ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The final day of the Los Angeles Angels‘ disappointing season already was a bitter experience. Mike Napoli‘s two trots around the bases of his former home field just made it slightly more acidic.

And the Angels will have to wait six months to get this taste out of their mouths.

Napoli broke a tie in the ninth inning with his fourth homer in two games, and the Texas Rangers finally clinched home-field advantage in the AL division series with a 3-1 victory over the Angels on Wednesday night.

Gil Velasquez drove in the only run for the Angels, who have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade. Los Angeles (86-76) was in playoff contention until Monday, but lost six of its last seven and nine of its last 13 to finish September at .500 (13-13).

“This was a roller-coaster year for us,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “I mean, it really tore us inside and out, and it teased us. We thought we had a chance to get there, but we just didn’t play at a high enough level towards the end of the season. But we’re going to turn the page on it, and it’s going to start tomorrow.”

Napoli, the longtime Angels catcher, also homered in the second inning for the Rangers, who swept the Angels to set a club record with their 96th victory — including six straight heading into the postseason.

The Angels wrapped up their 50th anniversary season by missing the playoffs, yet manager Mike Scioscia hopes fans won’t forget what they’ve built. Los Angeles still had the AL’s sixth-best record, winning at least 80 games for the eighth straight season — easily the best stretch in franchise history.

Texas left-hander Matt Harrison yielded five hits and a run in six innings during a strong tuneup for the postseason, while Garrett Richards pitched five innings of two-hit ball in his third career start for the Angels.

Napoli’s departure turned out to be a harbinger of everything that went wrong for the Angels this season.

Napoli hit six homers this season at Angel Stadium — three more than Bobby Abreu, who struck out to end the season for Los Angeles. Napoli even hit four homers in the final innings against the Angels, who traded him in a package for Vernon Wells last winter.

Napoli finished with career-highs of 30 homers and 75 RBIs in Texas, while Wells went 1 for 4 to end his dismal season at .218 with 25 homers — and the three catchers who replaced Napoli have all been offensive disasters.

“When he plays us, it’s like he’s definitely trying to put an exclamation point on something,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. “He’s swinging the bat well. We all knew he could hit home runs and that he had the potential … but the average (.320), that’s what’s pretty impressive. He’s grown into one of the elite hitters in the game.”

With 14 wins in their final 16 games, the Rangers (96-66) held off Detroit (95-67) for the right to host Tampa Bay at Rangers Ballpark on Friday. Although Texas ascribes little significance to the win beyond travel convenience, Napoli is grateful he’s not headed to Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

“I looked (at the scoreboard) every inning, I’m not going to lie,” Napoli said. “But we went out and controlled what we could control.”

Seven innings after Napoli homered over the ficus trees in deepest center field, he connected in the ninth off Angels rookie closer Jordan Walden (5-5), capping his career year with another huge game at the park he once called home.

Walden made the AL All-Star team and earned 32 saves, but also blew 10 chances.

“Overall, I’d say I had a decent season,” Walden said. “I mean, towards the end right here, I kind of fell apart, but there were good times in the season and a lot of bad. So it was a good learning process for me, and I’m ready for next spring.”

Mike Adams (2-3) pitched the eighth, and Neftali Feliz picked up his 32nd save.

Before the game, Scioscia bristled at the suggestion Los Angeles wasn’t going all-out to beat the Rangers — to the detriment of the Tigers. Angels starters Hunter, Howie Kendrick, Maicer Izturis and Abreu all were out of the lineup Wednesday night, while 18-game winner Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana were scratched from their final starts.

Scioscia insisted every missing regular had a legitimate injury, while Weaver was “at heightened risk” after pitching hard down the stretch.

“We absolutely understand the integrity of the game and how important it is,” Scioscia said in a rare burst of passion from the Angels’ cool bench boss. “We’re putting out the talent that we can to try to win ballgames. There’s no doubt that the integrity of the game is something we take very seriously. We went as hard as we could, as long as we could.”

Richards, a first-round draft pick in 2009, made the best appearance of his short major-league career in his first start since Aug. 15. He issued three walks, but paid for only one bad pitch when Napoli homered in the second.

