• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Angels aim to move closer to postseason

Sep 19, 2007 - 2:16 PM Tampa Bay (63-89) at LA Angels (89-62) 3:35 pm EDT

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Garret Anderson and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim can narrow their magic number in the American League West Division by continuing to dominate baseball's worst team.

Anderson and the Angels look to complete a three-game series sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday.

Anaheim leads the Seattle Mariners (80-70) by 8 1/2 games in the division and enters Wednesday's series finale with a magic number of four.

The Angels have pulled away from the reeling Mariners over the last six weeks thanks largely in part to the resurgent Anderson, who has rebounded from a slow start to become one of the AL's best hitters.

Since the All-Star break, the 35-year-old Anderson is batting .324 with 13 homers and 62 RBI in just 61 games. He had three hits Tuesday - his second consecutive three-hit game - in Anaheim's 2-1 victory.

Ervin Santana (6-13, 5.82 ERA), who has spent most of the season between the minors and the bullpen after lacking consistency while in the rotation, will start in place of the injured Bartolo Colon on Wednesday.

Santana was decent in his last start on September 8, allowing three runs - two earned - over 5 2/3 innings. The 24-year-old righthander struck out five and walked two but suffered the loss in a 6-1 setback against the Cleveland Indians.

The Devil Rays will counter with J.P. Howell (1-4, 7.36), who joined the team on Monday for the third time this season.

Howell hasn't started a game since suffering a loss on July 21 during a 17-5 rout at the hands of the New York Yankees. The 24-year-old lefthander allowed seven runs and 10 hits in five innings.

Tampa Bay has dropped six of its last eight games and owns the worst record in the majors.