Angels to appear on eight Fox Saturday telecasts

The Angels, bolstered by the December additions of slugger Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson, are scheduled to appear on eight Fox Network Saturday baseball game of the week telecasts this season, one shy of the maximum nine allowed per team.

As of early December, the Angels were scheduled to appear on Fox's Saturday telecast five times. But the day after the Angels agreed to terms with Pujols on a 10-year, $240-million deal and Wilson on a five-year, $77.5-million deal on Dec. 8, Fox put in a request to Major League Baseball to bump the Angels to nine telecasts.

Fox, which released its schedule Wednesday, has left the final two Saturdays in September open to choose games that have the most effect on division races. So there is a good chance the Angels, who play the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers on those days, will have a ninth game added to the schedule.

The Angels will appear on the Fox Saturday telecast on April 7 vs. Kansas City; April 14 at the New York Yankees; April 28 at Cleveland; May 12 at Texas, May 26 at Seattle, June 23 vs. the Dodgers, July 21 vs. Texas and Sept. 1 at Seattle.

The Angels also announced Wednesday that Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket will televise 20 exhibition games in March and early April, the most spring-training games the Angels have ever had televised.

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Price increase hasn't hurt Angels' spring ticket sales

An increase in the price of tickets for spring-training games has not hurt sales for the Angels. The team announced Tuesday that five of the team's 15 scheduled exhibition games in Tempe, Ariz., are near sellouts, and sales are trending better than 24% over last year.

Angels pitchers and catchers report for camp on Sunday and will hold their first workout  Monday. Position players report on Feb. 26 and will hold their first full-squad workout the following day.

Expectations for the Angels are extremely high this season since  they signed slugger Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million contract and pitcher C.J. Wilson to a five-year, $77.5-million deal on Dec. 8, additions that helped justify an increase in some ticket prices.

Tim Mead, the team's vice president of communications, acknowledged that there was a "heavier bump than usual" this year for spring tickets.

The most expensive individual-game tickets, for home-plate MVP seats, rose from $29 to $34, and field MVP seats rose from $23 to $29. Field box seats rose only $2, from $16 to $18, and lawn seats rose from $6 to $10.

Angels individual game tickets to go on sale March 3

The Angels announced Tuesday that individual game tickets for the 2012 season will go on sale Saturday, March 3, beginning at 9 a.m. PST at the Angel Stadium ticket office, online (www.angels.com), by telephone (1-800-745-3000) and at various Ticketmaster outlets throughout Southern California.

Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and there is a maximum purchase limit of 12 tickets per person per game. Group orders of 25 or more per game will be referred to a group sales representative.

The Angels, who begin spring-training workouts in Tempe, Ariz., on Monday, will open the 2012 season at home against the Kansas City Royals on the night of Friday, April 6.

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Angels GM Jerry Dipoto not eager to trade Bobby Abreu

Bobby Abreu has not requested a trade, and Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto assured the veteran outfielder in a phone call Sunday night that he will be given every opportunity this spring to win regular playing time.

Abreu, who turns 38 on March 11, appeared expendable after the Angels signed first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal, a move that will push slugging first basemen Mark Trumbo and Kendrys Morales — if he is healthy — to the designated hitter spot Abreu occupied for most of 2011.

But there is no guarantee that Morales, who has been taking batting practice from both sides of the plate and jogging in Arizona for a month, will be ready to start the season after missing a year and a half because of a broken left ankle.

And Trumbo, who led the team with 29 home runs and 87 runs batted in last season, has resumed only partial baseball activities and is yet to run since he received a diagnosis of a stress fracture in his right foot in late September.

There has been speculation that Abreu, a left-handed-hitting corner outfielder, would welcome a trade, but his $9-million salary and declining skills will make it very difficult for the Angels to move him.

And if Morales fails to return and Abreu regains his productive stroke, the Angels may not have as much incentive to trade Abreu, because he could provide valuable insurance.

“Bobby is an Angel,” Dipoto said. “Right now, he fits on our 25-man roster, in our clubhouse, on our team. Where he is in eight weeks is predicated on how he’s playing and everyone’s health. We have some unknowns with the health of Kendrys and the progress of Mark, but we know Bobby is healthy. As I told him, if he swings the bat like he can, we’re going to find a way to play him.”

Abreu entered 2011 with a career .296 average and .371 on-base percentage, and he averaged 17 homers and 95 RBIs over his previous four seasons, but he slipped last season, batting .253 with a .353 OBP, eight homers and 60 RBIs.

But Dipoto, who finally connected with Abreu after playing phone tag with him all winter, said he is not eager to trade Abreu.  

“I understand what Bobby brings to the table — it’s a veteran bat with tremendous on-base skills and understanding of the strike zone," Dipoto said. "Did he have the same production in 2011 as he showed in his career? No. Is it a harbinger of things to come? We’ll see. But he’s a known commodity. Everyone is speculating on where all the pieces fit. I think there’s a good place for him to impact this club.”

