Vladimir Guerrero used to pound the Texas Rangers, batting .440 with 21 home runs, 18 doubles, 49 runs batted in and an .812 slugging percentage in his first 56 games against them. The Angels won 35 of those games.
But early last season Texas Manager Ron Washington went to a shift against him, putting three infielders on the left side, and Guerrero -- who went hitless Sunday -- has batted a more mortal .294 without a homer in his last 18 games against the Rangers.
The Angels are 9-9 over the span.
"It's just three games. You have to wait and see what I do against them in the future," Guerrero said after collecting three singles in 12 at-bats against the Rangers over the weekend. "The important thing is I feel really good. Every year starts the same, but we have to wait to see what happens as the season goes on."
Hitting coach Mickey Hatcher agrees.
"At the end of last year he wasn't really at his best. And this year, it's just the start of the season. I don't think his swing is where he wants it to be right now," Hatcher said. "He's going to get a lot of base hits over there. Let's see how it plays out. He beat the shift on a lot of balls last year. I don't think it bothers him one bit."
Guerrero, who hit .366 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in the first month of last season, is hitting .250 with only one extra-base hit through seven games this season.
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Closer Francisco Rodriguez, bothered since last season by a sore left ankle, grimaced repeatedly and appeared to be hobbling during a shaky 19-pitch save Friday. And Manager Mike Scioscia said the pain is now coming from his right ankle, the one he uses to push off the mound.
"He tweaked it a couple of days ago, and we're going to look at it closely," Scioscia said. "But it is a little sore."
Rodriguez, a late arrival to the Angels clubhouse Sunday, said he felt fine and Scioscia, after some initial doubts, said he could have used the right-hander had the situation come up.
As it turned out, he wasn't needed in the Angels' 10-4 loss.
Rodriguez has pitched scoreless innings to earn saves in each of his three appearances this season, but he hasn't looked smooth, missing the strike zone on more than half his pitches.
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Howie Kendrick, who had two hits Sunday to run his regular-season hitting streak to 12 games dating to last September, credits experience and patience for this fast start.
