Angels Need Vlad of Old to Come Alive

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Mickey Hatcher has seen that Vladimir Guerrero, the one who you saw flailing away hopelessly in New York on Saturday night. He's seen him plenty of times.

Ironically, that's precisely why the Angels hitting coach isn't worried about his cleanup hitter.

"We've seen the same thing you guys saw, and you say 'Gosh is he hurting?'" Hatcher told FanHouse. "Then he comes out the next day and the Vlad horns stick up and he gets [ticked] and he finds a way to get some big hits for us."

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If the Angels are to come back from a 2-0 deficit to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, they are going to need to find some offense from some of their slumping hitters, especially Guerrero. The Angels slugger is 2-for-11 in the series, and he's left 10 runners on base in the two games, striking out four times.

Guerrero is certainly not alone. Leadoff man Chone Figgins and No. 2 hitter Bobby Abreu have also been struggling. Guerrero's case is potentially more troubling, though, because this performance has come at the end of a season that has been difficult throughout. He was on the disabled list twice, with a torn pectoral muscle and a knee injury. Not coincidentally, he had career-worsts in batting average (.295), on-base percentage (.334) and slugging percentage (.460).

"He's still dangerous if you make a mistake to him. But if you make reasonably good pitches, you get the guy out."
-- A scout on Vladimir Guerrero A Triple Crown of decline.

Guerrero has also had his highest strikeout percentage (13.8) since 1998, when he was 23 years old, and his lowest percentage of extra-base hits (7.9).

"He hasn't hit like Vlad, but he's done OK," Hatcher said.

To be fair, Guerrero also did have a couple big hits -- singles -- against the Red Sox, including one that drove in the winning runs in the clincher of the Division Series.

That said, a scout who has covered the Angels for the past few seasons said that Guerrero's numbers this year are not just a fluke or bad luck, but evidence of a noticeable decline. He said the injuries have taken their toll on the 34-year-old.

"He's such a unique guy in the way he hits," the scout said. "He really has to have all the strength and quickness that he can muster, because he's long to everything. Every time he swings the bat, his actions are long, his swing plane is long. He has to have all the quickness he can get. You have always been able to pitch to the guy if you can get the ball in the right spot, but now they have a little more room to make mistakes and he doesn't have the quickness he used to have to employ that style he has.

"He's still strong. He can still hit it out of the park. He's still dangerous if you make a mistake to him. But if you make reasonably good pitches, you get the guy out. That's what happened."

Guerrero, who spent some extra time after Sunday's workout at Angel Stadium doing rehab exercises to keep his back and knee strong, said that he's feeling good now, and he has the same expectations of himself

"I always see myself as the same type of player, someone who needs to produce for the team, someone who wants the responsibility to be up there when it counts," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "The biggest adjustment for me is now I have to do more maintenance work for my knee and back to keep it trong, but if I can swing the bat, I'm going to go out and play."


Guerrero also said he was already over the frustration on Saturday night's game: "I just think about the fact that as a team we lost the ballgame. I take responsibility, but we have a good team and we know we'll come through. It's time to move on."

Guerrero's teammate, Torii Hunter, said that he still believes in the man who bats behind him.

"I have confidence in Vlad," Hunter said. "If it weren't for Vlad, we probably wouldn't be where we are. He's helped a lot just by having his name and his history in our lineup. It changes the thought process of the pitcher. I've got confidence in Vlad."

Beyond this postseason, the question will be what type of interest Guerrero generates on the free-agent market. The past few years have shown how quickly baseball can abandon its aging players, even if they aren't far removed from being All-Stars. It is possible that Guerrero may wind up being this winter's version of Adam Dunn or Abreu.

"I don't think there's going to be a big market for him," the scout said. "An American League team will take a shot at him, but I think he's going to be a late sign."

Abreu, of course, was one of the latest signs last winter, and he's turned out to be one of the great offseason bargains for the very same Angels who will have to make a decision on Guerrero.

"I think he realizes he's going to really have to work hard this offseason to get back to where he was," Hatcher said. "But I'll tell you right now, we've all seen it in this locker room, there are flashes of the old Vlad. It's a matter of him keeping himself in shape and working hard. He's probably hit more in the cage and taken more batting practice than since I've had him. Everything had come so naturally to him...

"He has worked harder than he ever has. I'm sure the injuries have affected him, but there is still some game in him. You see little sparks there."

The Angels need some of those sparks immediately.