NOTES: Angels 1B Efren Navarro’s third-inning single was his first major league hit. Navarro, a native of nearby Lynwood with 15 family members in attendance, played the final two games at first base with rookie slugger Mark Trumbo shut down for the season with a broken foot. … The Angels drew more than 3 million fans for the ninth straight season, finishing with 3,166,321. They even outdrew the crosstown Dodgers, who didn’t crack 3 million.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Sep. 14, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif. — Erick Aybar’s defense, speed and quick decision-making gave the Angels a rare late lead at the Oakland Coliseum. Howie Kendrick’s power made it stand up.

Aybar scored the go-ahead run on a wild throw home in the seventh inning and Kendrick hit two home runs, including a two-run insurance blast in the ninth, to lift Los Angeles to a 6-3 victory against the Athletics on Tuesday night.

“We need contributions from a lot of guys and we need guys to start producing the way they can,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Howie gave us a big boost with both his home runs. We need some other guys to start following suit and we can get a little more momentum going.”

The Angels can’t afford many hiccups down the stretch.

Los Angeles remains three games behind division-leading Texas, which beat Cleveland earlier in the day. The Angels and Rangers will finish the regular season with a three-game series in Anaheim.

Maicer Izturis added two hits and an RBI and Aybar also had two hits for the Angels, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Aybar, batting .476 over his past six games, singled leading off the seventh and was sacrificed to second. Hank Conger’s hit moved Aybar to third before Izturis hit a grounder off Fautino De Los Santos (2-2) to shortstop Cliff Pennington. Aybar broke for home on the play and made it safely when Pennington’s throw was wide of the plate.

“We definitely some guys to start moving forward and carrying some momentum for us in these last couple weeks,” Scioscia said. “We’ve seen glimpses of it … but right now there’s a finite amount of games [left] and there’s a premium on us scoring the runs that are going to let us get games under our control.”

Hisanori Takahashi (4-3), the first of four Los Angeles relievers used in the game, pitched 1 2/3 innings for the victory while rookie Jordan Walden worked the ninth for his 30th save.

The Angels combined for seven walks but matched their season high of four double plays to limit the damage and win for only the third time in their past 13 games at the Coliseum.

It was also Los Angeles’ sixth victory on the road since Aug. 1.

Kendrick hit a two-run home run in the third off starter Guillermo Moscoso, then added another two-run blast in the ninth.

“Accidents,” Kendrick said. “A couple mistakes out over the plate. All I was trying to do was put a good swing on it.”

Josh Willingham doubled and drove in two runs for the A’s, who had won five of six against their AL West rivals before Tuesday’s loss.

The A’s left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded eight runners overall.

“We had way too many opportunities to blow that game open and we didn’t come through with runners in scoring position,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “Guys that normally come through for us didn’t, and on top of that we hit into double plays. It was a rough night for us offensively.”

Neither starter was around for the decision.

Oakland’s Guillermo Moscoso carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of his previous start against Kansas City on Sept. 7 and retired the first six Angels before Aybar’s double in the third.

Peter Bourjos followed with a foul pop-up near the Angels bullpen that first baseman Brandon Allen chased down. Aybar wisely tagged up at second and beat Allen’s throw to third, then scored when the ball skipped past Oakland third baseman Scott Sizemore and Moscoso backing up on the play.

Izturis singled to keep the inning going, and Kendrick capped it with his 17th home run of the season to give the Angels a 3-0 lead.

Angels’ right-hander Jerome Williams had control problems in the bottom of the frame and nearly gave it all back.

A former first-round pick of the San Francisco Giants, Williams gave up an RBI double to Jemile Weeks and a bases-loaded walk to Josh Willingham — one of three free passes he issued in the inning.

Williams continued to struggle, giving up back-to-back walks in the fifth. Josh Willingham then doubled in front of diving right fielder Torii Hunter, scoring Cliff Pennington with the tying run.

Kendrick’s second home run came off reliever Michael Wuertz. The Angels slugger, who has four multi-home run games in his career, has 18 home runs this season.

