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.

Bill Dwyre: Angels honor Derek Jeter the right way

This weekend, the Angels tiptoed nicely around a ticklish situation, where public relations met baseball tradition and fan blind spots.

A couple of weeks after Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit, a baseball milestone achieved with a home run on a five-for-five night and one that means automatic Hall of Fame inclusion, a reporter asked the Angels whether there might be any ceremony at the Big A honoring Jeter. The Yankees were scheduled to come to town Sept. 9-11.

It seemed like a fairly harmless and appropriate thing to do. Baseball lives by its numbers, honors them and especially honors those who achieve them without any blemish of steroids or gambling. Jeter fit that description perfectly.

The reporter was told that the Angels respected Jeter greatly and that the team’s public relations staff had already been discussing how to honor him “as a player and a person.”

They even had a precedent. Years ago, the team had had a formal ceremony to pay homage to Cal Ripken’s record streak of longevity.

The reporter wrote of the potential ceremony, and the emails started pouring in to the Angels.

Many fans hated the idea. Jeter was a Yankee. Angels fans said they are to be hated. One woman called him, in an email, “Little Lord Fauntleroy.” Others were even less kind.

Mark Trumbo drops toe tap for leg kick, gets immediate results

It was a small change, unnoticeable to all but the closest observers. But so far it’s paid off big for the Angels and rookie first baseman Mark Trumbo.

After going hitless in four at-bats Friday in Minnesota, dropping his average to .240, the lowest it’s been in a month, Trumbo dropped the toe tap he had been using as a timing device since last winter and went back to the leg kick he used last season when he led the minors with 36 home runs at Triple A Salt Lake.

The change paid off immediately with Trumbo slugging two long home runs -- combined, the two balls traveled nearly 900 feet -- in his next two starts, helping the Angels to a pair of victories.

“I did it in Venezuela in winter ball because I was seeing a ton of breaking balls, and at the  time it helped me stay behind [the ball] a little bit,” Trumbo said of the toe tap. “But it seemed like I got a little stale recently.”

The leg kick is similar but not as pronounced as the one hitting coach Dwayne Murphy taught José Bautista when Bautista came to Toronto. After hitting 43 home runs in 400 games in Pittsburgh, Bautista has hit 74 in the last two years in Toronto.

Peter Bourjos runs Angels into comeback win over Twins

Peter Bourjos led off the ninth inning with a triple and scored on Maicer Izturis' line-drive single, capping a furious comeback that lifted the Angels to a 6-5 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

Bourjos, who also made three splendid defensive plays in center field, started the game-winning rally with a line drive that one-hopped to the wall in left-center. And though Delmon Young played the carom cleanly, the speedy Bourjos outran the ball, turning what should have been a double at best into his league-leading sixth triple of the season. Izturis then followed with his first hit of the game, putting the Angels in front for the first time on the night.

Bourjos and Izturis keyed the Angels' five-run, eighth-inning rally as well, with Bourjos leading off with a single and Izturis walking. The Twins answered by calling left-hander Dusty Hughes in from the bullpen, and Erick Aybar greeted him by driving his first pitch into the left-field bleachers for a three-run home run. With that one hit, the Angels matched their scoring total from their previous 37 innings on the road -- but they weren't done.

Bobby Abreu followed with a single, and Hunter doubled, putting the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Alberto Callaspo got one run in with an infield single, bringing up the newly acquired Russell Branyan, who lofted a two-strike pitch to left field to score Hunter and tie the score.

That wiped out a brilliant performance by Twins right-hander Scott Baker, who held the Angels to six hits in seven scoreless innings. The Twins' batters, meanwhile, were proving rude hosts to Angels starter Tyler Chatwood.

Denard Span led off the game with a walk, moved to second on an error and then scored on Alexi Casilla's double to left-center that just eluded a diving Bourjos after a long run.

Minnesota doubled its lead in the third when Jason Kubel singled to right to score Casilla, who had tripled. Kubel drove in two more runs to make it 4-0 in the fifth -- and the Twins would have had another in the sixth, but Bourjos reached into the Angels' bullpen in left-center to rob Jim Thome of his 594th career home run.

Torii Hunter cites inexperience for Angels' slump

Although Manager Mike Scioscia has blamed the Angels' recent woes on a lack of production at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position, veteran Torii Hunter offered a different explanation Tuesday.

Inexperience.

Seven players on the Angels roster are 25 or younger, and 11 have fewer than two full seasons in the major leagues. Across the field at Fenway Park, the Red Sox, who have beaten the Angels 15 times in 16 games since being swept in the 2009 playoffs, have 15 players 30 or older.

For Hunter, the change in the Angels clubhouse the past two seasons is telling.

"We were a little more mature. Older guys, a mixture of young guys," Hunter said. "But we've got a lot of new faces and a lot of guys with less than five years in the big leagues. And they're still trying to find their way.

"So consistency could be a factor in that."

