Angels Win It Going Away

If this summer turns out to be a farewell tour for Angels fan favorites Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad and Adam Kennedy, Salmon provided an early going-away present Saturday.

Salmon opened the door for the Angels’ offensive attack -- hitting a solo home run in the second inning -- and the rest of the team stormed through, pounding the Rangers in a 10-3 victory at Angel Stadium that ended a three-game slide.

“I’m taking it all in a lot more,” said Salmon, who has announced this is his final year. “I’m breaking down the rest of the season and realizing it’s coming up close.”

With the win, the Angels again slipped past Texas and back into second place in the AL West and remained three games behind the first-place Oakland A’s.

“Our offense has had some lulls and we needed to come out and swing the bat well and Tim got us started,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

And once they started, they didn’t stop.

After striking out with runners on first and second in his two previous at-bats, Juan Rivera hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning and added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Garret Anderson finished with three runs batted in and two hits.

The impact of Rivera and Anderson nullified Texas Manager Buck Showalter’s attempt to take away Vladimir Guerrero’s bat.

Guerrero, the only Angel not to have a hit, walked three times intentionally and four overall, but he came around to score on three of those passes.

His streak of 44 games with a hit against Texas came to an end, but it was hardly the fault of the slugger.

“It’s happened to me in the past, it’s not frustrating at all,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “It’s just part of the game.”

The four walks tied a franchise record set by Salmon against Kansas City on Aug. 30, 2001.

The crowd applauded, mostly sarcastically, in the eighth, when Rangers catcher Rod Barajas finally crouched during a Guerrero at-bat, signifying that Showalter had finally relented.

Guerrero drove the ball into right field and, after originally misjudging the play, Mark DeRosa made a circus catch, pinning the ball against his glove and jersey while falling toward the outfield wall.

The Angels, in need of a strong start a day after learning ace Bartolo Colon is probably out for the year and John Lackey failed to get out of the fifth inning, received one from Ervin Santana.

Santana pitched eight strong innings, pounding the strike zone and staying in front of hitters, while striking out five and giving up two earned runs and five hits.

He briefly flirted with trouble in the fifth inning, after Gary Matthews Jr. singled to center to bring in DeRosa and Ian Kinsler. But Santana then coaxed Michael Young into a groundout, ending the inning and the threat.

“I feel bad for Bartolo because we need him, but we have to keep going and do our jobs,” said Santana, who improved to 12-5 with a 4.09 earned-run average. “Our starting pitchers have to keep pitching the way we’ve been pitching.”

For Kennedy, Erstad and Salmon, the plan is to keep tight in hopes of one last pennant run together.

While Kennedy can glance to his left on most nights and see his apparent heir in Howie Kendrick at first base, and free agency or retirement looms for Erstad as he slowly heals from an inflamed right ankle joint, Salmon has idled on the bench, appearing in only six of the team’s previous 30 games.

But on a 1-1 fastball from John Koronka (7-7) in the second inning, Salmon dusted the concerns aside, igniting the offense with his seventh home run of the season and 297th of his career.

With much of August and all of September remaining, Salmon could gain additional opportunities down the stretch and a chance to reach the milestone of 300 homers.

“I’m aware of it, but I don’t have my eye on it that much that I’m going up there swinging for it,” Salmon said. “I’m aware of my playing time and the bigger picture of what it all means.”