Angels offense heating up during stretch drive

Pitching has the Angels knocking on the door to the postseason. Now, Manager Mike Scioscia says, it's up to the offense to carry the team over the threshold.

"It’s a critical time for us to move forward; getting a couple of guys swing the bats to their capabilities and carry this thing through," he said. "It’s in there. Our guys, if they can swing the bats to their potential, it’s going to put us on a good run. Needless to say, we need it."

Center fielder Peter Bourjos took up that challenge Wednesday, making history with a triple, home run and two runs scored in a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

With the win -- the Angels' second straight and third in four games -- Scioscia's team assured itself it wouldn't lose ground in the either the division or wild-card races. And they could gain a game a game in both.

The Texas Rangers, who started the day leading the American League West by five games, were playing in Oakland later Wednesday. The Red Sox, who entered Wednesday 3 1/2 games ahead of the Angels in the wild-card standings, were also playing a night game.

Angels go from scoreboard watching to TV watching

For the Angels to achieve their goal of reaching the playoffs they have to take care of their own business first. And Manager Mike Scioscia has been unwavering in stressing that.

But they also need some help, which is why all the TVs in the visitors' clubhouse in Toronto were tuned to the Yankee-Rays game Wednesday. Tampa Bay started the day 1 1/2 games in front of the Angels in the wild-card race so the Yankees' 4-2 win was welcomed by the Angels.

The Angels will need a lot more assistance than that over the next week, however. Entering Wednesday's game against Toronto the Angels trailed Texas in the American League West by five games with eight remaining. Boston leads the Angels in the wild-card race by 3 1/2 with Tampa in between the two.

Dan Haren (15-9) gets the start for the Angels in this one. He's 3-3 in his last eight starts and was pounded for seven runs on seven hits in five-plus innings his last time out in Baltimore.

The main change in the Angels' lineup has Maicer Izturis starting at second base in place of Howie Kendrick, who is hitting .281 on the road trip. Scioscia said he liked the match-up better against Toronto starter Dustin McGowan although it's difficult to say what he liked: Kendrick is 0 for 6 lifetime against the right-hander while the switch-hitting Izturis, who will bat leadoff, is 2 for 13.

Everything goes to plan for Angels in rout of Blue Jays

Every B-grade adventure movie has a scene in which the intrepid hero, finding himself in a fix, comes up with an escape plan that has seemingly no chance of succeeding.

That’s where the Angels find themselves now. Despite Tuesday’s 10-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Angels trail Texas by 4 1/2 games in the American League West pending the result of the Rangers' night game in Oakland.

In the wild-card race, Boston, which was still playing when the Angels' game ended, is only slightly closer. And there are only eight games left in which to catch the Red Sox.

Yet in the Angels’ clubhouse, hope remains.

“We still have a plan,” outfielder Torii Hunter said. “All is not lost. [But] we’ve got to make it happen. We’ve got to battle.”

Angels facing uphill fight to stay in contention

The Angels may not be standing with their backs against the wall just yet. But they can clearly feel the wall from where they stand.

The team entered Tuesday's game in Toronto trailing the Texas Rangers in the American League West by five games with nine to play. In the wild-card race they're 4 1/2 behind the Boston Red Sox with Tampa Bay, at two back, in between.

That leaves the Angels with very little room for error. Even if they win their next six games against Toronto and Oakland, the Rangers would have to lose at least twice during that span to make the teams' season-ending three-game series in Anaheim meaningful. The Rangers' magic number for winning the division race entering Tuesday was five, meaning any combination of Texas wins and Angel losses equaling five eliminates the Angels.

The scenario in the wild-card race is only slightly less desperate -- and the Angels have to hope two teams, both Boston and Tampa Bay, collapse there.

Angels fall further back in playoff chase

The finish line, just nine days away, is almost close enough to touch.

The goal, a playoff berth, is also within reach. But despite all that, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia admits his team’s destiny is no longer in its own hands.

“At this point, right now, we need help,” he said.

They didn't give themselves any Monday in Toronto, when four poor fielding plays allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to escape with a 3-2 win in 10 innings. All three Toronto runs were unearned.

The winning run scored when Torii Hunter, playing as a fifth infielder, backhanded Adam Lind's ground ball toward second base, then threw wildy to the plate, allowing Mike McCoy to scored.

That dropped the Angels five games back of the idle Texas Rangers in the American League West, their largest deficit in the division race since Aug. 19.

