Angels Fall

Luke Hochevar, who spurned the Dodgers twice after being drafted by them in 2002 and 2005, allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings Saturday to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 win over the Angels. Hochevar, who signed with the Royals after being selected with the first pick of the 2006 draft, struck out four and walked two and completely outpitched his counterpart, Angels right-hander Dan Haren. Haren seemed out of sync from the start, giving up consecutive one-out singles to Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur for two runs in the first inning and a leadoff double in the second to Humberto Quintero, who eventually scored on Cain's sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.

CLEVELAND - The Angels made two dramatic moves Friday night, but neither involved a battered bullpen that suffered another meltdown in a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Two days after Manager Mike Scioscia said Mike Trout wouldn't be called up from triple-A Salt Lake unless there was a "significant" role for him, the Angels promoted the dynamic 20-year-old outfielder to the big leagues and said he will play regularly, beginning Saturday. "We want to get Mike in the lineup, see if we can add a little energy, some spice," General Manager Jerry Dipoto, who joined the team Friday night, said after the Angels suffered their fifth consecutive loss and fell to 6-14.

John Danks pitched eight innings of two-run baseball, as the White Sox handled the Angels, 6-2. Danks (14-11), who gave up seven hits, fanned five batters and walked two to pick up his first win since September 4 for Chicago, which has won three in a row since an eight-game skid. Ramon Castro hit a solo homer for the White Sox, who got two RBI from Alexei Ramirez. Alex Rios, Juan Pierre, and Manny Ramirez each knocked in a run. Chicago has won six in a row against the Angels for the first time since April 7- June 10, 1992.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Not only are the Angels not hitting, they're not stealing bases, bunting, executing hit-and-run plays and pushing the envelope offensively, all trademarks of Mike Scioscia-managed teams. They're not scratching and clawing or sacrificing themselves enough for the team, and those deficiencies, as well as an inability to hit in the clutch, were evident again Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Tropicana Field. Albert Pujols extended his hitless streak to 19 at-bats over five games, his average falling to .222, and his homerless string to 72 at-bats over 18 games, as the Angels dropped to 6-12 and fell 81/2 games behind Texas in the American League West.

Maybe Mike Scioscia needed to get a little more imaginative with a few other aspects of his team Sunday at Comerica Park. The Angels manager used what he called a "creative" lineup against the Detroit Tigers, giving sluggers Mike Napoli and Hideki Matsui the day off while using light-hitting Maicer Izturis in the cleanup spot. The hitters were hardly the culprit at Comerica Park during a 9-4 loss in which the Angels concluded their trip with four losses in six games, hardly the surge they were hoping for as they attempt to catch Texas in the American League West.

Royals 4, Angels 3 Mariners 10, Angels 5 AT THE PLATE: Against Kansas City, Erick Aybar, Alberto Callaspo and Tyson Auer had two hits each while Mark Trumbo scored his sixth run in his last four games. Peter Bourjos had three hits in the split-squad loss to Seattle while catcher Kevin Richardson homered. ON THE MOUND: Joel Pineiro was so efficient in his four-inning outing against the Royals he went to the bullpen afterward to throw 10 more pitches, bringing his total for the day to 60. Unfortunately things didn't go as smoothly for 7-foot-1 reliever Loek Van Mil, who allowed two runs on a hit and two walks while getting just an out in his Angels debut.

AT THE PLATE: Brandon Wood hit a two-run single in the sixth inning and a two-run home run to left, his fourth of the spring, in the eighth. Peter Bourjos and Maicer Izturis hit back-to-back homers in the third. Izturis had three hits, and Alberto Callaspo had two hits and two runs batted in. ON THE MOUND: Reliever Fernando Rodney, pitching for the second consecutive day, retired only one of the five batters he faced, allowing two hits, two walks and a run. Kevin Jepsen, slowed by tightness in his left hip this week, threw a scoreless eighth, and Jordan Walden threw a scoreless seventh.