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Photo: Angels outfielder Bobby Abreu follows through on a home run against the Boston Red Sox. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times / July 26, 2010

Ex-Angels employees Hudler, Physioc, Hernandez land jobs

It has been a good week for three former Angels employees who landed new jobs, broadcasters Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc with the Kansas City Royals and former baseball operations manager Tory Hernandez with agent Scott Boras.

Fox Sports Kansas City announced Friday that Huder and Physioc, who worked together in the Angels' television booth for 11 seasons before being let go after 2010, will join the Royals' broadcast team.

Hudler, the former Angels infielder known for his on-air exuberance, will work 50 games as a television analyst, and Physioc, a Kansas State University graduate who has also worked Pac-12 conference football and basketball games, will do TV play-by-play for 50 games.

Hernandez spent seven seasons with the Angels, three as a player performance analyst and four as the manager of baseball operations, and he essentially ran the front office for most of October before the Angels hired Jerry Dipoto to replace Tony Reagins as general manager.

Hernandez was not retained by Dipoto, but he will bring many skills from his former job, such as player evaluation, market analysis and arbitration preparation, to his new position with the Newport Beach-based Boras, who is one of the most powerful agents in professional sports.

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Photo: Former Angels television color commentator Rex Hudler smells a baseball while joking around prior to a game in 2004. Credit: Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times

St. Louis restaurant drops Albert Pujols' name, but statue stays

The owners of the Pujols 5 Westport Grill in St. Louis, named after former Cardinals star and new Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, are dropping the slugger's name from the restaurant, but a larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of Pujols pointing to the heavens will remain in front of the establishment.

The statue, which is 10 feet high and weighs 1,100 pounds and was unveiled in November, was a gift to the Pujols Family Foundation from an anonymous donor, and the land it sits on is owned by the surrounding Westport Plaza complex, not the restaurant.

Todd Perry, chief executive of the Pujols Family Foundation, said there were no plans to remove the statue in response to the restaurant name change or Pujols' decision to leave the Cardinals to sign a 10-year, $240-million deal with the Angels in December.

The restaurant was formerly known as Patrick's, named after owner Patrick Hanon, but it was changed to Pujols 5 in 2006 after a licensing agreement in which Pujols lent his name to the restaurant in exchange for 5% of restaurant profits being donated to his foundation, which primarily supports children with Down syndrome and poor families in the Dominican Republic.

But business at Pujols 5 has slowed since Pujols signed with the Angels, and Dan Lozano, Pujols' agent, said "it didn't make sense" for Hanon to continue his relationship with the slugger.

The restaurant will retain its sports theme, but all Pujols-related items have been removed from the menu. According to a radio report in St. Louis, the new name of the restaurant will be the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame grill.

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Commemorative wall to be dedicated in Manhattan Beach on Feb. 11

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Photo: Albert Pujols. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times.

Commemorative wall to be dedicated in Manhattan Beach on Feb. 11

A dedication ceremony for the recently installed Pearson-Wilhite-Stewart-Adenhart Commemorative Wall will take at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 11 adjacent to the Big Marine baseball field at 1625 Marine Ave. in Manhattan Beach.

Henry Pearson, Courtney Stewart and Nick Adenhart died in April of 2009 from injuries they sustained when the car in which they were riding was broadsided by a drunk driver.

Jon Wilhite, also riding in the car, suffered severe injuries.

Pearson and Wilhite played baseball at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa High, and the Big Marine Field is home to the school's frosh-soph and junior varsity teams.

Adenhart was a rookie pitcher with the Angels. His friends, Pearson, Stewart and Wilhite, were all former Cal State Fullerton students.

Organizers hope that the wall reminds people about the dangers of drinking and driving.

"While we all remember those we have lost, our families believe it is critical to remind everyone, and especially our teens and young adults, about how a single moment of drunk driving can devastate innocent peoples' lives," Pearson's father, Nigel, said in a statement.

--Mike Hiserman

Photo: Areta Pearson throws out the first pitch during a memorial service at the Mira Costa High baseball field honoring her son, Henry. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / April 16, 2009

Angels face two tough foes: Oakland's Gio Gonzalez, fatigue

The road-weary Angels will turn to ace Jered Weaver in an effort to keep their slim playoff hopes alive Friday night, but their hitters will also have a difficult obstacle to overcome in Angel Stadium: Oakland left-hander Gio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has a 6-2 record and 2.72 earned-run average in nine career starts against the Angels, including a 6-3 A’s victory on Sept. 12 in which he gave up two runs and seven hits, struck out six and walked one in 6 2/3 innings.

Weaver, though, has dominated the A’s this season, going 3-0 with one shutout and a 1.21 ERA in four starts against them, including a 4-1 win on Sept. 14 at Oakland in which he allowed one run and six hits in seven innings.

Weaver, who is 18-7 with a 2.41 ERA and has allowed one earned run or less and thrown seven innings or more in a major league-best 17 starts, has allowed just four earned runs in 34 innings (1.06 ERA) of his last five starts against the A’s in Anaheim.

