Jeff Mathis

Jeff Mathis has modest offensive goals for this season. The Angels catcher is not looking to hit .300 with 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in. "After the last couple of years," Mathis said, "I just don't want people to think of me as an out." While Mathis has developed into an above-average defender, an extremely athletic receiver with a good arm and game-calling skills, he has struggled offensively, batting .195 with a .

The irony isn't lost on Jeff Mathis, the notoriously weak-hitting Toronto Blue Jays reserve catcher who in a mere 17 at-bats this season has two more home runs than Albert Pujols, who now dons the No. 5 Angels jersey Mathis wore from 2005-2011. How can it not be when just about every writer, broadcaster or fan Mathis comes into contact with brings up the fact that, entering Thursday night's game against the Angels, Mathis has out-homered the $240-million slugger who has 445 career homers but none in 101 at-bats this season?

The irony isn't lost on Jeff Mathis, the notoriously weak-hitting Toronto Blue Jays reserve catcher who in a mere 17 at-bats this season has two more home runs than Albert Pujols, who now dons the No. 5 Angels jersey Mathis wore from 2005-2011. How can it not be when just about every writer, broadcaster or fan Mathis comes into contact with brings up the fact that, entering Thursday night's game against the Angels, Mathis has out-homered the $240-million slugger who has 445 career homers but none in 101 at-bats this season?

CLEVELAND - If this isn't rock bottom, the Angels can definitely see it from here. A team that can't hit and is stocked with relievers who can't get anyone out found another way to lose Sunday when nine-time Gold Glove-winning right fielder Torii Hunter lost a routine fly ball in the sun, the key play in a 4-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians in Progressive Field. Right-hander Derek Lowe went through the Angels like a chainsaw through kindling, giving up three hits in 72/3 innings, and reliever Vinnie Pestano struck out Howie Kendrick with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to snuff out the Angels' only real threat.

As it turns out, catcher Jeff Mathis played the final two innings of Monday's game with a broken wrist. Reliever Kevin Jepsen threw a pitch in the dirt in the eighth inning, and the ball bounced up and smacked Mathis' bare hand. He stayed in the game, but he complained of soreness after the game, and X-rays Tuesday revealed the fracture. The Angels put him on the disabled list — he is expected to be out at least six weeks — and recalled utility man Robb Quinlan from triple-A Salt Lake.

He's the defensive half of the Angels' catching platoon, the one who supposedly can't hit, the guy one Orange County newspaper blogger referred to earlier this season as a "busted prospect." Monday afternoon, Jeff Mathis was a playoff hero, the guy who touched off a wild celebration in Angel Stadium after he pulverized an Alfredo Aceves slider for a two-out, run-scoring double to left-center field in the 11th inning. Mathis' hit, which followed Howie Kendrick's two-out single to center field, gave the Angels a dramatic 5-4 walk-off victory over the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

From a glance at the offensive numbers, Jeff Mathis has no business catching ahead of Mike Napoli. Mathis hit .194 last season, with nine home runs in 283 at-bats. Napoli hit .273, with 20 home runs in 227 at-bats. The catchers struck out at the same rate, but Napoli walked half again as much.

Seattle 6, Angels 4 AT THE PLATE: Robb Quinlan , Kendry Morales and Howie Kendrick had two hits each, but Jeff Mathis , who wound up hitless, may have had the best day at the plate. Mathis stung the ball in both his at-bats but was robbed of extra-base hits by Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Lopez . Both of Kendrick's hits were doubles while Morales drove in his team-best 10th run of the spring. He also leads the Angels with a .400 average. ON THE MOUND: Scot Shields was hit hard for the first time, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk in his lone inning.

Jeff Mathis' batting average dipped below .200 for the first time this season Monday, the Angels catcher's season-long slump only worsening over the last month. But that figure wasn't the one triggering the most concern in the manager's office. "What's probably more disappointing than his offensive side are some of his defensive numbers," Mike Scioscia said before the Angels played Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Angels pitchers have a 4.03 earned-run average when Mathis is behind the plate this season, a smidgen higher than the 3.95 ERA they had compiled in games he had caught previously in his career.

Angels fans pining for catcher Jeff Mathis to take a long seat on the pine might have to keep waiting. Manager Mike Scioscia said Mathis' ability to work with starting pitchers outweighs his offensive struggles. "If you look at the job he's done with [ Jered ] Weaver and [ Dan ] Haren , we're winning games when they pitch not because of anything Jeff's doing at the plate, but what he's doing behind the plate," Scioscia said Saturday. On Sunday, Haren, who is scheduled to pitch Tuesday at the New York Yankees, cosigned that argument.

