"Scott Kazmir isn't fooling anyone, including himself.

The Angels starter realizes his velocity is down, his arm slot is out of whack and his slider doesn't feature the sharp break that once made it so effective.

"They can see what pitch is coming and they can see it coming to the plate straight from my hand," Kazmir said of the hitters. "If I had a little more deception, it would have been a different story."

It was pretty much the same old story for Kazmir, who persevered through a season-high seven innings Monday night at the Ballpark in Arlington but ultimately came out on the wrong end of the Angels' 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.

A closed-door meeting and extended bullpen session failed to rectify the litany of problems that have plagued the left-hander, who has lost three consecutive starts. Kazmir gave up all four runs — one more than the Angels did during an entire weekend sweep of Oakland — in the third inning, dropping his teammates into a 4-0 hole from which they couldn't recover.

An Angels lineup that lost a little might before the game when right fielder Bobby Abreu was scratched because of a stiff back delivered a pair of counterpunches, with Mike Napoli hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning against starter Derek Holland (2-0) and Torii Hunter adding a solo shot an inning later.

Napoli nearly tied the score in the ninth with a drive against closer Neftali Feliz that center fielder Julio Borbon caught with his back against the wall, giving the Rangers a victory in their first meeting this season against the three-time defending American League West champions.

"I thought I hit it decent enough to go," Napoli said, "but it didn't and we lost."

The Angels contributed to their ninth defeat in their last 11 road games with two errors, including one by second baseman Howie Kendrick that helped spark the Rangers' third-inning rally. With nobody out, Kendrick fielded Borbon's grounder and bounced his throw past first baseman Kendry Morales."