Notes

• Oakland CF Coco Crisp had an MRI on his sore right foot and Melvin said he expects Crisp play again this season.
• Scioscia kept rookie 1B Mark Trumbo out of the lineup because he felt the veteran might be pressing a little. “This is a good time for him to catch his breath and hopefully finish strong,” Scioscia said. “The last 10 at-bats you’re seeing a little tighter grip on the bat. To reach our goal, we need him to get back to where he could be.”
• RHP Jered Weaver, second to Detroit’s Justin Verlander for lowest ERA in the AL, will pitch for the Angels on Wednesday. Weaver (16-7) has a three-game losing streak on the road.
• RHP Rich Harden (4-2), who last beat Los Angeles more than a year ago, will go for Oakland.
• Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Richard Seymour threw out the first pitch.

SEATTLE (AP) — Mike Trout failed to make much of an impression when he was first promoted to the Los Angeles Angels in July.

Now it’s hard not to notice him.

Trout, considered by many scouts to be the best prospect in baseball, homered twice and drove in five runs to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 13-6 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

The Angels are still 3 1/2 games behind Texas in the AL West as the Rangers also won.

The youngest player in the majors at 20 years, 23 days, Trout started the onslaught in the second with a solo shot into the left-field bullpen on a 3-2 pitch from Anthony Vasquez (1-1).

Vasquez, making his second big-league start, walked the first two batters in the fourth before Trout added a three-run blast into the left-field seats for a 4-0 lead.

“I don’t have that anxiousness to hit the ball,” Trout said. “The first time I got up here I wanted to hit it hard every time to impress everyone. Now I’m just trying to be myself and not trying to do too much.”

He made his big-league debut July 8 but in 14 games he hit just .163 with one home run and 6 RBI. He was sent back to Double-A Arkansas July 29 before being recalled Aug. 19.

Since his recall, he’s gone 9 for 21 with four home runs. He has three home runs in the past two games and now five in his 65-at-bat career.

“Since the first (callup) it’s like two different things,” he said. “The first couple weeks I was jittery. Now I actually feel calm in the box, looking for my pitch.”

Manager Mike Scioscia said that Trout, the team’s first-round draft choice in 2009, is just continuing where he left off in the minors where he hit .333 with 10 extra-base hits in 16 games.

“He wasn’t overmatched his first go-around. Maybe didn’t get as many hits to fall in but he wasn’t overmatched,” Scioscia said. “No doubt when you come up here, no matter how talented you are, when you start to have success and start to achieve, that’s the litmus test, that’s the proving ground and you carry that momentum forward. And it becomes confidence.

“He’s doing some things that should give any player confidence.”

He is the youngest Angels player to hit two home runs in a game.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge that Trout “is a very talented young man and has some strength in that swing.”

The Angels have hit at least one homer in 20 of the past 21 games. They also have 75 road home runs compared to 48 at home.

Seattle scored two in the fourth to cut the lead in half but it blew up for Vasquez and the Mariners in the Angels’ eight-run fifth inning. The first eight hitters all scored.

It was the Angels’ biggest inning this season and the most runs in an inning since scoring nine on Aug. 16, 2009 in the 13th at Baltimore.

Vasquez, the son of an Angels area scout, gave up the first two runs — he was charged with eight overall — and left with runners on first and third and one out.

Jeff Gray entered and walked three straight batters, forcing in two runs. Erick Aybar had the inning’s biggest hit, a two-run double.

This was the sixth time this season the Angels have scored 10 or more runs. It was their second-highest scoring game, two short of a season-high 15 on April 19 at Texas.

All those runs gave comfort to Jerome Williams (2-0), who, like Vasquez, was making his second career start. He disposed of nine straight Mariners on just 23 pitches over his first three innings.

“I don’t believe he’s 20,” Williams said of Trout. “He got me two tonight. He helped me a lot.”

The Mariners reached Williams in the fourth. Mike Carp hit a RBI double into the left-field corner and Miguel Olivo beat out a RBI infield single to deep short.

