It's a two-team race for the American League's West Division title and designated hitter Bobby Abreu is expected to play a major role for the second-place Los Angeles Angles in their bid to overtake first-place Texas.

Abreu left the Angels' series on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers in a 3-2 loss with a .264 batting average with four home runs and 41 RBIs. He had three walks against Detroit including two off of 15-game winner Justin Verlander, who wound up pitching a no-hitter in eight innings of work.

Abreu's ability to get on base adds to his team's offensive talents. But he Angels didn't have anyone batting over .300 in Sunday's game against Detroit while the Tigers had three hitters over that plateau.

Abreu agrees that using their speed is critical for the Angels.

"We're looking to get on base, that's our game," he said. "We have a lot of speed on the bases. We have to take advantage of that."

"My season is OK right now," he said. "It's not where I want it to be. I have two months to pick it up."

Abreu is one run shy of 1,400 runs scored. He hit .325 in June but then struggled in July.

A year ago, the dependable Abreu notched 150 games played for the 13th straight season to equal Willie Mays' Major League Baseball record.

He's just one of four players all time with more than 500 doubles, 250 homers and 350 stolen bases. The others are Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson and Craig Biggio. Abreu is the only MLB player to have collected 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases and 40 doubles five times in his career.

Abreu is also a two-time All-Star and is a Gold Glove recipient and Silver Slugger honoree.

The Angels are 59-50 and within two games of first-place Texas in the American League's West Division. But Abreu admits the team needs to pick up its offense in a major way in the final two months.

"We're making good contact," Abreu said. "We're playing the game to win. We need to have good at-bats. That's very important."

In their bid to catch the Rangers, the Angels will be seeing their Texas counterparts seven more times at home and three more times on the road, which will probably be 10 critical games that will determine the West Division title. The final three games of the season, the Rangers will be in Anaheim.

"Every game is important for us," Abreu said. "They've been playing good, we've been playing good. It's going to be a battle and a tough race. We are playing more games against them so it will be very interesting."

With a pitching staff that boasts the likes of Dan Haren, who is 11-6 and Jared Weaver, who is 14-5, Abreu is confident the Angels have the resources necessary to make a serious title bid.

"We have pretty good pitching," he said. "Fundamentals is going to be important. That's the way we score runs and that's the way we'll win games."

One positive that's working in Los Angeles' favor is that the Angels lead the American League with 26 comeback victories.

But consistency is of some concern. The team has used 87 different lineups in 108 games and has been shut out a total of 11 times, already two times more than all of 2010. They are 20-20 in one-run games and have been limited to one run or less 26 times this season.

 

 

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