However, many of the Angels' most productive players this season have been the young, inexperienced ones. Rookie Mark Trumbo leads the team with 15 runs batted in, while Peter Bourjos (.295) and Hank Conger (.271) are among the leading hitters. Hunter, meanwhile, is batting .246 and Vernon Wells, the highest-paid player in franchise history, is hitting .176.

The disparity is even more telling with runners in scoring position. Hunter, Wells, Howie Kendrick, Bobby Abreu and Mathis are all hitting under .215 with runners in scoring position, while Trumbo, Conger and Bourjos are batting .260 or better.

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-- Kevin Baxter in Boston

Photo: Torii Hunter. Credit: Kim Klement / US Presswire

Angels, Weaver start season with a victory

Jered Weaver held Kansas City to two hits over 6 1/3 innings while Torii Hunter and Jeff Mathis both hit home runs, leading the Angels to a 4-2 win over the Royals in the season opener.

Melky Cabrera had both hits off Weaver -- an opposite-field bloop single in the fourth and a ground single to center in the sixth. But aside from that the right-hander was dominant, allowing just one other baserunner on a two-out walk to Billy Butler in the fourth.

Weaver struck out six and threw 107 pitches, 67 for strikes. But then he had to wait out a bullpen meltdown before closer Fernando Rodney finally got the last out with the tying runs on base.

Left-hander Hisanori Takahashi followed Weaver to the mound and gave up a solo home run to Jeff Francoeur on his ninth pitch. After allowing singles to the next two hitters, Takahashi was lifted for Jordan Walden, who struck out the only Royal he faced. But an inning later Kansas City's Mike Aviles greeted Kevin Jepsen with leadoff home run. When Jepsen walked two of the next three hitters, he gave way to Michael Kohn, who walked his first batter to load the bases before escaping the jam. Rodney then survived a shaky ninth that included a two-out Alex Gordon drive to left that just missed being a game-winning three-run home run. Gordon struck out two pitches later.

Torii Hunter lifts Angels past Dodgers in spring finale

Torii Hunter went 3 for 3 with a home run and four runs batted in Tuesday to help the Angels close out their spring training schedule with a 5-1 win over the Dodgers in Anaheim.

One of Hunter's hits was his fourth home run of the spring, a majestic two-run shot to center field off Scott Elbert in the fifth inning. Maicer Izturis and Howie Kendricks added a single and a double apiece for the Angels, who had 12 hits on the night, including five for extra bases. Izturis also scored twice.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, managed only five hits off Scott Kazmir and four Angel relievers. Kazmir had perhaps his best outing of the spring, going 4 1/3 innings and giving up just a run on Rod Barajas' leadoff homer in the third.

Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda gave up three runs and seven hits in his four innings.

With the win, the Angels finish spring training with a 18-13-1 record. They fly to Kansas City on Wednesday morning and open the regular season Thursday against the Royals. The Dodgers, 13-21-1 in the spring, play Seattle on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium before starting their regular season with the visiting Giants on Thursday.

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-- Kevin Baxter

Photo: Angels' Torii Hunter, right, and Bobby Abreu high-five after Hunter hit a two-run home run during the fifth inning of an exhibition game on Tuesday. Credit: Jae Hong / Associated Press.

Angels' Peter Bourjos no longer a one-dimensional threat

When the Angels traded for Gold Glove centerfielder Vernon Wells two months ago, Peter Bourjos figured he was on his way back to the minors. Because while the team loved Bourjos' defense -- so much so, they moved Torii Hunter, another Gold Glove centerfielder, to right field to make room for Bourjos -- the 23-year-old rookie had hit just .204 in 51 big-league games. Then he followed that up with an equally anemic winter, hitting .207 in 24 games in the Dominican league.

Wells, on the other hand, is a .280 lifetime hitter coming off the third 30-homer season of his career.

But the Angels remain committed to speedy Bourjos, who will be flanked by Wells in left and Hunter in right on opening day, giving the team potentially one of the best defensive outfields in recent memory. Still, Bourjos concedes he'll also have to contribute offensively if the experiment is to succeed.

"As long as you’re getting on base and you’re having productive at-bats -- whether it’s moving guys, getting guys in and getting on base and scoring runs -- that’s all part of it," he said. "Obviously you want to hit and have a good batting average. But I think if your outs are productive outs, moving runners, I think that can also be a benefit."

Bourjos has hit this spring, batting .320 in 25 at-bats. But he's also scored seven times, driven in five runs and stole two bases. Plus he's bunting a lot more, a skill that will open up holes in the infield and make him more difficult to defend against.

"I want to make sure that third baseman’s in and the first baseman’s in. And if they don’t come in, hopefully I’m able to lay a good bunt down and get a hit out of it," said Bourjos, a .293 career hitter in five minor league seasons. "I want to be successful at getting on base and scoring runs and stealing bases at a high rate. And then getting in scoring position for the guys to drive me in."

But even outs, the 23-year-old Bourjos has learned, can be productive.

"If you have a good at-bat, a long at-bat, a battle and you get them to throw seven, eight pitches, you wear them down a little bit and maybe he leaves a pitch over for the next guy," he said.

