Maicer Izturis

Kendry Morales homered and drove in three runs, and the Los Angeles Angels wasted no time clinching their third straight AL West title with an 11-0 victory over the second-place Texas Rangers on Monday night. Ervin Santana pitched a seven-hitter for his fourth career shutout, while Maicer Izturis had three hits and two RBIs to wrap up the Angels' sixth playoff berth in eight seasons. Los Angeles (92-64) will open at home in the best-of-five first round next week — most likely against Boston, a familiar nemesis. The Red Sox need one win or a Texas loss to earn the AL wild card. Needing ... Read Full Story

Joe Saunders won his fourth straight start, Bobby Abreu drove in two runs without the benefit of a hit and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox 7-1 on Friday night. Saunders (13-7) allowed just three hits over seven innings, struck out three and retired his final 15 batters after Jayson Nix homered leading off the third. The left-hander has a 1.85 ERA over his last four outings, after a stretch of eight starts in which he was 1-3 with a 9.63 ERA. Vladimir Guerrero and Maicer Izturis each had two RBIs as the Angels' fourth straight win and seventh in eight ... Read Full Story

Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer to cap an eight-run second inning and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-3 Friday night. Jered Weaver won his first career appearance against Arizona, Maicer Izturis doubled and tripled, driving in two runs and scoring two, and Bobby Abreu had two hits and two RBIs while helping the Angels to a season high for runs. Kendry Morales and Juan Rivera also had two hits apiece as the Angels (39-32) improved to a major league-best 12-4 in interleague play with only two games against Arizona remaining. Weaver (8-3) gave up three runs and four hits in ... Read Full Story

Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter , together at last. The Los Angeles Angels agreed to a five-year, $90 million deal Wednesday with the 32-year-old free agent, who hit .297 with 28 homers and drove in 107 runs in his contract year with the Minnesota Twins . The seven-time Gold Glover will be their everyday center fielder and hit in the middle of the lineup, making things a whole lot more complicated for the opposition to pitch around Guerrero. Between Vlad, Torii, Garret Anderson and last year's center fielder, Gary Matthews, Jr. , manager Mike Scioscia plans to use his outfield depth to rotate players ... Read Full Story

NEW YORK Angels infielder Maicer Izturis didn’t poke his head out onto the field for long Thursday before heading to a warm shower. “Just like Venezuela, you know?” Izturis joked. It’s not likely Izturis’ native country gets many days like the cold and wet weather at Yankee Stadium for Thursday’s final workouts before the start of the ALCS [...] Read Full Story