Vernon Wells

The beneficiary of Mark Trumbo's slump is Vernon Wells, but the veteran Angels left fielder said he's taking no delight in seeing the young slugger struggle. "I want him to succeed," Wells said Saturday, when he was given a second start in three games over Trumbo. "If he succeeds, this team wins games. "I care about him. I want him to get through this. " Trumbo, 26, has 30 home runs, but his average has shrunk from .306 to .269 during a 34-game stretch in which he's batting .173 (23 for 133)

The prognosis for the temporary left fielder is good. Howie Kendrick , who left Thursday's game in Seattle because of tightness in his right hamstring, was not in Friday night's lineup but said the injury is minor and will sideline him for only another day or two. The outlook for the permanent left fielder, the one who hit 31 home runs for Toronto last season and was expected to be a middle-of-the-order force for the Angels this season?...

Vernon Wells was sore from a crash into the left-field wall Wednesday night, but it was his eyesore of a batting average, along with some other hideous numbers, that kept him out of the lineup Thursday night. "He was a little banged up," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "But he was going to get the day off anyway. " (Wells entered the game in the seventh inning and struck out in the eighth.) The Angels are at a loss to explain Wells' dramatic decline since the 32-year-old was acquired from Toronto in January.

Angels 7, San Diego 4 AT THE PLATE: Vernon Wells had a double and a home run, his team-leading fourth of the spring, raising his average to .423. Howie Kendrick, who has hit in all 13 of his spring games, had two more hits and is batting .513. Mike Trout (.406) had a triple and two runs batted in. ON THE MOUND: C.J. Wilson became the first Angels pitcher to work into the sixth inning, going 51/3 innings and holding the Padres to a run and five hits. EXTRA BASES: Veteran Mitch Stetter, who could give the Angels another left-handed option out of the bullpen, made his spring debut after rehabilitating a bulging disk in his back.

— The most interesting spring development regarding the Angels on Sunday happened in Florida, where Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees suffered a broken arm. Granderson is not expected to return until May, so might the Yankees fill the void by taking Vernon Wells off the Angels' hands? Probably not. However, Wells was well aware of the Granderson injury by the time he spoke with reporters midway through the Angels' 7-5 Cactus League loss to the Oakland Athletics. Wells reached base in each of his two plate appearances, once on an infield single and the other on an error, and stole a base.

DETROIT — Vernon Wells , out since May 21 because of a torn ligament in his right thumb, is expected to begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment of seven to 10 games this weekend, moving a big step closer to a return that could cause tension in the Angels' clubhouse and test the patience of fans. Wells, who has been taking batting practice for a week and throwing for several weeks, was the starting left fielder when he was injured, but since then, outfielders Mike Trout , who joined the team April 28, and Mark Trumbo have emerged as most-valuable-player candidates.

The man who has it all, millions and millions and at least 40 more coming, is crying. He's sitting in the lobby of a fancy hotel here, his hands curled into fists to fight away the relentless tears. He cares so much he cannot speak. You know him, of course: "WELLS" across his back when he's playing and you might be booing. To everyone else in baseball, he's "Vernon Wells, the guy with the big contract who sucks. " And he understands. "That's my name," Wells concedes in acknowledging how it all runs together these days, seven years, $126million and he cannot hit. This year was going to be different, slow to start but coming on, he says, when he injured his thumb.

OAKLAND -- Even the most ardent supporters of the Angels have written off Vernon Wells as a bust, and the team hasn't had much use for the overpaid, underachieving outfielder who has been reduced to a bit player since late July. So guess who played a huge role in cooling off the hottest team in the majors and helping the Angels open a crucial 10-game stretch against wild-card contenders with a convincing 8-3 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday. Yep, it was Wells, who had a run-scoring single in the second inning, a prodigious home run in the fourth, and walked and scored in the sixth, as the Angels ended Oakland's winning streak at nine games.

The closer Vernon Wells gets to returning from surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, the more the Angels outfielder looks like a $21-million elephant in the room. Wells, sidelined since May 21, began playing catch this past week and will begin a hitting progression - dry swings to tee work to soft toss to live batting practice - at his Texas home during next week's All-Star break. He is expected to begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment later this month and should be ready to be activated off the 60-day disabled list by the end of July.

Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto said his decision to fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher and replace him with Jim Eppard could be "a spark. " Something, perhaps, like those fireworks that erupted Wednesday beyond Angel Stadium's center-field wall, where Albert Pujols deposited his second home run as an Angel in a 7-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Dipoto said he thought "long and hard" before deciding a hitting coach switch had...