Manager Mike Scioscia

John Lackey sat on a sofa in the Angels' clubhouse Thursday afternoon, calmly putting the finishing touches on his first-week picks in the team's football pool. "A little healthy competition in the clubhouse is fun," Lackey said. "It's good for the team, for sure." But that's not the only competition going on in the Angels' clubhouse. For the last two weeks, the five pitchers in the Angels' rotation have been waging an impressive game of one-upmanship, with each starter trying to outdo the others.

BALTIMORE - Peter Bourjos didn't get caught up in the controversy surrounding Manager Mike Scioscia's decision to move Mike Trout from center field to left field when Bourjos, out since April 30 because of a left hamstring strain, was activated. "You hear it, but there's nothing you can do about it," Bourjos said. "At the time all that was going on, I could barely walk, so it wasn't my first concern at all. My concern was getting healthy. Then, I could deal with it. " Bourjos, Trout and Scioscia finally dealt with it Monday night.

Reporting from Baltimore — Manager Mike Scioscia confirmed the worst-kept secret in the Angels' clubhouse Saturday when he said right-hander Jered Weaver would start the series finale in Baltimore on just three days' rest. Scioscia wants Weaver (17-7, 2.40 ERA) to pitch three of the Angels' final 11 games and to do that he would have to make at least one start on short rest. "We put a lot of time into making evaluations and looking at options," Scioscia said. "It's a calculated risk with anything you do. Weav doesn't see it as any issue.

Just the facts: The Angels lost three consecutive games to the Houston Astros. And the diagnosis, from Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson: "We've played like trash against them. " The Angels' season took another dreary step toward the dumper Sunday, with a 5-4 loss to the Astros. In the first three games of the series - the Astros go for the sweep Monday - the Angels have scored seven runs. The Astros are the only team in the majors with an earned-run average above 5.00.

It's hard to avoid controversy when established players get hurt and the backups more than fill their shoes. Such is the case with the Angels, concerning relief pitchers Brian Fuentes (the established) and Fernando Rodney (the backup). But Manager Mike Scioscia managed that Thursday: "Right now, there's no controversy." Fans might differ after Wednesday, when Fuentes returned from the disabled list to give up two runs in the ninth inning and blow the save in the Angels' 4-3 loss to Detroit.

The longer the postgame interview went on, the more Mike Scioscia's voice filled with ire. The Angels manager has stressed patience during his team's lengthy offensive funk, but his anger and frustration were hard to suppress after a 4-3, 10-inning loss to Tampa Bay at Angel Stadium on Wednesday night. The Angels finally broke through with a rare clutch hit, a tying three-run double by Bobby Abreu in the bottom of the eighth inning, but they squandered numerous other chances, going two for 13 with runners in scoring position and striking out 11 times.

Reporting from Detroit -- As dominant as Fernando Rodney and Kevin Jepsen have been, and as inconsistent as the rest of the bullpen has been, there would seem to be a temptation to expand the use of Rodney and Jepsen, whose appearances have been limited to one inning or less. Not going to happen, Mike Scioscia said. "One inning … one inning," the Angels' manager said, shaking his head. "There could be some circumstances to expand, but right now it's one inning.

It may have been Mike Scioscia's harshest — and most candid — assessment of a player in years. The Angels manager was asked Friday if the organization's evaluation of Brandon Wood has changed in light of the young infielder's continued struggles at the plate and some recent defensive woes. "We're seeing Brandon at his absolute worst, a kid whose confidence is very low right now," Scioscia said. "I don't know if you could have scripted a tougher start for a youngster trying to get his feet on the ground in the major leagues.

Mike Napoli , mired in a horrendous slump, started behind the plate Friday for only the fifth time this month. And although Manager Mike Scioscia is concerned with the veteran catcher's offensive production, he said what Napoli does on defense is far more important. Entering the weekend, the Angels' earned-run average with Napoli catching was 5.20, nearly a run and a quarter higher than when Jeff Mathis was behind the plate. And Napoli has caught less than 16% of would-be base stealers.

It has taken five months, one trade and a lot of rehabilitation for the Angels to get their injury-plagued pitching rotation into shape. But now that they've figured out how to start games, they aren't sure how -- or with whom -- to close them. For the second time in six days Manager Mike Scioscia pulled closer Brian Fuentes in the middle of an inning Saturday, this time with one out in the 10th inning with the score tied. Fuentes gave up a double and a single, then got an out before he left the game.

