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... 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... 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... 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... 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

BOSTON The Angels have arrived in Boston and manager Mike Scioscia met briefly with the media at a mostly-dark Fenway Park. Scioscia said there will be no lineup changes for Sunday’s Game 3. That means: 3B Chone Figgins RF Bobby Abreu CF Torii Hunter DH Vladimir Guerrero 1B Kendry Morales LF Juan Rivera 2B Maicer Izturis C  Mike Napoli SS Erick Aybar LHP Scott Kazmir Red Sox manager Terry [...] Read Full Story

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jamie Walker was fined by the commissioner's office Thursday for criticizing umpire Angel Hernandez. Hernandez called a balk on Walker during the seventh inning of Tuesday night's 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Camden Yards when the left-hander appeared to pick off Maicer Izturis. Three batters later, Kendry Morales hit a two-run double for a 7-4 lead. "It's a (terrible) call," Walker said. "I don't know if the guy's got something against me or what, but no... Read Full Story

There's Garret Anderson , Torii , Vlad , and... Mike Napoli ! The Los Angeles Angels catcher is leading the club with 10 homers after nailing two on Sunday to drive in a career-high five runs in the Halos’ 10-2 victory over the cross-town Dodgers . His 10 bombs equal the number between Anderson and Hunter and are six more than the slumping Guerrero. Why are his 23 RBIs so impressive? Napoli has only played in 27 of the team's 46 games, since he's sharing backstop duties with Jeff Mathis... Read Full Story

ANAHEIM Maicer Izturis’ clutch two-out, tie-breaking RBI single shouldn’t have come as any big surprise. A career .278 hitter (regular season), the diminutive Angels infielder gets big in the clutch — he is a .327 hitter with runners in scoring position. It’s not by accident, either. “I look at video and see how pitchers pitch when they have runners in scoring position,” [...] Read Full Story

Vladimir Guerrero has a torn muscle in his chest and will miss at least a month. The Angels sent the slugger to Los Angeles on Friday to be examined by noted team orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum, who found Guerrero's pectoral tear. An MRI test the day before showed a strain. Manager Mike Scioscia said before the game at Minnesota that Guerrero would be re-evaluated again in a month, but expressed optimism for his recovery and said he can heal without surgery. Guerrero hadn't played in the field... Read Full Story