Manager Mike Scioscia

Reporting from Baltimore — The Angels' fall from three consecutive division titles to a team that entered play Thursday with a sub-.500 record has involved plenty of culprits. Third baseman Brandon Wood never hit .200 before being relegated to the bench. Outfielder Juan Rivera has only 40 runs batted in and it's August. The list of underachievers goes on. Designated hitter Hideki Matsui is on pace for one of the worst seasons of his career. Pitcher Scott Kazmir is among the American League leaders … in earned runs allowed.

CLEVELAND - An All-Star as a rookie in 2011, Angels reliever Jordan Walden has lost his job as closer one blown save into 2012. Manager Mike Scioscia announced before Friday night's game against the Cleveland Indians that veteran left-hander Scott Downs will close with Walden moving to a seventh- or eighth-inning role “for right now.” Walden entered Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays with one out in the ninth inning, the...

Manager Mike Scioscia said Jordan Walden's promotion to the big leagues Sunday had plenty to do with the 22-year-old reliever's 98-mph fastball and nothing to do with the Angels giving up on this season and building for the future. Walden, who spent the first four months of 2009 at double-A Arkansas and three weeks at triple-A Salt Lake, joined the Angels at Target Field after infielder Maicer Izturis (inflamed right shoulder) was placed on the 15-day disabled list for the third time this season.

CLEVELAND - Now Jordan Walden knows how Fernando Rodney felt last season. An All-Star as a rookie in 2011, Walden lost his job as Angels closer after one blown save in 2012, just as Rodney did last year. Manager Mike Scioscia announced before Friday night's game against the Cleveland Indians that veteran left-hander Scott Downs will close, with Walden moving to a seventh- or eighth-inning role "for right now," Scioscia said. Walden entered Thursday's game against Tampa Bay with one out in the ninth inning, the bases empty and the Angels leading by a run. B.J. Upton singled, and Brandon Allen crushed a pinch-hit, two-run home run to give the Rays a 4-3 walk-off victory and extend the Angels' losing streak to four games.

When Jerome Williams is eligible to come off the disabled list July 4, the Angels will have an extremely difficult decision: Do they return Williams, who was 6-5 with a 4.46 earned-run average before being hospitalizedJune 18 because of breathing problems caused by an asthma attack, to the rotation? Or do they keep Garrett Richards , who on Sunday delivered his fourth straight strong start since being promoted from triple A in late May, giving up three runs and nine hits, striking out five and walking two in 62/3 innings of a 5-3 interleague victory over the Dodgers?

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. -- It's not a good spring when you've had half as many closed-door meetings with the manager and general manager (two) as hits (four) in 12 games. Those were Bobby Abreu's sad statistics Saturday after the veteran outfielder was summoned by Manager Mike Scioscia and General Manager Jerry Dipoto to explain comments criticizing the team to a Spanish-language publication. Abreu, 38, was quoted by the Venezuelan paper Lider en Deportes as saying he didn't put a lot of stock in Scioscia's prediction that he would get 400 plate appearances this season.

Reporting from Boston -- The Angels are all out of whack. When they get a quality start, they don't hit. When they score a bunch of runs, their starter gets shelled or they break down on defense. About the only constant has been their middle relief, which has been terrible all season. To an already long list of woes, the Angels added this after a demoralizing 11-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park on Thursday night extended their losing streak to seven and dropped their record to 12-18: a lack of mental toughness.

Angels reliever Scot Shields emerged from a closed-door meeting with Manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher on Monday afternoon and ... returned to his locker and finished getting dressed for pregame stretch. It almost seemed like an upset. The veteran right-hander's earned-run average jumped to 6.05 after he walked three, gave up two hits and three runs in 1 1/3 innings of the Angels' 9-4 loss in Detroit on Sunday. With relievers Jason Bulger and Brian Stokes close to being activated off the disabled list, Shields' days in Anaheim appear numbered.

The workload has been heavy this season for Jered Weaver, who ranks second in the major leagues behind Detroit's Justin Verlander with 3,298 pitches and fifth in all of baseball with 2061/3 innings. But neither the Angels ace nor Manager Mike Scioscia says fatigue or injury is to blame for Weaver's recent struggles. The right-hander entered August as an American League Cy Young Award candidate, but he has allowed six earned runs or more in three of his last five starts, including Saturday night's shaky five-inning, six-run, eight-hit effort in a 10-6 win over the Twins.

Among the reasons Mike Scioscia gave Tuesday for sticking with Brian Fuentes as his closer despite the left-hander's Monday night meltdown is that "it's a little premature to make wholesale changes," the Angels manager said. Who said anything about wholesale changes? Most Angels fans would be satisfied with one seemingly simple switch — make hard-throwing right-hander Fernando Rodney the closer and Fuentes a setup man or left-handed relief specialist. Rodney is clearly the team's best reliever, with a 3-0 record and 2.87 earned-run average in 16 games, a fastball that has been clocked as high as 98 mph and an excellent changeup.