Texas (15-5): In 130 games since Mike Scioscia jettisoned him from the Angels, Mike Napoli has hit 37 home runs. Tampa Bay (13-7): Fernando Rodney, out as Angels closer after one week last season: 6 saves, 0 blown saves. Atlanta (13-7): It's them again at back of 'pen: - Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel combined: 16 IP, 1 ER, 29 K. Washington (14-6): Four starters with sub-2.00 ERA: Strasburg (1.08), Zimmermann (1.33), Gonzalez (1.52), Detwiler (1.64). St. Louis (13-7)

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. — If the plan was to ease Mark Trumbo into third base this spring, the Angels picked a good day to do it. With fly-ball pitcher Jered Weaver on the mound, Trumbo did not field one grounder in three innings of a 6-4 exhibition loss to the Seattle Mariners at Tempe Diablo Stadium Wednesday. "Jered may not be the best candidate to get a lot of work, but I was just happy to get out there," said Trumbo, who was pushed off first base by Albert Pujols . "It's just a matter of time.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. -- Chris Iannetta could struggle a bit at the plate, sail a few throws to second base or fail to block a few balls in the dirt in April, but even with a rocky start, the new Angels catcher would have this going for him: He is not Jeff Mathis. Few players in recent Angels history have been the object of more scorn than Mathis, who for six years was an agile and athletic defender, an adept handler of pitchers and a model teammate and citizen. He just couldn't hit. That's why Jerry Dipoto, in his first move as Angels general manager - before he sank $317.5 million into slugger Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson - traded pitcher Tyler Chatwood to Colorado for Iannetta on Nov. 30 and, a few days later, shipped Mathis to Toronto for pitcher Brad Mills.

Two hundred fifty-four million dollars to play baseball. And now this. Saturday brought blue skies and temperatures near 70, gently swaying palm trees, two huge red caps with large A's bracketing the entrance to the stadium they define, and nearly 5,000 fans screaming his name and gushing their affection. Albert Pujols must have thought he had died and gone to heaven. Never before had a team presented a more fitting name for a player's situation. It is Angel-red heaven now, no matter how much that makes Tom Lasorda squirm.

Jeff Mathis' Angels career came to an end Saturday when the team traded the weak-hitting catcher to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Brad Mills, a 26-year-old left-hander who spent parts of the last three seasons in the big leagues. Mathis, who hit .174 with three home runs and 22 runs batted in last season, became expendable when the Angels acquired catcher Chris Iannetta from the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. Mills has a 2-3 record and 8.57 earned-run average in 14 big league appearances, nine of them starts.

Jerry Dipoto "checked off two boxes" on his winter to-do list with his first trade as Angels general manager Wednesday, adding catching depth and a player with a strong on-base percentage with his acquisition of Chris Iannetta from the Colorado Rockies. But did he add another item by sending 21-year-old right-hander Tyler Chatwood to Colorado for Iannetta, a 28-year-old with a .357 on-base percentage in six big league seasons? The Angels don't have much depth beyond their big league rotation, and they parted with one of their top two pitching prospects in Chatwood, who struggled with his command in 2011 but showed much promise with his 95-mph fastball and big overhand curveball.

Jeff Mathis didn't so much win Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Indians with his 16th-inning sacrifice fly; he put it out of its misery. Torii Hunter doubled to lead off the 16th, took third on Alberto Callaspo's grounder to first base and scored on Mathis' fly to deep right field to give the Angels a 4-3 victory in a 4-hour, 57-minute marathon that was the 19th game in club history to last 16 innings or more. But riveting theater it wasn't. The Angels managed six hits in 49 at-bats, left seven runners in scoring position and squandered several opportunities to win. The Indians, one of the league's worst offensive teams, left 16 runners on base.

Jeff Mathis admitted that the pitching showdown between Jered Weaver and Minnesota's Anthony Swarzak on Saturday was both exhilarating and frustrating. Exhilarating because, as a catcher, he got to call the pitches for Weaver's nine scoreless innings. And frustrating because as a hitter he was 0 for 2 against Swarzak in a game in which the Angels were nearly held hitless. "Every guy that goes to the plate wants to get that big hit for" Weaver, Mathis said. "You want to get in there and battle for him. Not only yourself.

The Angels worked their way quickly through the unavoidable charade Friday and sent the loudest message possible to their fans. Being a late-season contender isn't enough. Sitting at home in October, watching pinstripes and Texans on TV, won't cut it. Having the ever-present great fan experience and welcoming 40,000 to every home game is nice, but not the whole goal. General Manager Tony Reagins resigned Friday. The announcement came at 2:18 p.m. PDT. The official face-the-music was handled in a hastily arranged conference call with Reagins and team President John Carpino at 3. There was no face to face.