Which is why statistical metrics, such as batting average or on-base percentage, won't be the only thing the Angels will use to judge Bourjos' contribution, Manager Mike Scioscia said.

"If we’re seeing good swings, we’re seeing him hit the ball hard, we’re seeing some of the situational at-bats, we’re seeing him work counts, we’re seeing him contribute offensively, hopefully that’s going to carry over into the season and we’ll see the same thing," he said.

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.

 

Angels happy to have a day for healing

The Angels' lone off-day of the spring couldn't come at a better time given the nagging injuries and illness that left at least seven players unavailable to play Sunday. And two other players were able to hit but not play the field.

That's why Manager Mike Scioscia is basically locking the clubhouse Monday, forcing players who don't need treatment or who aren't playing in an 11 a.m. "B" squad game with Colorado to stay away. The Angels had split-squad games with Seattle and Cincinnati on Sunday, playing host to the Mariners in Tempe while sending another team 45 minutes up the freeway to Goodyear to play the Reds.

Outfielder Torii Hunter and infielder Maicer Izturis missed both games, taking their second consecutive afternoon off, Hunter with a bone bruise in his hand and Izturis with undisclosed tightness. Both took batting practice Sunday morning.

Two other outfielders, Peter Bourjos and Reggie Willits, were also unavailable to play in either of Sunday's split-squad games. Bourjos was a late scratch from Saturday's lineup with what was originally called groin tightness. It's a nagging problem Bourjos says he gets every spring, much as pitchers go through a dead arm period every March.

"I get a dead groin," said Bourjos, who was examined Sunday by Dr. Lewis Yocum, the team orthopedist. Bourjos also took part in batting practice but Willits, who came into the clubhouse wearing a wrap on his left calf and limping noticeably, did nothing but receive treatment. Willits was felled with calf tightness while trying to beat out an infield hit Saturday against the Indians.

"There’s a little pain in it. It’s mostly just really tight," said Willits, who was also examined by Yocum. "I'm hoping for the best. From what they said, it appears to be pretty mild. I hope they’re right."

Angels sit the best, play the rest

Nine all-star selections. Twelve gold gloves. A couple of near-MVPs.

That's what wasn't in the lineup for the Angels on Wednesday in their Cactus League exhibition with the Colorado Rockies at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia has given his regulars plenty of rest early in the spring schedule and Wednesday was no exception, with the list of talent given the day off rivaling that of most teams' regular lineups. Among those scheduled to leave the ballpark in the early afternoon were Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells, Maicer Izturis, Jeff Mathis, Bobby Abreu and Kendry Morales.

The latter hasn't played at all this spring but Scioscia says Morales is making progress in rehabbing his broken ankle and he could be playing in 10 days or so.

Left-hander Scott Kazmir will start on the mound and is scheduled to throw four innings or 55 pitches, whichever comes first. Hank Conger, battling for the backup catcher's job on the opening day roster, strained his forearm over the weekend and still can't throw but will get a chance to play Wednesday as the designated hitter.

Wednesday's lineup:

SS -- Erick Aybar

CF -- Reggie Willits

2B -- Howie Kendrick

1B -- Mark Trumbo

DH -- Hank Conger

3B -- Brandon Wood

C -- Bobby Wilson

LF -- Chris Pettit

RF -- Jeremy Moore

P -- Scott Kazmir

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.

Angels' offense getting in gear

Two days ago, the Angels' team batting average for the spring was just .215. Tuesday afternoon when they take the field for a Cactus League exhibition with the Texas Rangers, they'll do so hitting .253. That's what 29 hits and 20 runs in two days can do for an offense.

How hot have the Angels been? The eight runs they scored in the third inning against the Cubs on Monday matched their best output in a game this spring.

Rookie Mark Trumbo has been leading the surge. He went 4 for 4 with a home run and a massive double at windy HoHoKam Park in Mesa, Ariz., in Monday's wild ninth-inning to the Cubs. He's back in the lineup Tuesday and, at 7:30 a.m., the wind at Tempe Diablo Stadium was already blowing out, so Trumbo may be in for another big day.

Trumbo is tied with the Rangers' Ian Kinsler for the spring lead in total bases (21). He's also tied for second in home runs (3) and is third in runs scored (6) and runs batted in (6)

Regulars Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells are back in the lineup Tuesday but the Angels are resting Alberto Callaspo, who is still dealing with some shoulder soreness and has yet to play in the field this spring. As the designated hitter, Callaspo was 3 for 4 on Monday.

Ervin Santana will be making his second spring start on the mound. He'll be followed by left-handers Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahaski, two winter free-agent signings who loom large in the Angels' bullpen plans this summer.

Tuesday's lineup:

SS -- Maicer Izturis

LF -- Bobby Abreu

RF -- Torii Hunter

DH -- Vernon Wells

2B -- Howie Kendrick

1B -- Mark Trumbo

3B -- Brandon Wood

C -- Jeff Mathis

CF -- Peter Bourjos

P -- Ervin Santana

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.