ANGELS’ batters aren’t doing well right now. How to end a batting slump? (Shutterstock).

In assessing the Los Angeles Angels’ prospects for 2025, I told anyone who would listen that “well, they finished last in 2024. They can’t do worse than that.”

So … is finishing last two years in a row worse?

On Sunday, the Angels lost 5-0 to the Minnesota Twins in the Gopher State to see their record fall to 12-15 – last place in the AL West. They’re even below the homeless Athletics (14-14). They may be regarded in the same breath as the fictional Ruppert Mundys (see the “The Great American Novel” by Philip Roth).

Now, of course, it’s much too early to concede the season. In fact, there’s one aspect in which the Halos are improved over last year’s version. In 2024, they couldn’t pitch or hit well. This year, the pitching is decent, but after an early flurry of homers, the batting has gone further south.

To date, the team is hitting .213, next to last in MLB, and just ahead of the pathetic White Sox (7-21)).

I’m not trying to be mean. Batting in the big leagues is about as difficult a thing to do as there is in sports, and hitting is down for both leagues, as it was last year.

There are lots of remedies for such a hitting hiccup. They include working on your batting mechanics, getting better at other things – like base-running – to maximize the effect of the hits do you get – or simply fixing your timing.

All good ideas, but as an observer of baseball for many years (as well as a streaky slo-pitch softball fellow) what seems to work the best is to just … take a break.

I’m not taking about benching the bad hitters … right now, that’s most of the lineup. I’m saying send them to the beach or Disneyland or to Coldstone. Anything to get their minds off baseball.

With luck, they’ll be more relaxed in a few days and do better. As for working on their batting mechanics, remember the wisdom of Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400 in the big leagues: “Don’t let anybody *bleep* with your swing.”