The Mariners added another pair in the seventh on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Ichiro Suzuki. That extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Williams went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out six.

Olivo, who had three hits, picked up his second infield-hit RBI in the Mariners’ two-run eighth off Bobby Cassevah.

Notes: Angels manager Mike Scioscia said when rosters expand Thursday “we’ll definitely add a pitcher and a couple position players.” Eventually, the club plans to add eight or nine players besides four or five callups. … The Mariners also should have three veterans back from the DL early next month: 1B Justin Smoak (broken nose), 3B Chone Figgins (right hip flexor) and SS/2B Jack Wilson (heel). “I’m anxious to see (Smoak) play,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. “He needs to play up here.” … The Mariners will send Felix Hernandez (12-11, 3.37 ERA) to the mound Wednesday. He was be opposed by Dan Haren (13-7, 3.19). Hernandez went 13-12 last season when he won the AL Cy Young Award. He is 4-9 in 23 career starts against the Angels. Haren is 9-4 in 17 career starts against Seattle.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Los Angeles Angels spotted the Kansas City Royals a four-run lead, then mounted a comeback that was derailed when Bobby Abreu was thrown out at the plate.

Abreu was waved home by third base coach Dino Ebel on a single to left field by Erick Aybar with one out in the sixth inning and two runs in, but Alex Gordon made a perfect one-hop throw to Brayan Pena for the second out.

Mark Trumbo ended the inning with a popup, and the Angels got only one more hit the rest of the way in a 4-2 to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

“Dino’s got terrific judgment out there,” manager Mike Scioscia said after the Angels’ season-high sixth straight loss. “As Bobby rounded third I don’t think he thought he would be able to score and he slowed down a bit. It obviously ended up being a play that hurt us. But believe me, I trust Dino’s judgment. He’s as good as there is down there.”

The clutch play helped Jeff Francis (3-6) win his first road game of the season. The left-hander went 6 1-3 innings in his third start against the Angels this season, allowing two runs and eight hits en route to his first road victory since beating Florida on July 20, 2010, while pitching for Colorado.

“That throw home was a game-changer,” Francis said. “It swung a lot of momentum. I got the next guy out and it’s still 4-2.”

Ervin Santana (3-6) allowed four runs, seven hits and a season-high five walks over seven innings. He struck out five. Two of the runs came on homers by Melky Cabrera and Billy Butler. The right-hander has given up two home runs in each of his last three starts, and five of his last seven.

The switch-hitting Cabrera, who came in 2 for 14 lifetime against Santana, drove an 0-2 pitch to right field for his ninth homer with one out in the first. Jeff Francoeur grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the third, but the Royals made it 2-0 in the fourth when Butler drove Santana’s first pitch of the inning to left for his sixth home run.

“I think there were a couple pitches he’d want back,” Scioscia said. “The 0-2 pitch to Cabrera early was right in his wheelhouse. Butler jumped on a fastball early and hit it out of the park.”

The Royals have won consecutive games for the first time since May 19-20, and have clinched a season series from the Angels for only the second time in the last 15 years after taking five of seven in Kansas City.

Francis held the Angels to just two singles through five innings. But in the sixth, he gave up an RBI double by Howie Kendrick and a run-scoring single by Abreu — who entered that at-bat 0 for 14 against Francis with eight strikeouts.

Greg Holland retired all five batters he faced after relieving Francis. Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save in 14 attempts and second in two nights after returning to the closer role.

Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas, the second overall pick in the 2007 draft behind Tampa Bay Rays All-Star left-hander David Price, was 1 for 3 with a walk in his major league debut after his contract was purchased from Triple-A Omaha. The 22-year-old Los Angeles native was drafted out of Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley.

He got his first big league hit in the sixth, a broken-bat single to right field, and scored on Alcides Escobar’s run-scoring double before Chris Getz added an RBI single.

Trailing 2-0, the Angels threatened in the fourth when Torii Hunter led off with a single, advanced on a deep flyball by Howie Kendrick and took third on Abreu’s groundout. Before Vernon Wells came up, Hunter had a brief conversation with Moustakas.

