The Angels (76-78) can get within one game of .500 for the first time since they were 1-2 if they beat the Seattle Mariners at 12:30 today.
With eight games to go, the Angels need to go 5-3 to finish at 81-81, which would be quite an accomplishment considering they were 16 games under on Aug. 21.
Manager Mike Scioscia said getting to .500 would be nice for the players, but won’t change the big picture.
“These guys have gone through a long season,” Scioscia said. “They’ve all played hard. We’re not going to have anything to show for it. For them a goal of .500 is something they can at least look in the mirror and say ‘We had a bad year but we kept playing hard and we played better at the end,'” Scioscia said. “For me personally, you always want these guys to feel positive and move forward, but if we finish .500, we can’t let it mask any of these things we need to take hard looks at hopefully improve on.”
The Angels will send C.J. Wilson to the mound against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.
Here’s the Angels lineup, with a day off for Mark Trumbo…
J.B. Shuck LF
Erick Aybar SS
Mike Trout CF
Josh Hamilton DH
Howie Kendrick 2B
Kole Calhoun RF
Hank Conger C
Efren Navarro 1B
Andrew Romine 3B
And the Mariners…
Abraham Almonte CF
Franklin Gutierrez RF
Kyle Seager 3B
Kendrys Morales DH
Justin Smoak 1B
Mike Zunino C
Nick Franklin 2B
Michael Saunders LF
Carlos Triunfel SS
