AL WEST RACE BEGINS ANEW AT ANAHEIM.Byline: Joe Haakenson Last Thursday during the seventh inning of the Angels-Texas Rangers game in Arlington, a television camera zoomed in on the Rangers' Mark McLemore
The former Angel had a scowl on his face as he paced in the dugout and yelled out at Angels pitcher Pep Harris Hernando Petrocelli "Pep" Harris (born September 23, 1972 in Lancaster, South Carolina) is an American former Major League Baseball player. A pitcher, Harris played for the California/Anaheim Angels from 1996 to 1998. External links
The two kept it up until the home plate umpire had to go out to the mound and calm Harris down. ``He was trying to rattle me,'' Harris said of McLemore. ``He was trying to fire his guys up. So I yelled at him. I was just trying to get my guys going too.'' It was nothing personal, just a pennant race. And while it seems few people outside Anaheim and Arlington are paying attention Noun 1. paying attention - paying particular notice (as to children or helpless people); "his attentiveness to her wishes"; "he spends without heed to the consequences" attentiveness, heed, regard , it's still the only race for a division title up for grabs. The Angels and Rangers begin a three-game series tonight at Edison Field that could decide who goes to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of to face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs, and who goes home. The Angels will finish up the regular season with four games in Oakland while the Rangers play four in Seattle. ``We've played 155 games to come into (tonight),'' Angels manager Terry Collins said. ``A lot of days we've sat in here and talked about looking at the scoreboard and worrying about what the Rangers are doing or who they're playing. Now it's in our yard, it's in our hands. That's the way you want to play.'' The Angels and Rangers begin the series tied at 83-72, but the Rangers have an advantage in knowing they swept the Angels in a two-game series last week in Arlington. The Rangers beat the Angels' two most effective pitchers - Chuck Finley Steven William (Steve) Sparks (born July 2, 1965 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a knuckleball-throwing right-handed former Major League Baseball pitcher, who graduated from Sam Houston State University in 1987. - and won the second game after trailing 4-0. It's the Rangers' lineup, led by Juan Gonzalez, that puts a scare into any pitching staff. But tonight, the Angels have more to contend with than the Rangers hitters. Todd Stottlemyre TALE OF THE TAPE Head-to-head: Angels lead season series 5-4 Days in first place: Angels 80; Rangers 95 Team batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. (through Saturday): Angels: .274 (tied for sixth in AL); Rangers: .288 (first in AL) Team ERA: Angels: 4.48 (sixth in AL); Rangers: 5.02 (12th in AL) Fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player handles a batted or thrown ball properly. : Angels: .984 (third in AL); Rangers: .980 (ninth in AL) PITCHING MATCHUPS Tonight (7:05 p.m.): Steve Sparks (9-3, 4.42 ERA) vs. Todd Stottlemyre (4-4, 4.89) Tuesday (7:05): Chuck Finley (11-8, 4.42) vs. Rick Helling (19-7, 4.54) Wednesday (7:35): Ken Hill (9-5, 5.12) vs. John Burkett (8-13, 5.87) Note: All three games on Fox Sports West. CAPTION(S): 2 Boxes BOX: (1) TALE OF THE TAPE (see text) (2) DOWN TO THE WIRE The Angels and Texas Rangers are locked in a battle for the AL West crown. They play each other three times before the end of the season. |
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