“When he got to third base, he congratulated me on being up here and later congratulated me on getting my first hit,” Moustakas said with a huge grin. “I mean, it was unreal. I’ve heard a lot of things about Torii Hunter and about how great of a person he is, and everything’s true. He’s a first-class guy all the way.”

NOTES: Scioscia, second among active managers behind Tony La Russa with 1,847 regular-season games, gave kudos to the St. Louis Cardinals’ skipper on the day La Russa joined Connie Mack as the only managers or coaches in American professional sports history to reach 5,000 games. “That’s quite an accomplishment,” Scioscia said. “Tony’s done more than survive. He’s excelled in every situation he’s been in, and the depth of his knowledge of people in this game is remarkable. The passion he’s had to do it for as long as he has and as well as he has takes a special person, and the fire is burning in his belly as well as it ever has.” … Four of Butler’s seven career hits against Santana have been home runs. The Royals have hit 11 homers this season against the Angels, including game-ending drives — by Butler (June 1), Kila Ka’aihue (April 1) and Matt Treanor (April 3).

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Vernon Wells can’t come back soon enough for the Los Angeles Angels. Neither can the rest of their offense.

The Angels managed just five hits in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, dropping their third in a row and fifth in six games.

Wells has been on the disabled list for nearly a month with a strained right groin. But he made his second rehab start on Monday night, and manager Mike Scioscia was optimistic that he’ll be back in the lineup on Tuesday.

“He’s obviously a big part of what we project is going to be a deeper lineup that will support our terrific pitching, and he’s also important on the defensive end,” Scioscia said. “We’re doing what we can, but we’re still not playing the consistent baseball that we can, even without him.”

Jeff Mathis’ RBI single in the eighth drove in the Angels’ run.

Tyler Chatwood (3-3) gave up nine hits and five runs in seven innings. The right-hander struck out a career-high-tying five and walked one for the Angels, who have been limited to three runs or less in 17 of their last 30 games, including each of the last six.

Torii Hunter doubled in the fourth, snapping an 0-for-18 streak, but he wasn’t talking afterward.

“Torii’s frustrated because of the burden he takes personally for hitting in the middle of this lineup and leading these youngsters,” Scioscia said. “And he’s frustrated when he’s not at his peak, and right now he’s had some rough edges the last couple of games.”

The Angels had their first pregame closed-door meeting of the season. “Total pep talk,” Scioscia said. “There are some guys in that room who are frustrated.”

Howie Kendrick didn’t want to discuss the Angels’ anemic offense, either.

“We’ll definitely be better as a team (with Wells), but you can’t put a lot of weight on two guys,” he said. “When we’re all in sync, that’s when we’re playing our best baseball. Everybody’s got to be playing well — not just me, not Vernon, not Torii, not Bobby (Abreu). The pitching’s been good all year, so we’ve just got to put up some runs and turn things around. We’re in a little bit of a rut right now.”

With a stomach bug sweeping Tampa Bay’s clubhouse, Justin Ruggiano powered the Rays’ offense by homering and driving in three runs while David Price took a shutout into the eighth inning.

Price (7-5) allowed five hits and one run in seven-plus innings, struck out seven and walked none. The left-hander struck out the side in the fifth.

The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the first on Matt Joyce’s sacrifice fly and Ruggiano’s RBI single.

Ruggiano hit his second homer of the season to extend the Rays’ lead to 4-0. He sent a 3-2 pitch from Chatwood into the Rays’ bullpen in left field.

“I wanted to challenge him and not walk him, so I just went after him,” Chatwood said. “It ran over the plate a little bit and he connected.”

Joyce’s RBI single in the seventh made it 5-0.

Notes: Chatwood has gone seven-plus innings in four of his last six outings. … Rays 3B Evan Longoria sat out because of the flu bug. … Maddon caught the first pitch from former Angel Rick Reichardt as part of the team honoring its alumni before each home game. Maddon was a coach under Scioscia before going to the Rays.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – After eight innings of frustration against Oakland’s Brett Anderson, the Los Angeles Angels were down to their final out when Mark Trumbo hit a three-run homer off A’s reliever Grant Balfour.

