Angels know how to rally

Amid swirling fountains, sweaty drinks and the scent of sunblock, Saturday afternoons at Angel Stadium are like a lovely picnic.

Only here, they cheer the ants.

Here, they cheer the little red ants who scamper up legs and crawl down shirts and poke under skin.

They cheer them not because they are pretty, but because they are relentless. They cheer them not because they are stars, but because they swarm, over and over, raising itches, ruining lunches.

It happened again Saturday when the injury-riddled Angels dared to field a spring training lineup in the second week of July.

And once again beat the New York Yankees as if it were October.

For the second time in two games, a bunch of kids bearing broom handles and bravado overcame a four-run deficit to score double digits and beat the highest-scoring team in baseball.

The final score was 14-8, after which there were fireworks in the sky and a dancing monkey on the scoreboard, all for a bunch of selfless, faceless player shaking hands in the middle of the field, those ants.

"It's something that's talked about around here from the first day of spring training," said Brandon Wood, who showed up Friday and homered Saturday. "It's Angel baseball."

For the last decade under Mike Scioscia, "Angel baseball" has often been this refreshing and rewarding but never has it been this resilient.

This may not end up being their best season, but it has already been their most admirable, as they flirt with first place despite struggling through the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and the much more trivial concerns of a constantly battered lineup.

"We just go play baseball," said Scioscia, simple words, sweeping mandate.

Saturday's win was the fourth time in this homestand -- nine games and counting -- that the Angels have won after overcoming a four-run deficit, the first time that has happened here.

It was also the Angels' major-league leading 26th comeback win this season, making their resilience official and historic.

"They get after it hard," Scioscia said.

Especially when it gets after them hard, as with the recent injuries that, on Saturday, gutted them of power hitters Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Rivera.

So who played? Robb Quinlan made his third start in left field. Wood made his third start at third base. Chone Figgins played DH for the second time this year. And Gary Matthews Jr. was starting in center field for the 13th time.