Angels lose a game and some ground in Toronto

The Angels, chasing teams in two separate playoffs races, had a chance to pick up ground in each Thursday in Toronto.

The Boston Red Sox, who lead the wild-card race, were idle Thursday. And the Texas Rangers, who lead the American League West, had already lost in Oakland by the time the Angels took the field.

But instead of gaining, the Angels lost twice -- dropping a game to Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3, in 12 innings and a losing half a game in the standings to the Red Sox. As a result they'll begin their final homestand of the season Friday trailing the Red Sox by three games and the Rangers by five with six to play.

That leaves little room for error for a team that looked anything but sharp in a game they had to win Thursday, giving up the tying run on a wild pitch and losing on Edwin Encarnacion's walk-off homer to start the 12th inning.

The homer, Encarnacion's 17th, came off rookie Garrett Richards, who came on to face big league home run leader Jose Bautista with one out in the 11th inning and got him. But he couldn't get Encarnacion an inning later. 

Angels look to end regular-season road campaign on an upbeat

The Rogers Centre's retractible roof with be open Thursday night when the Angels take the field in Toronto for their final road game of the season.

The regular season, that is. Because the Angels begin play just 2 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League wild-card race with seven games to play.

The division race is pretty much over. The Angels trail the Texas Rangers by five games and would have to go unbeaten the rest of the way while hoping Texas loses twice just to force a tie atop the American League West. That's not likely to happen.

But the Red Sox have been coming back to the Angels for quite some time. While Mike Scioscia's team was winning 12 of 19 in September, Boston was losing 15 of 21. The Tampa Bay Rays are also tied with the Angels, 2 1/2 games behind the idle Red Sox, with seven to play. Tampa Bay plays the Yankees on Thursday in New York.

The Angels will be glad to get home no matter how Thursday's road finale goes. That's because they have gone 11-15 in their last 26 road games and are just two games over .500 on the road overall. At Angel Stadium, however, they've gone 44-31.

Ervin Santana will take the ball for the Angels hoping to snap a personal three-game losing streak. He's gone 19 innings, giving up 13 runs -- 10 earned -- in those three starts.

The lineups:

Angels

SS -- Erick Aybar

2B -- Howie Kendrick

DH -- Bobby Abreu

RF -- Torii Hunter

1B -- Mark Trumbo

3B -- Alberto Callaspo

LF-- Vernon Wells

CF -- Peter Bourjos

C -- Bobby Wilson

P -- Ervin Santana

Toronto Blue Jays

SS -- Mike McCoy

LF -- Eric Thames

DH -- Jose Bautista

1B -- Adam Lind

3B -- Edwin Encarnacion

2B -- Kelly Johnson

CF -- Colby Rasmus

C -- Jose Molina

RF -- Adam Loewen

P -- Henderson Alvarez

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Photo: Manager Mike Scioscia celebrates an Angels victory on September 18. Credit: Steve Ruark / Getty Images.

Rays would have edge over Angels, Red Sox in three-way tie

 

The Tampa Bay Rays would have a slight edge over the Angels and the Boston Red Sox if the three teams, separated by 2 1/2 games in the standings entering play Thursday, finish in a three-way tie for the American League wild-card spot.

Under baseball's intricate tie-breaking formula, if three clubs tie for a division title or wild card with identical winning percentages, the tie is broken by designating the clubs as "A," "B" and "C," with selection of those designations based on the clubs' records against one another, and playing tie-breaking games as follows:

Club A would host Club B on Thursday, Sept. 29. The winner of the A/B game would then host Club C on a date to be determined, most likely on Friday, Sept. 30. The winner of the A/B-vs.-C game would be declared the division champion or wild-card winner.

The Rays are a combined 16-10 against the Red Sox and Angels, so they would choose whether they wanted to be team A, B or C. The Red Sox are a combined 12-14 against the Rays and Angels, so they would get the second pick, and the Angels are a combined 6-10 against the Red Sox and Rays, so they would get the third pick. 

It would seem logical that the Rays would choose to be team C; that way, they would only have to win one game against the Red Sox/Angels winner to gain the wild card. However, by choosing to be team C, they would give up home-field advantage for that one game.

Such a scenario could create a bizarre four-day travel odyssey for the Angels, who close the regular season against the Rangers in Anaheim next Wednesday night. They could travel to Boston to play the Red Sox on Thursday and, if they win, return to Anaheim to play the Rays on Friday. If they win that game, they would fly to New York to open the division series against the Yankees on Saturday.

A two-team tie for the wild card would force a one-game playoff on Thursday, Sept. 29, with home field determined by head-to-head records. The Red Sox won the season series against the Angels, 6-2, so they would have home field for a one-game playoff.

Because the Rays and Angels tied their season series, 4-4, home field would go to the team with the better intra-division record. Tampa Bay (36-29 vs. AL East) currently holds that edge over the Angels (26-25 vs. AL West). Since the teams have identical 85-70 records today and close the season against division opponents, the Rays would have home-field advantage over the Angels in a one-game playoff.

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