Angels lose, 4-3, but give young players opportunity to grow

It was Family Day in Anaheim on Sunday, which meant that kids got to take the field after the game.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia apparently wasn’t willing to wait until then, however. So he sent some of his kids onto the field during the game, starting four rookies against the Chicago White Sox. And the quartet combined for five hits, four strikeouts and two errors, one of which led to a costly unearned run in a 4-3 White Sox win.

Chalk that up as the cost of progress.

“We had a lot of young guys on that field, and there’s going to be some growing pains. I think we saw them this afternoon,” Scioscia said. “[But] they need to get into a major league game. It’s important for their growth.

“All the stuff that separates the major leagues from triple A, those guys need to experience it. See how their talent plays and move forward.”

Certainly the Angels are moving forward — or at least trying to. Eliminated from playoff contention last week, the team will spend the season’s final week preparing for next year. And that means auditioning youngsters who have spent the last five months in the minors.

That doesn’t figure to be a smooth process.

“With the growth of a player, there’s going to be bumps in the road,” Scioscia said.

But there’s also going to be progress. On Sunday, first-year players Hank Conger and Peter Bourjos each collected two hits and rookie shortstop Andrew Romine, who has been in the majors just four days, got his first big league single.

Romine also made his first two big league errors. But even that counts as a step forward in the learning process.

“There’s a lot of mystery when you come up here,” Romine said. “So your first [at-bat] or your first couple of innings, it’s in your head more. You think it’s going to be so much different. But once you get through it, you realize it’s just the same game that you’ve been playing 24 years.

“You make it out to be a lot more difficult than it should be. Just keep it simple and everything will kind of fall into place.”

Unfortunately something else that fell into place Sunday was Mark Kotsay’s second-inning popup that Romine lost in the sun — though the rookie refused to make excuses.

“I’m not blaming anything,” he said. “I dropped it.”

And though that led to an unearned run that helped cost Jered Weaver (13-12) a chance at the victory, even the hard-luck loser said he got a kick out of Family Day.

“Things aren’t always going to go your way with things like that,” said Weaver, who was staked to a 3-0 first-inning lead but couldn’t hold it.

“But this time of the year, when the playoff chances are done, it’s fun to give those guys a chance. I was one of those young guys at one time, and I was just itching to get out there too.

“It’s fun to see those guys work. But you know they’ve got some pressure on them too.”

Izturis, Aybar on the mend

Injured infielders Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar took batting practice and ran the bases Sunday, and Scioscia said he hopes to have both back in the lineup by the middle of the week.

“Izzy and Erick are ready to go,” Scioscia said. “They should be available unless they come out of [Sunday] a little stiff.”

Izturis, who has made three trips to the disabled list with arm problems, hasn’t played in five weeks while Aybar sat out the last 11 games because of a groin injury the team originally thought would require surgery.

Short hops

Bobby Abreu’s first-inning double was his 40th two-base hit of the season. Combine that with his 20 home runs and 23 stolen bases and this marks his fifth 40-20-20 season. No other player in history has reached that trifecta more than three times.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com