After Cream Come Spoilers

The records and standings suggest the Angels are about to embark on the soft portion of their September schedule, their next 13 games coming against Seattle, Detroit, Texas and Tampa Bay, teams that are a combined 256-314 and 78 games out of first place.

But history suggests these next two weeks, beginning with tonight’s game against the Mariners in Safeco Field, will be no easier than the past week, when the Angels won four of six games against division leaders Boston and Chicago.

“They want to play spoiler, to make their presence felt,” first baseman Darin Erstad said. “What better way to do that than to knock off teams in the pennant race?”

Non-contenders that start prospects whom winning teams are unfamiliar with can sometimes be pests to those with playoff aspirations, and underachieving teams stocked with veterans playing with nothing to lose can be dangerous.

In the final three weeks of 2004, the Angels won only three of seven games against Seattle, which was 27 games out of first place entering September. Two weeks ago, the Angels were swept in a three-game series by the Devil Rays, who are 60-84 and 25 games out of first place but seemed to thrive on the spoiler role.

And the Mariners, who have a dangerous middle-of-the-order tandem in Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre, swept a four-game series against the Angels in July.

“You have guys trying to make an impression, who are getting a chance to play and to show what they can do,” Erstad said. “Plus, their lineup is still pretty darn good. They’ve been in a lot of games. By no means can we go through the motions.”

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The Angels have met with Francisco Rodriguez and asked him not to play winter ball in his native Venezuela again, but the Angel closer said Sunday that he still wants to pitch and will ask his agent, Paul Kinzer, to talk to the Angels in an effort to work out a compromise.

“Maybe they’ll let me pitch 10 or 15 innings,” said Rodriguez, who threw 45 innings in Venezuela before 2004 and 25 innings last winter. “I know for sure they don’t want me to pitch ... but I don’t want to sit at home for four months doing nothing.”

The Angels don’t want Rodriguez, who threw 86 innings in 2003 and 84 innings in 2004 as an Angel setup man, to put any unnecessary wear and tear on his arm, but the only way they can force him not to pitch in Venezuela is to sign him to a multiyear deal that includes such a clause.

Rodriguez, like many Latin American players, feels an obligation to play for his home-country fans, but the 23-year-old right-hander, who has 36 saves and a 2.72 earned-run average in 56 1/3 innings this season, also believes there are benefits to pitching winter ball.

“I think I need to do it to come to spring training in shape, ready to go,” Rodriguez said. “They’re scared I’m going to get hurt, and that makes sense. But if something is going to happen to me it’s going to happen. It doesn’t matter where.”

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Following the lead of teammate Vladimir Guerrero and Boston’s David Ortiz, Angel pitcher Bartolo Colon pledged $50,000 to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund Sunday. ... Erstad started at designated hitter because of a bruised left knee suffered when he crashed into a railing while catching a foul ball during the Angels’ last homestand, but he expects to return to first base tonight.