They’re four games behind Boston in the wild-card race, pending the outcome of the Red Sox’s night game with Baltimore. And since they have only three games left with Texas and they don’t play the Red Sox at all, neither deficit is one the Angels can make up on their own.

Angels renew playoff race(s) in Toronto

The Angels will take the field beneath the closed dome at the Rogers Centre on Monday as far behind in the American League West as they've been in more than a month -- but closer in the wild-card standings then they've been since that race started.

With the Rangers idle, the Angels can move only a half-game up or down in the division standings no  matter what they do against the Blue Jays. They started their final road series of the season 4 1/2 games behind Texas with the Rangers' magic number for eliminating the Angels at six. That means any combination of Texas wins or Angels losses totaling six clinches the title for the Rangers.

But the Angels picked up a half-game on Boston in the wild-card race before batting practice had even started when the slumping Red Sox lost the opener of a day-night doubleheader to Baltimore at Fenway Park. That temporarily left them 3 1/2 games behind Boston and 1 1/2 behind idle Tampa Bay, which is second in the wild-card standings.

"We need to keep winning games," said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team has 10 games left to play. "Our focus on reaching our goal hasn’t changed. And what we need to do to reach our goal hasn’t changed. We don’t have the great luxury of a lot of do-overs right now."

Scioscia held outfielder Mike Trout out of Monday's starting lineup because the rookie is still experiencing  soreness after taking a foul ball off his calf in Baltimore. Scioscia hopes to have Trout back on the field Tuesday.

The lineups:

Erick Aybar of the Angels shares Player of the Week award

Erick Aybar's record-setting Sunday, in which he went 4 for 4 with two homers, two doubles and a franchise-record five runs scored, helped earned the Angels shortstop a share of the American League's Player of the Week honors.

Aybar shared the award  with Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander, who didn't allow a run in two starts, striking out 12 in 15 innings to raise his record to 24-5.

Aybar also drove in four runs in Sunday's 11-2 win in Baltimore, making him the first big-leaguer since Josh Willingham in 2009 to score at least five runs while driving in at least four in the same game. But Aybar's week lasted more than nine innings. In six games Aybar batted .455, raising his September average to .434.

The honor was the first of Aybar's career. Verlander has won the award twice previously this season and five times in his career.

ALSO:

Nick Adenhart's legacy lives on in Baltimore

Baltimore's Alfredo Simon throws at Torii Hunter, Mark Trumbo

-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Toronto

Photo: Erick Aybar slaps hands with teammates after he hit a solo home run against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. Credit: Steve Ruark / Getty Images

Erick Aybar's record-setting day sparks Angels to 11-2 rout

If the Angels fall short of the playoffs this season you won't be able to pin that on Erick Aybar, who has been hottest when the games count most. Aybar is batting a team-high .434 in September, a streak he continued Sunday with four extra-base hits -- including the first two-homer game of his career -- in a 11-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.

Aybar also scored five times, tying the franchise record, set a career best with 12 total bases and matched career highs for runs batted in (four) and hits (four) in helping the Angels win for the third time in six games on their final road trip of the season. That moved them within four games of Texas in the American League West pending the result of the Rangers' game in Seattle. The Angels have 10 games remaining to make up the difference.

Aybar got the Angels started in his first at-bat, walking on four pitches and coming around to score two batters later on a Bobby Abreu double. That was the Angels' first lead of the three-game series but it didn't even last an inning with former Angel Vladimir Guerrero tripling in a run in the bottom of the first to tie the score.

Aybar put the Angels ahead to stay in the third, hitting a full-count pitch over the wall in right. He homered again in a fourth-run fourth, then doubled and scored in the sixth and eighth innings. The two homers give Aybar a career-high 10 on the season, matching his total from the last two seasons combined.

And the September hot spell has boosted Aybar's season average 18 points to .281, the highest its been since Aug. 2.

Vernon Wells also homered Sunday and drove in two runs while Howie Kendrick had three hits and three RBIs as part of a 15-hit attack, the most hits the Angels have gotten in a game since July 28. The beneficiary of all that support was right-hander Jered Weaver (18-7) who, pitching on three days' rest, went six innings, giving up a pair of runs -- including Guerrero's 449th career homer, which tied him with Jeff Bagwell for 35th on the all-time list.

But the game also included some fireworks that involved neither Aybar nor Guerrero.

