Angels’ Justin Speier brings the beach to the clubhouse

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Angels reliever Justin Speier isn’t on the playoff roster, but he pitched in Thursday, doing his comic best to lighten the mood in the clubhouse.

As the Angels dressed for their afternoon workout, Speier barged in, looking as if he had come directly from the beach, wearing a red-and-black wetsuit and black flippers, carrying a red-and-white surfboard and bellowing aloud.

‘Is there practice today?’ Speier said. ‘I heard there was practice today.’

Angels reliever Scot Shields challenged Speier to go out on the field and shag fly balls while wearing the flippers. Manager Mike Scioscia was amused, to a point.

‘Your next set of flippers are gonna be made of cement,’ Scioscia said.

-- Bill Shaikin