Kennedy Move Made to Order

To even a casual observer, the name jumped out from the Angels’ lineup card Wednesday.

Batting third: Adam Kennedy.

Even Manager Mike Scioscia feigned surprise when asked about it.

“He’s hitting third?” Scioscia said. “What’s going on here?”

What’s going on is that outfielder Garret Anderson, who often bats in that spot, is sidelined because of a sore left hamstring.

“We want to get a little action ahead of the middle of the lineup, and we think Adam is a good situational hitter,” Scioscia said.

So Kennedy, who usually bats ninth, was moved up even though he was hitting .195 this month before Wednesday’s game. He hit a team-leading .324 in April.

“I’m comfortable with this,” Scioscia said. “It could be interesting.”

Kennedy shrugged over the switch.

“I don’t think it matters,” he said. “The important thing is to get on base. But it’s nice to be able to hit in different [positions], especially when guys are hurt.”

Kennedy says he doesn’t feel he’ll see better pitches now that he’s batting in front of the team’s best hitter, Vladimir Guerrero.

“If they are going to get you out, they are going to get you out,” Kennedy said. “It doesn’t matter whether you are hitting first or ninth.”

*

With frustration mounting over the lack of patience by the Angels -- they were last in the league in walks -- a meeting strictly for the hitters was called last week.

Hitting coach Mickey Hatcher called it “one of the best meetings we’ve ever had.”

Through Tuesday, the Angels had drawn 30 walks over the previous five games to move past three clubs in season total.

“I stressed ... in the meeting last week that we need to be more patient,” said shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who had eight walks in the five games after getting only six in his previous 33 games.

“What would it say about me if I didn’t do it? ... I’m hitting second. I have to take a lot of pitches, and I wasn’t doing that. I kind of forgot about my job.”

*

In a scoring change, the stolen base by Bengie Molina of the Blue Jays in Tuesday’s game was taken away because of defensive indifference.

Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.