Brandon Wood helps Angels to 2-1 win over Reds

Brandon Wood, who needs a good spring if he hopes to have a future with the Angels, lined a one-out double to left to key a two-run third-inning rally Tuesday in a 2-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Wood hit .286 and averaged 23 homers a season in the minors but he's struggled at the big-league level, batting .169 in 450 at-bats. And the Angels, out of options with the 25-year-old infielder, are clearly running out of patience too.

"Brandon needs to prove to himself that he’s made adjustments and can make adjustments from the experience last year and be a major league player," Manager Mike Scioscia said of Wood, who hit .146 and struck out in nearly a third of his at-bats in 2010. "I think a lot of it’s confidence. It’s tough to get confident when you hit .146.

"This spring training is as much going to be him hopefully attacking major league pitching and showing the talent he has. Obviously last year he took a step backward. If it makes him better in the long run, it’s worth all those struggles. If it doesn’t, then it’s a shame. Because he’s a talented kid."

Wood attacked major league pitching in his first at-bat, falling behind Reds' right-hander Johnny Cueto before lining a 1-2 change-up just inside the line in left for a double. Peter Bourjos, the next batter, was hit by a pitch before Erick Aybar singled up the middle, scoring Wood. Bobby Abreu followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Bourjos with what proved to be the winning run.

The Angels were held to just two hits over their final five at-bats but five Angel relievers made the one-run lead stand up. Kevin Jepsen and Tyler Chatwood were the most impressive of the bunch with Jepsen pitching a perfect inning, striking out one, while Chatwood threw two scoreless innings, also with a strikeout.

Right-hander Jered Weaver, the major league strikeout champion last summer, started for the Angels and gave up hits to two of the first three batters he faced to fall behind 1-0. But he also struck out two Reds in his two innings on the mound.

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.

Photo: Brandon Wood. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Orlando Cabrera back in the lineup for desperate Reds

Knowing that his Reds have no tomorrow if they lose today, Cincinnati Manager Dusty Baker pulled Paul Janish from his starting lineup and inserted the injured Orlando Cabrera in his place less than two hours before Sunday's third game of the National League Division Series.

The most experienced Red in terms of the playoff, having played in 34 postseason games for Boston, the Angels, the White Sox and Minnesota, Cabrera was pulled from Friday's Game 2 with soreness in his left ribcage. Cabrera missed 27 games in August and September with a muscle strain there.

But after Cabrera met with a team doctor, then took batting and infield practice, Baker was convinced the former Gold Glove shortstop was well enough to play. The Reds were so uncertain of Cabrera's status during Saturday's workout they summoned minor leaguer Chris Valaika from Arizona in case they had to replace Cabrera on their roster.

-- Kevin Baxter in Cincinnati

Bet you haven't seen this before

The National League division series between the Philladelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds isn't even two games old yet and it's already produced a number of rare moments.

In the opener there was Roy Halladay's no-hitter, just the second postseason no-hitter in history. But in Game 2, Cincinnati leadoff hitter Brandon Phillips nearly went that one better, hitting a home run, a single and a double in his first three at-bats. That left him a triple shy of the first postseason cycle when he came to bat in the seventh and popped out.

But wait, there's more.

The Reds committed a league-low 72 errors during the regular season but made two on consecutive two-out plays in the fifth inning Friday, leading to a pair of unearned runs for Philadelphia. Then they made two on the same play in the seventh, when Jay Bruce missed Jimmy Rollins' line drive to right and Phillips dropped the relay at second, allowing two unearned runs to score.

Three innings earlier the Reds got a free run of their own when Chase Utley committed two errors, sandwiched around a Roy Oswalt wild pitch.

But wait, there's even more.

In the sixth inning, Cincinnati relievers Arthur Rhodes and Logan Ondrusek hit consecutive batters to load the bases. An inning later flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman hit Utley on the hand with a 102-mph fastball. The Reds hit just 50 batters all season; only six L teams hit fewer. Yet on Friday they plunked three in the span of four lineup spots.

Chapman, by the way, threw 21 pitches in the seventh inning, reaching 100 mph or more on 10 of them and hitting 99 on six others. If the Phillies were intimidated they didn't show it, scoring three times off the Cuban defector to take their first lead of the night. 

-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Philadelphia

Photo: Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Phillies on Friday night. Credit: Christopher Barth / EPA

Roy Halladay no-hitter could mean big bucks for MLB

First came the history ... followed shortly thereafter by the effort to cash in.

Less than 24 hours after the Phillies' Roy Halladay pitched the second no-hitter in Major League Baseball postseason history, MLB Properties and its licensees announced they have created "an assortment of special T-shirts and other items that will be available" before Friday's second National League Division Series game in Philadelphia.

Among those are "DOC-tober No-No" T-shirts, which play off Halladay's nickname, Doc, as well as pennants, towels, key chains and other items. Many of those items will be available at mlb.com.

Meanwhile, the jersey Halladay wore Wednesday is on its way to the Hall of Fame. And MLB authenticators marked several other items, certifying that they were used in the historic game against the Cincinnati Reds. Among the items authenticated were multiple game-used baseballs, home plate, the pitching rubber, the lineup card from the Phillies dugout, all three sets of bases used in the game, buckets of dirt removed from the mound and the uniform used by plate umpire John Hirshbeck.

And as cheesy as it sounds, MLB isn't the first organization to try to cash in on Halladay's brilliance this season. After the Phillies' right-hander pitched a perfect game in Miami in May, the Marlins sold unused tickets from that game as souvenirs. And the Marlins charged face value -- ranging from $12 to more than $300 -- for the tickets, which were for a game that HAD ALREADY BEEN PLAYED.

What's more, the Marlins said they will count all tickets sold for that game -- including ones purchased months later -- in the official attendance figure.

-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Philadelphia

Reds' Brandon Phillips now has a place in history

In the 20-plus hours since Brandon Phillips was thrown out at first to end Roy Halladay's no-hitter, that final out has been replayed on TV oh, probably a billion times.

And this is just the start, said Phillips' manager, Dusty Baker, who has experience in these matters. Baker was an outfielder with the Dodgers when he grounded to third to end Nolan Ryan's last National League no-hitter.  That was 29 seasons ago, but Baker said he stills sees replays of that at-bat.

"That's a bad feeling when you're about to touch first base and see the first baseman reaching for the ball and you're facing the reality that you're out," said Baker, whose Cincinnati Reds need a win over the Phillies on Friday in Philadelphia to even their National League Division Series. "I just told Brandon, just like me, I've seen that Nolan Ryan no-hitter about 72 times. And Brandon's going  to see that [Halladay at-bat] probably the rest of his life."

-- Kevin Baxter in Philadelphia