ANAHEIM, Calif. – Matt Capps was dealing with “a little bit of a dead arm” during a poor stretch of outings the first two weeks of July, the right-hander said Sunday.

It wasn’t easy mentally, either.

“I wasn’t feeling any discomfort or anything like that when all that was going on,” he said. “It was just a bad week, and the fans at home booed, and I wanted to cry and punch people in the face.”

In seven appearances from July 2-15, Capps was 0-2 with two blown saves and an 11.12 earned-run average in 5-2/3 innings. He had two saves, as well, but those were in Chicago. The bad stuff happened at Target Field; he also was pulled in the ninth inning in consecutive games and was booed off the field in four straight appearances.

“I felt like I didn’t have anything on the ball,” he said. “My slider didn’t have any bite, my fastball didn’t have any life, or sink, or anything. I felt like I was just throwing it to the catcher, instead of through the catcher like you’re taught. I just didn’t feel like I had that extension or anything like that.”

The skid started when Capps blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning of an 8-7 loss to Milwaukee, and it ended when he lost a 1-0 lead against the Kansas City Royals on a two-run home run to rookie Eric Hosmer. Since then, Capps has allowed only one earned run, and Sunday he made his sixth consecutive scoreless appearance, pitching the seventh inning of a 7-3 loss to the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum.

“I feel like the last couple times out I’ve been aggressive to the strike zone, and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen,” he said. “All I can control is how I throw the ball.”

Capps is 3-5 with 15 saves and a 4.34 ERA. Much of that ERA can be attributed to those first two weeks in July, after which he lost the closing job to Joe Nathan, who proved he had recovered well enough from Tommy John surgery to take back the job he’d held since being traded to Minnesota before the 2004 season.

After the Kansas City loss July 15, which included another exit to boos from the Target Field crowd, Capps admitted it was the worst time of his career.

“The worst part is letting your teammates down,” he said. “Nothing against the fans. It is what it is, and they’re passionate about their team, but I couldn’t care less what they think of me. They’re going to have their opinion, and good, bad or indifferent, they’re entitled to it.

“I care a lot more about what the 24 other players in this room think, and what they see, how they feel about it. And I’ve been very happy with the way things have been accepted and dealt with in the clubhouse. The Twins have the reputation they have throughout baseball for a reason, and I’ve experienced it firsthand. It’s because of the guys in this room. It’s not because of the fans, and it’s not because of the city. It’s the people in here that make it that way for a baseball player. When things are going good, anywhere’s a great place to be.”

If you could take those seven games out of Capps’ numbers, he would have a 3.37 ERA with 13 saves in 37 appearances. But you can’t, and he knows it.

“You take those 10 days out, and the numbers match up with about anybody,” he said. “It sucks that it’s there, but it’s part of a baseball season. It’s 162 games; it’s not 152 games. I’ve got to move forward and put it behind me and move on to doing what I can.”