Rodriguez Gets Record in Win

The Angels may have been eliminated from postseason play earlier in the week, but don’t try to tell closer Francisco Rodriguez that Saturday’s game was meaningless.

With his team rallying from a five-run deficit against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium, Rodriguez came on in the ninth to record the save, a club-record and league-leading 47th, in a 7-6 Angels victory.

Rodriguez struck out the side, getting the last batter, Marco Scutaro, on a called third strike, to break the single-season team record set by Bryan Harvey in 1991.

Then, as his teammates raced out to congratulate him, the 24-year-old Rodriguez stood on the mound, staring at the sky.

“I was thinking of my dad,” Rodriguez said. “He passed away 10 years ago. I wanted to get this for him.”

Said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia: “Frankie takes a lot of pride in what he does. He’s had an incredible year. Maybe he can even add to what he’s done in the future. Who knows?”

The Angels overtook the A’s with a four-run eighth keyed by a two-run single by Chone Figgins, batting fourth in the lineup Saturday.

It was the Angels’ fourth consecutive win, third straight over the AL West-champion A’s in this series and ninth victory in their last 11 games overall.

Angels starter Joe Saunders had to leave the game in the first inning after suffering a bruised right calf on a sharp grounder back to the mound.

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They are at opposite ends of the baseball spectrum, separated in age by 11 years, in big league experience by 13 seasons, and, in terms of career memories, enough to last a lifetime.

Tim Salmon, 38, is saying good-bye this weekend, his every move watched and applauded by the crowd.

Who else could get a standing ovation for bringing the lineup card to home plate Saturday night as Salmon did?

Tommy Murphy, 27 is trying to say hello, a rookie hoping he will leave a positive impression in the minds of the Angels’ brain trust over the winter as they plan for 2007.

Salmon’s goal is more immediate. He would like to leave a final memory of his circling the bases after hitting one more home run. Already the club’s all-time leader in that department, Salmon is stuck on 299. The nice, round number of 300 looks a lot better to him.

To help Salmon achieve that goal, Scioscia moved him up to second in the batting order Saturday night, hoping to perhaps squeeze out one more at-bat for him.

It didn’t help. Salmon went one for four with a single.

Salmon also played right field Saturday night, only the third time he has been allowed to trade in his DH spot for an outfield position all season.

He got another standing ovation when he came off the field at the start of the eighth inning.

The only number on Murphy’s mind is the amount of games he can play for the Angels next season and beyond.

With that goal always in mind, Murphy was in right field Friday night when Oakland’s Jason Kendall sliced a line drive down the line.

In a meaningless game for the Angels, with no chance the ball would curve fair and almost no chance of catching it, a wiser, older outfielder might not have risked injury in futile pursuit.

Not Murphy.

He never let up until he slid into the railing, his face smashing up against the padding, his right knee banging into an exposed section of concrete, causing a bruise that kept him out of Saturday’s game.

“Sitting on the bench,” Scioscia said, “you just knew he was going to give it his all and dive. He will do the same thing in an outfield drill in spring training. That’s what draws you to a kid like that. He goes full out all the time.”

It’s a reputation Murphy, whose offensive skills have yet to match his defense, treasures.

“I’ve been known to keep going on a play,” he said.

Murphy’s law: “It’s a lot easier to sleep at night,” he said, “if you know you didn’t stop trying for a ball rather than pulling up and thinking later, ‘What if I would have kept going?’ ”

Salmon and Murphy, two right fielders passing in the night, one with his legacy assured, the other with nothing assured.

steve.springer@latimes.com