Angels’ Howie Kendrick ready to be an everyday player again

Reporting from Phoenix

As good a second half as Howie Kendrick had in 2009 — the Angels second baseman ranked second in the American League with a .351 average from July 4 on — he never regained the starting job he lost when he was demoted to triple-A Salt Lake on June 12.

Kendrick, who bats right-handed, started only 41 of 82 games from July 4 on, sharing second base with the switch-hitting Maicer Izturis.

Only once in that span did Kendrick start four games in a row, and in September, 10 of his 12 starts came against left-handed pitchers. Before he was sent down because of his .231 average, Kendrick started 49 of the first 59 games at second.

But when asked Saturday if Kendrick had re-established himself as an everyday player, a guy who would start five or six days a week, Manager Mike Scioscia was adamant in his response.

“Absolutely,” he said. “He did that last year. We have four infielders at three positions (second, third and shortstop) that will hopefully play five or six days a week. It worked well last year, and it’s what we’ll try to accomplish this year.”

The difference this season is that third baseman Brandon Wood — and not Kendrick — is the least accomplished of those four infielders, and the versatile Izturis will probably spell Wood at third a lot more often than he does Kendrick at second.

“That feels good that I’m going to be an everyday player,” said Kendrick, who lined out twice and struck out in Saturday’s 4-2 exhibition loss to the Oakland Athletics. “When you’re out there every day you have a chance to be even more consistent, so it’s awesome to know they believe in me as a player.”

Kendrick, who ended 2009 with a .291 average, wasn’t sure coming into camp how his strong finish would affect his status.

“I felt good about the way I came back and played — I helped the team win — but I didn’t know what it was going to bring this year,” Kendrick said.

“I didn’t have any expectations about whether I’d be a starter or not. I was just going to come in and work hard. Knowing they’re going to give me a shot to be there every day, I’m very pleased.”

Kendrick has always been known more for his offense than defense, and like catcher Mike Napoli, he is experimenting with a bigger glove his season. So far, he’s been shaky, bobbling three grounders for errors in three games.

“He’s frustrated, but a lot of it is early spring stuff,” Scioscia said. “He looks good in drills. It will take some time to get the rough edges worked out, but Howie is going to do the job.”

Time on his side

Three games into the exhibition season, Hideki Matsui is yet to play in a game, and the large Japanese media contingent covering the Angels’ new designated hitter seems to be getting restless.

Asked whether Matsui would get enough spring at-bats to be ready for the season, Scioscia went out of his way to avoid a widespread panic in Japan.

“He’ll get plenty of at-bats — we have 28 more games,” Scioscia said. “If this was Hideki’s first year here [in the major leagues], there would be more urgency to him getting out there and understanding the strike zone. But he’s been here seven years. He knows our pitchers. It’s not going to take him long to get acclimated.”

Quote of the day

Pitcher Jered Weaver, who gave up two runs and three hits in 1 2/3 innings Saturday, on whether he will throw a strike this season to notorious bad-ball hitter Vladimir Guerrero, the former Angel and now Texas DH: “Yeah, right down the middle, I think that’s his hole. We’ll see what happens.”

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