Verdict Comes In: Not Dirty

Oakland center fielder Jay Payton’s jolting, feet-first, sliding tag into Maicer Izturis as the Angel runner went head-first into second base in the fourth inning Wednesday night may have ruffled a few Angel fans, and even Izturis admitted, through a translator, that it “didn’t appear to be a clean play” to those watching.

But neither Izturis nor the Angels thought it was dirty.

“It was an aggressive play,” said Izturis, who suffered a bruised right thigh, scratches on both arms and was unavailable Thursday night. “Payton told me later, when he got to third base, that his intention was to go feet-first if I did, but I changed direction to the bag. He felt bad that he went in feet-first. He apologized.”

It was an odd play. Shortstop Marco Scutaro and second baseman Mark Ellis pursued Izturis’ bloop that dropped in shallow center to score Darin Erstad with what turned out to be the winning run in the Angels’ 2-1 victory.

When Oakland first baseman Dan Johnson failed to cover second, Izturis tried to stretch the hit into a double. Payton grabbed the ball and sprinted about 60 feet to second.

“I didn’t want to go head-first because if he goes feet-first, I get spiked,” Payton said. “I guess [Izturis] wasn’t thinking about that because he went head-first. I thought I might have broken his arm. Fortunately, he was OK.”

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said Payton’s intent “was clean,” and Erstad, who played center field for several seasons, saw nothing wrong with the play.

“I’ve played center field in a lot of games and thought of every possible scenario you could prepare for, and I guarantee you [Payton] was not prepared for that situation,” Erstad said. “It was a complete reaction play. Nothing was premeditated.”

Izturis said he learned a valuable lesson.

“A lot of people said I should slide feet-first,” Izturis said. “I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just trying to get to the base.”

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Scioscia said he probably will juggle his rotation this month so that his two hottest pitchers, Bartolo Colon and John Lackey, can remain on regular rest and possibly start on three days’ rest the final week of the season. That means Jarrod Washburn, Ervin Santana and Paul Byrd could be pushed back or skipped at times.

“We want to give Bart and Lackey as many starts as we can,” Scioscia said.

Said Byrd: “At this point, you do whatever it takes to win. You put selfishness aside and do what the captain of the ship says.”

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Kelvim Escobar will look to regain the command of his fastball when he makes his third rehabilitation start for triple-A Salt Lake tonight. Escobar, who will be limited to about 75 pitches, is expected to join the Angel bullpen for the upcoming trip to Boston, Chicago and Seattle.

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Despite an August tear that left Kendry Morales with a .299 average, 17 home runs and 52 runs batted in in 69 games for double-A Arkansas, Scioscia said the Angels don’t plan on recalling the Cuban defector this month. But the switch-hitter is scheduled to play for the Angels’ Arizona Fall League team in October, an indication the Angels are considering him a candidate for designated hitter next spring. Prospects Jered Weaver (pitcher), Brandon Wood (shortstop) and Mike Napoli (catcher) are also scheduled to play in the fall league.... The Angels released right-handed pitcher Brett Prinz.