Angels look to end regular-season road campaign on an upbeat

The Rogers Centre's retractible roof with be open Thursday night when the Angels take the field in Toronto for their final road game of the season.

The regular season, that is. Because the Angels begin play just 2 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League wild-card race with seven games to play.

The division race is pretty much over. The Angels trail the Texas Rangers by five games and would have to go unbeaten the rest of the way while hoping Texas loses twice just to force a tie atop the American League West. That's not likely to happen.

But the Red Sox have been coming back to the Angels for quite some time. While Mike Scioscia's team was winning 12 of 19 in September, Boston was losing 15 of 21. The Tampa Bay Rays are also tied with the Angels, 2 1/2 games behind the idle Red Sox, with seven to play. Tampa Bay plays the Yankees on Thursday in New York.

The Angels will be glad to get home no matter how Thursday's road finale goes. That's because they have gone 11-15 in their last 26 road games and are just two games over .500 on the road overall. At Angel Stadium, however, they've gone 44-31.

Ervin Santana will take the ball for the Angels hoping to snap a personal three-game losing streak. He's gone 19 innings, giving up 13 runs -- 10 earned -- in those three starts.

The lineups:

Angels

SS -- Erick Aybar

2B -- Howie Kendrick

DH -- Bobby Abreu

RF -- Torii Hunter

1B -- Mark Trumbo

3B -- Alberto Callaspo

LF-- Vernon Wells

CF -- Peter Bourjos

C -- Bobby Wilson

P -- Ervin Santana

Toronto Blue Jays

SS -- Mike McCoy

LF -- Eric Thames

DH -- Jose Bautista

1B -- Adam Lind

3B -- Edwin Encarnacion

2B -- Kelly Johnson

CF -- Colby Rasmus

C -- Jose Molina

RF -- Adam Loewen

P -- Henderson Alvarez

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-- Kevin Baxter in Toronto

Photo: Manager Mike Scioscia celebrates an Angels victory on September 18. Credit: Steve Ruark / Getty Images.