put together a string of good starts.”

If not, would the Angels consider a change? Right-hander Dustin Moseley is 2-0 and has given up no runs and five hits in 12 innings of his first two triple-A starts, and current Angel relievers Chris Bootcheck, who threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings Tuesday, and Jake Woods can start.

“Nobody’s rope is infinite, but we’re not at a point of replacing any of these guys in what we consider a good rotation,” Scioscia said. “These guys can’t put pressure on themselves each game thinking they’re going to be replaced if they don’t perform. We have confidence in John.... He’s young, his stuff is good, and when he harnesses it, you’re going to see a good pitcher for a long time.”

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The Angels have gotten virtually no offense from the third-base position, center fielder Steve Finley (.176) is off to a typically slow start, and designated hitter Jeff DaVanon (.200, three runs batted in), second baseman Chone Figgins (.245) and shortstop Orlando Cabrera (.250) haven’t really hit their stride.

“You’d like to get off to a rip-roaring start, but we haven’t,” first baseman Darin Erstad said. “We have little signs like we’re going to break out, then we regress; we do good, then regress. We haven’t hit our groove yet, but there’s no panic. We’ve just got to be patient.”

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Kelvim Escobar, on the disabled list because of a right elbow sprain, gave up two earned runs and five hits in four innings Tuesday night, striking out six and walking one, in a rehabilitation start for triple-A Salt Lake at Las Vegas.

Escobar appeared strong and fluid throughout a 74-pitch stint, and his fastball hit 95 mph on the Cashman Field speed gun. The right-hander is expected to join the Angel rotation Sunday against Oakland.

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ON DECK

Opponent -- Cleveland Indians, two games.

Site -- Angel Stadium.

TV -- FSN West both games.

Radio -- 710, 1020.

Records -- Angels 7-7, Indians 6-8. 2004 record vs. Indians -- 4-5.

Tonight, 7 -- Bartolo Colon (2-1, 3.66) vs. Jake Westbrook (0-3, 4.50).

Thursday, 7 p.m. -- Jarrod Washburn (0-0, 2.79) vs. Kevin Millwood (0-2, 3.60).