By Pete Zarustica/Garden Grove Journal
When a Red-Hot Team meets a Pretty Darn Warm Squad, someone’s got to cool off.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are locked this week in an important three-game series between the top two teams in the American League West.
While the Angels have ridden their toasty way through road trips to second place in the AL West, the Rangers have been scorching everyone and rolled into Anaheim with a 4.5-game lead in the division.
On Tuesday Bobby Abreu hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels overcame Vladimir Guerrero’s homer and three RBIs in his return to Angel Stadium for a 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Abreu delivered with a full count and two outs in the sixth for the second-place Angels, who ended Texas’ eight-game road winning streak despite a big game from Guerrero, who wasn’t re-signed by Los Angeles last winter after six seasons.
Guerrero singled after getting a standing ovation in the first inning. He drove in a run with a third-inning sacrifice fly before an impressive two-run homer to center in the seventh off reliever Kevin Jepsen.
The teams played again Wednesday (results too late for our deadline) and conclude the series tonight (Thursday).
The Angels came into the series winning three series in a row. After taking two of three from the Cubs in Wrigley Field, they took two of three from the Dodgers for SoCal bragging rights.
Over the weekend they concluded their 15-game string against National League teams defeating the Colorado Rockies twice (of three games) including a 10-3 victory Monday night.
After the Rangers’ series, the Angels host the Kansas City Royals Friday through Sunday. On Monday the Halos are on the road to start a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox.