This wasn't exactly what Dan Haren had in mind when the Angels acquired him for an expected playoff push. "Playing these games are going to be real meaningful," Haren told reporters in Arizona the day he was traded in late July. Six weeks later, the Angels' 3-2 loss against Cleveland on Monday at Angel Stadium had a spring training feel, with the crowd doing the wave in the top of the eighth inning after the Indians had moved the potential go-ahead run into scoring position.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia was running down a list of the best young pitchers in the American League when a trend became apparent: most of the pitchers played for teams in the West Division. "Our division has some arms that are terrific," he said. "Both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen, you've got power arms. " Many of those power arms pitch for either Scioscia's Angels or the Oakland Athletics, who squared off in the opener of a brief two-game showdown Monday ranked first and second in the league in earned-run average.

Luke Hochevar, who spurned the Dodgers twice after being drafted by them in 2002 and 2005, allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings Saturday to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 win over the Angels. Hochevar, who signed with the Royals after being selected with the first pick of the 2006 draft, struck out four and walked two and completely outpitched his counterpart, Angels right-hander Dan Haren. Haren seemed out of sync from the start, giving up consecutive one-out singles to Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur for two runs in the first inning and a leadoff double in the second to Humberto Quintero, who eventually scored on Cain's sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.

Look at the bright side, Angels fans. At least you won't have to watch the Texas Rangers dance all over your team's turf next week. The Angels spared themselves and their followers that indignity Friday night when they lost to the Oakland Athletics, 3-1, and were eliminated from the American League West race. The Rangers beat Seattle, 5-3, earlier Friday and watched the Angels-A's game with their fans on the video board at the Ballpark in Arlington. When Oakland escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the eighth and held on for the win, Texas clinched its second consecutive division title and rendered its season-ending three-game series in Angel Stadium beginning Monday moot.

The Angels have been saying all season that they'll only go as far as their starting pitchers can carry them. If that's true, then they probably won't go much further. On Saturday, the Baltimore Orioles pounded right-hander Ervin Santana for two home runs in a five-run first inning, then cruised to a 6-2 win. The loss, the Angels' fourth in six games, combined with Texas' 7-6 win in Seattle, extended the Rangers' lead in the American League West to 4½ games with 10 days left in the season.

Reporting from Seattle -- Only three teams in baseball have gotten fewer innings out of their bullpen than the Angels this season. And that's only partly because of a lack of opportunity. The main culprit is a lack of confidence in some of the team's relievers, a depth problem that came back to bite the Angels again Monday in a 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. This time it was left-hander Hisanori Takahashi who failed to deliver, giving up a tiebreaking eighth-inning home run to Mike Carp that pushed the second-place Angels half a game further back of idle Texas in the American League West.

Dear Mike Napoli, It sure was great to see you back at Angel Stadium this week. You were one of my favorite Angels and I was so sorry to see you go. I see you are doing very well with your new team. I'm sure you're far too humble to mention that you have more home runs than Vernon Wells and a batting average over a hundred points higher that Jeff Mathis. Obviously, you can leave that to me. Have a great postseason! Ron Reeve Glendora :: As the Angels fall gently away for the season, it is apparent that two important changes must be made.

Few have had an easier job lately than whoever works the scoreboard at Angels games. It's mostly been a do-nothing gig in which they have to pay attention to only half the game — that is, whenever the Angels' opponents are up to bat. After all, entering Friday's game against Kansas City, the Angels had scored just 13 runs this month, worst in the major leagues. Their June gloom continued as the Royals beat them, 4-2, before 38,254 at Angel Stadium. The Angels (30-35)

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia was running down a list of the best young pitchers in the American League when a trend became apparent: most of the pitchers played for teams in the West Division. "Our division has some arms that are terrific," he said. "Both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen, you've got power arms. " Many of those power arms pitch for either Scioscia's Angels or the Oakland Athletics, who squared off in the opener of a brief two-game showdown Monday ranked first and second in the league in earned-run average.

Reporting from Arlington, Texas Only one American League rotation has a better earned-run average than the Angels' quintet. And no American League rookie has more saves than the Angels' Jordan Walden. But the bridge linking one to the other remains under construction, as Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers proved once again. The Angels have tried half of their bullpen in the eighth-inning role this season, with the result being a league-high eight blown saves and seven losses.