"Torii Hunter did not object to being moved from the cleanup spot, where he has spent most of this season, to the second spot, a slot he hadn't started in since he was a 23-year-old rookie with the Minnesota Twins in 1999.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Hunter said Wednesday before the Angels' game against the Tampa Bay Rays. "The last four days were the worst."

The Angels had lost four straight and six of seven games entering Wednesday, scoring 13 runs and hitting .190 with runners in scoring position in the seven games.

Hunter has struggled under the burden of carrying a club that is without slugger Kendrys Morales for the whole season and lost Vernon Wells for a month and Howie Kendrick for two weeks in May.

The right fielder now has a .238 average, eight home runs and 32 runs batted in, has grounded into 17 double plays, most in the American League, and, he conceded, "I'm not really a four-hole hitter."

But a two-hole hitter? In his 13-year big-league career, Hunter had started only 16 games in the second spot, batting .219 (14 for 64) with two homers and five RBIs.

"Am I going to get more fastballs in the two-hole? I doubt it, but it would be lovely," Hunter said.

"I can get on base for the big guys, the three-four-five guys, and see what happens."

The three-four-five hitters in the lineup Wednesday, Alberto Callaspo, Bobby Abreu and Kendrick, have combined for 12 homers, but it's not as if many other configurations have worked.

The Angels have scored two runs or fewer in 22 of their 64 games.

"The last four days have been kind of silent," Hunter said. "You've got to stir it up a bit.""