Then Russell Branyan, signed to a free agent contract on Thursday after he was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks, pinch-hit for Reggie Willits and flied out to the warning track in center field. That was the Angels’ last gasp in a 4-3 loss to the A’s, resulting in a split of the four-game series.

“We saw Russell in the spring with Arizona, and he had a really strong spring,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “It didn’t carry over to many opportunities at the beginning of the season with them, but if he can do near what he did a couple of years ago when he was in our league, hopefully he’ll give us a little bit of a boost. This guy gets on base, he’s got power, and I think he matches up good in our lineup to give us a lot of options.”

Joel Pineiro (2-1) gave up 11 hits and four runs in 6 1-3 innings — the same three totals he had in his previous start against Atlanta. The right-hander struck out three and walked none while falling short again in a bid to notch his 100th career victory.

“I think he was searching for some things,” Scioscia said. “I think his ball was running a little bit too much early, and he was having trouble getting it into good spots in the zone. He may not have been as crisp today, but he still had enough stuff and pitched well enough to give us a chance to win.”

After an RBI groundout in the second inning by Andy LaRoche, the A’s extended their lead to 4-0 with three runs in the fourth. Josh Willingham led off with a single before Mark Ellis singled with two outs. LaRoche followed with a double to left field, scoring Willingham and Ellis, and Cliff Pennington scored LaRoche with a single.

“As the game went on, after he had given up a couple of runs, I think his stuff picked up a little bit and he looked like he got his second wind,” Scioscia said. “But I just don’t know that he had the command that he’s shown us, and he definitely missed some spots in that inning where they bunched those three runs.”

The Angels couldn’t bunch any hits together against Anderson (3-4). The left-hander tossed three-hit ball over eight scoreless innings, struck out four and walked three after going 0-3 over his five previous career starts against the Angels.

“He pitched well and threw all his pitches for strikes,” Trumbo said after the Angels lost for the seventh time in 11 games. “He’s not overpowering, but he can sneak his fastball in there a little bit. He threw a ton of breaking balls, and it seemed like he can throw that slider for a strike at will. And that can get you off your game a little bit if you have to respect not only one pitch, but three.”

The Angels’ only hits off Anderson were a single by Erick Aybar in the second inning, a double by Maicer Izturis in the sixth and a single by Alberto Callaspo in the seventh. Torii Hunter, who had a hit and an RBI in each of his previous six games, failed to extend the longest such stretch of his career, going 0 for 3 with a walk.

“Anderson pitched a good game and kept us down all afternoon,” Scioscia said. “He was ahead in the count all game. We had some opportunities to chip into their lead, and we just couldn’t get one or two runs across early — which obviously could have made a difference. We made a late rally, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Anderson retired his first 10 batters before Aybar’s hit. The Angels didn’t get a runner into scoring position until the sixth, when Izturis doubled down the left field line after a one-out walk to Willits. But Willits wasn’t able to advance on Aybar’s fly ball to Willingham in shallow left field, and Bobby Abreu grounded out.

“My stuff wasn’t particularly better today than it was on other days, I just mixed and matched well,” Anderson said. “I can’t give enough credit to my defense behind me, it was unbelievable. The defense was spectacular all day.”

In the seventh, Hunter walked and Callaspo singled before Trumbo’s double-play grounder sent Hunter to third. Anderson stranded him by striking out Peter Bourjos.

“I had a couple other situations with guys on base, but in the sixth, I was just a rally-killer — chopping a ball to third base,” Trumbo said. “I didn’t really stick with my game plan, and that hurt us right there.”

Notes: The Angels placed INF Howie Kendrick on the 15-day DL with right hamstring tightness, opening up a roster spot for Branyan. … Angels INF Kendrys Morales underwent a second surgery in Vail, Colo., on his left ankle to clean out scar tissue, degenerative cysts and debris in the area. He won’t return this season. … The A’s closed their seven-game trip with a 2-5 record. … Oakland starters have allowed one earned run or less in seven of the past eight games.