ANGELS NOTEBOOK: VLAD'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Vladimir Guerrero's hitting zone is about as wide as there is in baseball, and until now, it didn't seem to be a problem.

Now, opposing pitchers figure there is no reason to give Guerrero anything even remotely close to a strike, confident they can get the next batter, whoever it may be. Garret Anderson was expected to give Guerrero protection, but Anderson is hitting just .237 with two homers and 10 RBI since the All-Star break and now hits in front of Guerrero.

With fewer pitches to hit, the aggressive Guerrero has grown more and more impatient at the plate. He's been walked intentionally a club-record 19 times, but it's the at-bats when pitchers pitch around him that have taken the sting out of his bat.

Going into Wednesday's game, Guerrero had no home runs and only one RBI in the previous 13 games, during which time the Angels went 4-9.

--So long, San Fran.: Left-handed reliever Jason Christiansen joined his new teammates Wednesday, happy to be away from the Giants and in a pennant race with the Angels after Tuesday's trade. Christiansen said he grew tired of losing and tired of everything revolving around Barry Bonds.

``When you're losing people tend to point fingers,'' Christiansen said. ``Losing breeds negativity, and our locker room was full of that, including myself.

``It's good to get out of there. You pitch a good game and they ask you, `Did you guys miss Barry today?' In the last five months we'd seen him about 20 days. It's tough to answer questions about a guy you don't know anything about.''

--Postseason preparation: The Angels submitted their postseason roster to the league by Wednesday night's 9 p.m. deadline, meaning any player acquired from here forward won't be eligible for the postseason.

--Roster moves: With major league rosters expanded to as many as 40 starting today, the Angels called up pitcher Greg Jones, outfielder Curtis Pride and activated Josh Paul from the disabled list.