There’s Hope That Glaus Will Return

Troy Glaus has progressed from hitting off a tee to soft toss, fueling hope among the Angels that the slugger will return from shoulder surgery in late September but also providing another reminder of what the Angel offense, Thursday’s three-homer outburst notwithstanding, has been missing.

Chone Figgins and Robb Quinlan have filled in admirably for Glaus at third base, Figgins batting .292 and providing an element the Angels didn’t have -- speed -- and Quinlan hitting .344 with five homers and 23 runs batted in before suffering a torn abdominal muscle on his left side Tuesday.

But neither could come close to matching the power of Glaus, who hit an American League-leading 47 homers in 2000, 41 in 2001 and had 11 homers and 28 RBIs in 29 games before undergoing surgery on his right shoulder May 21.

The Angels, with Figgins, lead the league with 105 stolen bases -- Figgins has 26 of them -- but even with their three homers Thursday, they rank 10th in the league with 114 and 10th with 208 doubles.

The Angels also rank 13th with 325 walks and seventh in on-base percentage (.340), figures that probably would improve with Glaus, a selective swinger who drew 112 walks in 2000, 107 in 2002 and 88 in 2002, his last three full seasons.

“If there’s one thing offensively you can look at is our ability to drive the ball -- our ability to get the quick early strike with the home run -- has been diminished,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

” ... I still feel confident we’re scoring enough runs, but Troy’s presence would have been huge and would have added to our run production.”

Glaus, who is rehabilitating in Arizona, will be available only as a designated hitter if he returns this season.

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After two potentially harrowing appearances in Tampa Bay, in which he got the final out of Wednesday night’s win with the tying runs on base and got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth inning of Thursday’s 10-7 win over the Devil Rays, setup man Francisco Rodriguez relishes the thought of a similar outing or two against the New York Yankees this weekend.

“I love playing in Yankee Stadium -- hopefully I’ll have those situations in Yankee Stadium again,” Rodriguez said. “I want to once again prove that I can pitch in any stadium in any situation.”

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Bengie Molina should be ready to catch tonight or Saturday.... Left-hander Jarrod Washburn, out because of a strained ligament in his left rib cage, threw off the mound for about 10 minutes with no setbacks and could throw to hitters as early as Saturday.

ON DECK

Opponent -- New York Yankees, three games.

Site -- Yankee Stadium, New York.

TV -- Channel 9, all three games.

Radio -- KSPN (710), KTNQ (1020).

Records -- Angels 67-54, Yankees 76-44.

Record vs. Yankees -- 2-4.

Today, 4 p.m. -- Ramon Ortiz (3-7, 4.48) vs. Jon Lieber (9-7, 4.77).

Saturday, 10 a.m. -- Aaron Sele (7-1, 4.47) vs. Esteban Loaiza (9-6, 5.07).

Sunday, 10 a.m. -- Kelvim Escobar (7-9, 4.19) vs. Kevin Brown (9-2, 3.81).