After Baltimore slugger Mark Reynolds said he thought Angel pitcher Ervin Santana intentionally hit him in the head with a pitch Saturday -- a charge both Santana and Angel Manager Mike Scioscia denied -- Sunday's Oriole starter, Alfredo Simon, sought to even the score. In the first inning Simon threw high and tight to the Angels' Torii Hunter, then hit the next batter, Mark Trumbo, with his first pitch.

Plate umpire Laz Diaz responded by emphatically warning both benches. Yet when Baltimore reliever Brad Bergesen hit the Angels' Jeff Mathis in the batting helmet in the sixth, he was not ejected. The right-hander didn't last much longer, though, exiting two batters later after giving up two runs on consecutve doubles.

RELATED:

Angels-Orioles box score

Nick Adenhart's legacy lives on in Baltimore

Ervin Santana roughed up early in 6-2 loss to Orioles

-- Kevin Baxter in Baltimore

Photo: Angels shortstop Erick Aybar is congratulated by teammates and coaches after hitting a home run against the Orioles in the third inning Sunday at Baltimore. Credit: Steve Ruark / Getty Images

Angels hope fast start puts pressure on Rangers

The Angels' game in Baltimore will probably be entering the fourth inning Sunday before the team they're chasing in the American League West, the Texas Rangers, start their contest with the Mariners three time zones away.

So if the Angels get off to a quick start against the Orioles they'll be hoping the Rangers, scoreboard-watching in Seattle, will notice.

"You put some pressure on them," the Angels' Bobby Abreu said. "That just makes them look up, 'Hey we have to win today. If we lose, it’s going to be another game.' For us, it’s good right now that we play [earlier]. If we win you put pressure on those guys."

It hasn't worked so far this weekend with the Angels losing their first two games in Baltimore. They've lost four of their last six overall, falling 4 1/2 games behind the Rangers with 11 games to play.

And desperate times call for desperate measures, which is one reason the Angels are starting right-hander Jered Weaver (pictured above) on three days' rest Sunday. Weaver has pitched on short rest just one other time in his career and it didn't go well with the Rangers reaching him for seven runs in six-plus innings. But by shaking up the rotation, Angel Manager Mike Scioscia can start Weaver three more times while the Angels Big Three of Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana will combine to pitch seven of the final 11 games.

Scioscia said Sunday he was not considering using Haren and Santana on short rest down the stretch.

The lineups:

Slumping Angels fall to Orioles again

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia has long said his team will go only as far as its starting pitchers carry it. If that is true, the Angels probably won't go much further.

On Saturday, the Orioles pounded the Angels' Ervin Santana for two home runs in a five-run first inning, then cruised to a 6-2 win. The Angels' fourth loss in six games left them at least 3 1/2 games behind Texas in the American League West standings with 11 games to play.

Santana, who has lost his last three starts, struggled from the outset, walking leadoff hitter Matt Angle on four pitches and then giving up a two-run homer to the next batter, J.J. Hardy. After a single and a walk, Mark Reynolds followed with a three-run homer.

Santana drilled the next hitter, Nolan Reimold, and hit Reynolds in the head when he came to bat again in third inning, earning a warning from plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.

Although Santana eventually settled down, giving up one more hit before leaving after seven innings, the Angels never did get their offense on track against Baltimore starter Zach Britton (10-10), who struck out a career-high seven in seven innings did not give up a hit until Mike Trout's infield single with one in the fifth.

Trout later scored on Bobby Wilson's sacrifice fly. The Angels' only other run came after a leadoff walk and Vernon Wells' two-out triple in the ninth, but by then the game had been decided.

Angels look to chase the clouds away

If the Angels had a sense that a black cloud has been following them since they left home last weekend, you couldn't have proven them wrong Saturday. In fact, a lot of black clouds -- or at least gray ones -- were hovering over Baltimore all afternoon, with some dropping a light rain at times.

The rain, which never got strong enough for the grounds crew to pull out the tarp, was supposed to pass by game time, although the wind chill is expected to drop into the 50s. When the Angels were last in Baltimore in July, the heat index hit 120 degrees.

Ervin Santana will start Saturday for the Angels, who have lost three of five games on their road trip and have just a dozen games left to make up a 3 1/2-game deficit on the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Manager Mike Scioscia confirmed that right-hander Jered Weaver will get the ball on three days' rest in the series finale Sunday. Weaver has started on short rest just one other time in his career, giving up a seven runs in six innings in an August loss to Texas. Overall, Weaver is 3-2 with a 4.84 ERA in his last seven starts. Before that, Weaver was 14-5 with a 1.78 ERA.

The lineups: