Time is running out on Angels after 8-3 loss to Orioles

There is no clock in baseball. But there is a calendar.

And right now it's working against the Angels, who moved a day closer to the end of the season but no nearer the division lead while dropping an 8-3 decision to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

The Angels entered the weekend trailing the Texas Rangers in the American League West by 3 1/2 games with 13 to play. No AL team has ever overcome such a large deficit with so few games remaining although it has happened in the National League, a fact Angels Manager Mike Scioscia took solace in.

"So it’s doable, right?" he asked rhetorically. "Our focus right now is to win ballgames. And if we win games and get to a certain point ... we're going to reach our goal.

"We don’t have the great luxury of a lot of do-overs right now. We have to play at a high level all the way. And we’re capable of doing that."

They didn't do it Friday, losing for the third time in five games.  And it was an former Ranger, right-hander Tommy Hunter (3-3), who had a lot to do with that, shutting out the Angels on seven hits over seven innings to increase his chances of getting a generous playoff share from his former teammates. Meanwhile Angels starter Dan Haren, coming off a four-hit shutout against the Yankees, couldn't get past the sixth inning.

Haren (15-9) gave up seven runs and seven hits, including a home run and double to Mark Reynolds, who came into the game hitless in his last 20 at-bats. And things didn't get much better once Haren left, with reliever Tyler Chatwood throwing his third pitch to the backstop, surrendering another run.

That's still better than what happened two pitches later when Nolan Reimold, a late addition to the Baltimore lineup, drove a Chatwood offering into the left-field seats for a two-run homer to give the Orioles an 8-0 lead.

An inning later Scioscia pulled eight starters, giving the contest the feel of a spring training game -- which could be the next time the Angels are even in the standings with the Rangers. Four of those substitutes were responsible for the Angels' runs with catcher Hank Conger hitting a two-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole with one out in the ninth inning, scoring Efren Navarro ahead of him. Alexi Amarista then battled through a 13-pitch at-bat before doubling in Gil Velasquez an out later.

In addition to Reynolds, whose home run was his 33rd of the season, Robert Andino had two hits and scored twice for Baltimore. Shortstop J.J. Hardy had two hits and three runs batted in, Reimold scored twice to go with his two RBIs and former Angel Vladimir Guerrero had two hits.

Erick Aybar, Torii Hunter and Alberto Callaspo had multi-hit games for the Angels.

MORE:

Angels-Orioles box score

Starting pitchers could make Angels tough in playoffs

Mike Scioscia sees improvement in 2012 MLB schedule

-- Kevin Baxter reporting from Baltimore

Photo: Angels starter Dan Haren delivers a pitch against the Orioles in the first inning Friday night in Baltimore. Credit: Joe Giza / Reuters

Angels chasing history as well as Rangers

After a day off, part of which was spent traveling from Oakland to Baltimore, the Angels resumed their pursuit of the division-leading Texas Rangers on Friday, sending Dan Haren to the mound against the Orioles in the opener of a three-games series.

But the Angels, who began the day trailing Texas by 3 1/2 games in the American League West, aren't chasing just the Rangers. They're chasing history as well since no AL team has ever overcome a 3 1/2-game deficit in the final 13 games to win a division or league title, according to Stats LLC.

It's been done five times in the National League since 1964, most recently by the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers also erased a 3 1/2-game deficit to win the NL title in 1965, a year after the St. Louis Cardinals pulled off the greatest pennant-race chase in history, overcoming a 6 1/2-game deficit in the final 13 games to edge out Philadelphia.

"So it's doable," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "But that doesn't change our focus. We need to win games."

That is what Haren has done in his last two starts. In his most recent outing, in Anaheim, the right-hander shut out the New York Yankees on four hits, raising his season record to 15-8. What's more, he's unbeaten in Baltimore, going 3-0 with 2.43 ERA in five career starts while holding the Orioles to a .193 average.

The lineups:

Dean Lombardi: Kings have made their best offer to Drew Doughty

 

General Manager Dean Lombardi said Friday the Kings have made their “best” offer to restricted free agent defenseman Drew Doughty and will proceed through training camp without him.

“We all know he’s a lively kid. He loves to play. He brings life to your room, let alone what type of player he is,” Lombardi said Friday after the remaining players underwent physical exams and fitness testing at the team’s El Segundo practice facility.

“That said, we have to move on here and focus on what we have, and we have a good team.

“At some point he’s going to be a King. He’s going to be a King a long time. It’s a bump in the road, but for the short and long term there’s no doubt that this is the right thing in terms of what we have out there.”

Players are paid on the basis of a 275-day season, including training camp. Lombardi said he had not decided if he will reduce Doughty’s eventual salary based on how many days the defenseman misses, though that's a condition Lombardi can put on the table depending on the nature and tone of future talks.

The Kings have offered Doughty an average of $6.8 million a year and were open to durations of six to eight years and to putting the 21-year-old defenseman’s average annual salary on a par with first-line center Anze Kopitar, an older and more proven player. But Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, is believed to be requesting an average of $7 million -- and here’s where it gets complicated.

