Bullpen Roles Hard to Define

Ben Weber pitched a scoreless seventh inning Sunday in a setup capacity in front of Brendan Donnelly and Troy Percival. Francisco Rodriguez pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings of mop-up duty Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Could that mean Weber has reclaimed his old setup role and Rodriguez has been relegated to less important endeavors?

Hardly. When it comes to the Angel bullpen, pitching coach Bud Black said, it’s best not to analyze this or read too much into that. With the exception of closer Percival and setup man Donnelly, the bullpen is an assortment of interchangeable parts.

“We use all our guys how we see fit, and all those guys are capable of pitching late in the game,” Black said. “Every game is a different story based on what happened the previous day or the previous day before that or what’s going on tomorrow. So it’s tough to identify in black and white who’s going to pitch when.

“But our guys are professional enough to know that when they get the ball, regardless of the score or the situation, their job is to go out there and get outs.”

The Angel bullpen leads the American League with a 2.87 earned-run average, and no one has been more effective than Donnelly. The right-hander has given up one earned run in 33 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.27 ERA and has stranded all 14 inherited runners.

“You can’t say enough about what he’s done,” Weber said. “Until we all start pitching like that, it’s going to be a crapshoot. But right now I feel that I’m throwing the ball extremely well, and they probably know that, and that’s probably why they put me in the other night.”

Weber would like his old setup role back -- “I want to be the guy they go to in tight situations,” he said -- but realizes the only thing he can do is continue to excel. He has surrendered only two runs over his last 15 innings for a 1.20 ERA during that stretch.

Rodriguez recently has regained the form that made him famous during the 2002 postseason, giving up no runs over his last 7 1/3 innings.

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David Eckstein hit soft toss and could return to the starting lineup tonight for the series finale against Philadelphia, Manager Mike Scioscia said. The shortstop has not started since June 5 after his left hand was bruised by a line drive in the batting cage.

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The crowd of 34,037 pushed the Angels’ season total at Edison Field to more than 1 million faster than in any season except 1983, when the club also drew 1 million over its first 29 home games. The Angels are on pace to break the record for home attendance set in 1982, when they drew 2,807,360 to Anaheim Stadium.