It would have been a gutsy move, one many fans would have applauded but would have risked ruffling the feathers of right fielder Josh Hamilton , the 2010 American League most valuable player and five-time All-Star. With the Angels trailing, 6-3, runners on first and third and two outs in the eighth inning Friday night, Houston Manager Bo Porter summoned left-hander Travis Blackley to face Hamilton, the potential tying run. Hamilton is struggling - he entered Saturday with a .220 average, eight homers, 18 runs batted in and 58 strikeouts - but he's been even more impotent against lefties, with a .169 average, no homers, two RBIs and 24 strikeouts in 59 at-bats.

Arte Moreno has placed blame for the team's brutal 2013 start, its failure to make the playoffs for three straight years and several high-priced moves that have paid minimal dividends on the one person the Angels owner can't fire: Himself. "If you're going to blame anyone, you've got to blame me," Moreno told FoxSports.com on Wednesday in New York, where he is attending the owners' meetings. "I'm the one at the end of the day that has the final call. " Moreno orchestrated the signing of first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal before 2012.

OAKLAND - Monday night merged into Tuesday, and on and on the Angels and Oakland Athletics played, their game stretching so far into the wee hours of the morning that the cows were home and tucked into bed long before it was over. It was the longest time of game in Angels history, 6 hours and 32 minutes, and it went 19 innings, one shy of the franchise record for innings, the teams combining to use 40 players and throw 598 pitches. But it ended all too suddenly for the Angels, as Brandon Moss hit a two-run homer off Angels reliever Barry Enright at 1:41 a.m. PDT to give the Athletics a grueling 10-8, 19-inning walk-off victory in the Oakland Coliseum and send the Angels (9-16)

A year ago, Michael Roth was dealing with a double major at the University of South Carolina, where he also dabbled some in baseball. On Wednesday he had to  deal with the Texas Rangers in his first major league start. And though things went well at first, the Rangers wound up schooling the rookie left-hander, driving him from the mound after 31/3 innings of a game Texas won, 11-3. For the bookish Roth, it was one more chapter in a baseball education that can be challenging at times.

The Angels' training room is so crowded the team sent shortstop Erick Aybar and relievers Kevin Jepsen and Ryan Madson to its extended spring-training facility in Arizona on Wednesday to continue rehabbing the injuries that put them on the disabled list. The Angels have seven players on the DL and several active players, including Albert Pujols , who require daily treatment for nagging injuries. That has taxed the medical staff so much that the team decided some players might benefit from more focused attention in minor league camp.

With Albert Pujols trying to play despite an injury to his left foot, the Angels are prepared for him to be limited to designated hitter for an extended period of time. "I'm dying," Pujols said Sunday. "It's hurting real bad. " Pujols started at DH for the fourth consecutive game Sunday, and he now has started more games at DH than at first base. He is suffering from plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tissue that stretches across the bottom of the foot. The most effective treatment can be to stay off the foot -- in the case of a baseball player, a stint on the disabled list to let the inflammation subside.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. — Jason Isringhausen signed a minor league contract with the Angels, but he could have a major impact on the bullpen. Manager Mike Scioscia indicated Thursday that the veteran right-hander is a near-lock to make the club. "Jason is going to slot in with LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Downs [in a setup role]," Scioscia said. "We talk about that pyramid of guys getting to the closer [Jordan Walden]. It's a little broader right now. " A rhombus of relief, perhaps?

Angels fans pining for catcher Jeff Mathis to take a long seat on the pine might have to keep waiting. Manager Mike Scioscia said Mathis' ability to work with starting pitchers outweighs his offensive struggles. "If you look at the job he's done with [ Jered ] Weaver and [ Dan ] Haren , we're winning games when they pitch not because of anything Jeff's doing at the plate, but what he's doing behind the plate," Scioscia said Saturday. On Sunday, Haren, who is scheduled to pitch Tuesday at the New York Yankees, cosigned that argument.

Torii Hunter's first at-bat in Angel Stadium on Friday night was delayed by a standing ovation, which the Detroit Tigers right fielder acknowledged by waving his helmet. When Hunter took his position in the first inning, fans in the right-field bleachers rose in unison, one row of spectators holding up a large “THANK U TORII” sign. For Hunter, who hit .286 with 105 homers and 432 runs batted in during a five-year stint with the Angels in which he was also the heart and soul of the club, it wasn't just about appreciation.

Albert Pujols was supposed to start Sunday's game at first base, but shortly after the lineup was posted Angels Manager Mike Scioscia changed plans, taking Pujols out of the field and using him as the designated hitter for the fifth time in 12 games. Scioscia explained the switch by saying that Josh Hamilton, the original DH, wanted to continue familiarizing himself with right field at Angel Stadium. But it's clear that Pujols' surgically repaired right knee and the plantar fasciitis in his left foot are bothering him. "He's battling some stuff that he's had before," Scioscia said of Pujols, who played with plantar fasciitis for parts of 2004, 2005 and 2006.