John Schmitt is reunited with Super Bowl ring after 40 years

 

It's not the "Heart of the Ocean," the fictitious blue diamond that Kate Winslet threw into the ocean in "Titanic," but to former New York Jets center John Schmitt, the jewel that was recently discovered off the shores of Waikiki is of even more value.

A few years after winning the Super Bowl in 1969, Schmitt went on vacation to Hawaii. When he emerged from the water after five hours of surfing, Schmitt realized he had lost his prized Super Bowl ring.

He immediately jumped back into the water.

"I got a snorkel and some flippers and I went out and I dove until I was blue," Schmitt told Hawaii News Now. "I'm not kidding you. It must have been three hours I was out there looking. I couldn't find it anywhere. I was just exhausted. I virtually could not swim or flip my legs anymore and I just went in broken-hearted."

Schmitt, who played for the Jets from 1964 to 1973 before ending his career with the Green Bay Packers in 1974, had assumed the ring was lost for good.

But John Ernstberg, a Waikiki lifeguard, had found the ring in the water and stored it away in a box. When he and his wife passed away, their belongings went to Ernstberg's great-niece, Cindy Saffery, and her husband.

They had the ring examined and determined it was a real Super Bowl ring, now worth about $10,000. Instead of going after a profit, they contacted the Jets.

"It's a legacy," Samuel Saffery explained. "This is not something that you just can buy off the street. This is something that you earn, so for Mr. Schmitt he earned this ring. So by right it'll make me feel good to put it personally back into his hand."

When Schmitt heard the news, he offered to fly the couple from Hawaii to New York to thank them in person.

"That that ring was found is a bloody miracle," he said. "It really is a miracle, you know."

-- Melissa Rohlin

Photo credit: Julio Cortez / Associated Press

Practice Time for Injured Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There seemed to be promising developments for the banged-up Giants at practice Friday, with defensive end Justin Tuck and receiver Hakeem Nicks participating in individual drills. Even Osi Umenyiora looked good.

Both Tuck and Nicks have asserted that they would play on Monday night when the Giants host the St. Louis Rams. Umenyiora is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Aug. 19 that was expected to sideline him three to four weeks.

Tuck, who has been bothered by a neck injury, sat out the Giants’ 28-14 loss to the Washington Redskins in their season-opener on Sunday. Nicks bruised a bone in his left knee in that game.

Umenyiora worked off to the side with a member of the Giants’ staff during practice. Umenyiora had been limited to riding a stationary bike, but on Friday, he practiced exploding out of a three-point stance. He had an ice pack on his knee afterward.

Meanwhile, the N.F.L. fined safety Kenny Phillips $10,000 for an illegal hit he made on Redskins tight end Fred Davis on Sunday. On the play, Phillips hit Davis high after Davis caught a pass over the middle in the third quarter.

Hats off to Ron Dennis

Reassuring to note that some sectors of our economy are still going from strength to strength. 24hrs after announcing a five-year partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, McLaren this morning unveiled plans to build a vast new McLaren Applied Technology centre adjacent to its existing headquarters in Woking.

MAT, for those who don't know, is the part of the McLaren Group responsible for taking the company's know-how into non-motorsport sectors.

The new building, we are told, will consist of "60,000 square metres of workshops, prototype manufacturing and testing space, research and development equipment, offices, meeting spaces, innovation hubs and informal break-out spaces."

It will mean 300 jobs during the construction phase and 400 permanent jobs once the new site has been built. McLaren also claim that an additional 200 jobs will be created indirectly through manufacturing, suppliers and clients, and increased retail spend in the area.

Whatever you think of Ron Dennis, you have to say hats off to the man. Impressive.

“This is an incredibly exciting time not just for McLaren but also for the local economy and the UK’s technology innovation sector," Dennis said in a statement. "Our recent announcement regarding our new long-term strategic partnership with GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] is evidence of the demand and growth potential of this sector.

“By dedicating a part of this proposed new building to education and training, we’ll be able to train the young engineering talent of the future as well as create pioneering solutions to a wide range of problems. As part of this planning application we’re also investigating, with Woking Borough Council, opportunities for establishing a physical presence for McLaren in the town centre, allowing the community to feel part of the success enjoyed by McLaren.”

LSU football is making some noise

 

LSU had 15 tackles for a loss and held the Bulldogs to 193 total yards and two field goals in a 19-6 victory against No. 25 Mississippi State Thursday evening.

It was LSU's 12th consecutive victory against Mississippi State in the series dating to 1999.

With the win, the Tigers proved that they could beat a team with one of the best rushing attacks in college football. And with the win against Oregon, they proved that they could beat one of the fastest teams in college football.

Next up: West Virginia, a team with an elite passing game.

If they defeat the Mountaineers on Sept. 24, they will further prove that they have one of the best defenses in college football.  

LSU Coach Les Miles knows that defense is undoubtedly the key to their success.

After Thursday's game, he said to reporters, "I told the team the defense needed to come in and play the way they did to have the success that we came to have and they did. I felt like the intensity of the defense was strong and that really ended up being the tale of the day."

If they keep that up, it could be the tale of the season.

ALSO:

USC struggling to put up points

Video: Gary Klein previews USC-Syracuse

Trojans play most 'academically prestigious schedule'

-- Melissa Rohlin

Photo: LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee pitches the ball to his backfield on Thursday. Credit: Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press