Angels Hope to Rise in the East

The Angels tonight begin their traditional August trip to the East Coast, where the playoff hopes of so many Angel teams before them have come to die.

Nine games in Toronto, New York and Boston could define this season, marking the Angels as true contenders because they beat top teams on the road with so much at stake or as also-rans because they succumbed to the pressure of such games.

All of which Angel Manager Mike Scioscia considers and says: So?

“We’re facing some tough clubs--we know that,” Scioscia said. “But I really believe, and you guys might think I’m shooting a line, that it’s not who or where you’re playing but how you’re playing.

“You can really see how this club does when all the pieces are put together. That’s where our focus is, and I know that will keep us in the right direction in the long run.”

Many of those pieces--solid starting pitching, excellent relief, timely hitting--but not all, came together when the Angels won four of six from the Red Sox and Yankees at home.

Injuries and excessive workloads have left the bullpen ragged, and Angel leadoff batter Darin Erstad has struggled, going six for 33 in his last eight games.

“The bats have been pretty alive with the exception of me; I kind of stink,” Erstad said. “To take two of three from those teams when you’re not firing on all cylinders is an accomplishment. Hopefully that will give us a boost on this trip.”

A bigger boost would be if the Angels’ young pitchers, all facing pennant-race pressure for the first time, can provide consistent quality starts.

“The atmosphere will be more electric than they’re used to, and it will be a good test,” Scioscia said. “But from the start of spring training, we’ve stressed that the most important thing is executing pitches.

“Whether you’re in a hostile park with 40,000 fans screaming at you and the umpire not giving you the outside corner or in a Cactus League game trying to make the club, you have to grasp the ability to execute pitches. That will get them through some tough situations.”

*

Scioscia was recently asked if he thought Shigetoshi Hasegawa could be an effective closer even though the Japanese right-hander, filling in for injured Troy Percival, doesn’t have “closer stuff.”

“Shige has hit 92 mph with his fastball and has an excellent forkball and slider,” Scioscia said. “Ninety-two may not be that much, but Shige is all about command and locating pitches. He’s very resilient, and his stuff is very good. Velocity is just one part of the equation.”

Hasegawa’s forkball is actually a pitch the Japanese call a “Shuto,” a combination forkball/changeup/screwball that fades down and away to left-handed batters, some of whom have been baffled by the pitch.

“If Shige was Italian,” Scioscia joked, “he’d call it a Prosciutto.”

*

With left-hander David Wells starting for Toronto tonight and left-handers Denny Neagle and Andy Pettitte scheduled to pitch in New York, Scioscia will likely shuffle his batting order as he did against Neagle on Saturday.

With Troy Glaus moving from sixth to second, Mo Vaughn and Tim Salmon switching in the third and fourth spots and Ron Gant batting fifth, the Angels ripped Neagle for six runs in 1 2/3 innings, improving their record in games against left-handed starters to 16-19.

“A big part of it is who is directly ahead and behind you,” Scioscia said. “It’s not so much whether you’re hitting third or fourth, fifth or sixth, it’s who’s protecting you. We’d been talking about this for two weeks or so. I still think our original lineup will be the most productive, but we’re not afraid to reorganize things.”

ON DECK

* Opponent--Toronto Blue Jays, two games.

* Site--SkyDome, Toronto.

* Today--4 PDT.

* TV--None.

* Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Records--Angels 61-57, Blue Jays 61-59.

* Record vs. Blue Jays--3-4.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

MATT WISE

(0-1, 2.70 ERA)

vs.

BLUE JAYS’

DAVID WELLS

(17-4, 4.14 ERA)

* Update--The Blue Jays are 13-19 since the All-Star break, and their ace pitcher has cooled along with them. After starting 15-2 with a 3.44 earned-run average, including a streak of eight consecutive victories, Wells is 2-2 with a 6.46 ERA in his last six starts. The Blue Jays rank 12th in the league in ERA (5.46), but a prolific offense that leads the league in home runs and features most-valuable-player award candidate Carlos Delgado (.362, 34 homers, 106 RBIs) and powerful third baseman Tony Batista (.291, 34 homers, 94 RBIs) has kept them in the playoff hunt. With an RBI single Sunday, Erstad became only the second leadoff batter in 27 years to reach 80 RBIs. Nomar Garciaparra had 98 RBIs from the leadoff spot for Boston in 1997.

* Wednesday, 4 p.m.--Scott Schoeneweis (6-6, 4.92) vs. Steve Trachsel (6-11, 4.77).