LOS ANGELES -- A day after declaring emphatically that David Eckstein remains the leadoff hitter for the Anaheim Angels, manager Mike Scioscia's lineup card featured Jeff DaVanon in the No. 1 hole.

Eckstein, who has the lowest batting average (.232) and on-base percentage (.315) of any Angels regular and has been in a prolonged slump this month, sat while Benji Gil started at shortstop.

Eckstein is hitting .157 in June (8-for-51) and .163 on the road overall this season.

Still, Scioscia said that the real reason for Eckstein's Sunday benching against Dodgers right-hander Kevin Brown was to just give him a day off before an off day Monday, to get him recharged for the homestand that begins Tuesday when the Seattle Mariners come to Edison Field.

"We'll give him two days to clear his head," Scioscia said. "I want him to kind of get away from it a little bit."

Eckstein's frustration has become evident in the last few weeks. After making the final out of the Angels' 4-2 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday, Anaheim's sixth loss in its last seven games, Eckstein was typically hard on himself.

"This is something you never want to go through," he said. "It's a challenge. My job is to get on base and I haven't at all."

Scioscia said he has not lost faith in his man, who hit .293 last year, scored a team-high 107 runs, and finished 11th in the voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award.

"David Eckstein is our leadoff hitter," Scioscia said. "I know what Eck can do, and when he does it, he's one of the top leadoff men in our league. Our goal is to get that to resurface and I think it will."

Scioscia was reminded of the stellar performance of minor-league speedster/infielder types Chone Figgins and Alfredo Amezaga.

Figgins is batting .306 at Triple-A Salt Lake and has 12 triples, the most in the minor leagues. Amezaga is batting .344 with 42 runs in 57 games.

Scioscia was then asked if their emergence could be a threat if Eckstein hasn't picked it up by the All-Star break.

"You're always trying to look at ways to improve your club, but that's not something we're thinking about right now," Scioscia said. "We're thinking about getting Eck back to the baseball we know he can play.

"He'll battle it out on the field. One day off is not battling it out off the field."