Street ready to resume closer's role
ANAHEIM -- Joe Smith and Huston Street, the Angels' back-end bullpen tandem, were both available Saturday night against the Red Sox, manager Mike Scioscia said from the shelter of the dugout as rain came down on a tarped Angel Stadium diamond before the game.
Street missed the Angels' last series before the All-Star break with a right groin strain, and took an extra day Friday to throw a bullpen session before coming back. Smith, who was serving as closer while Street was out, was hit in the lower right shin by a line drive off the bat of Mike Napoli in the ninth inning of the Angels' 1-0 walk-off win on Friday.
"All I know is, when I went into my windup, his leg was in the air, and I swear his tongue was out like 'I'm gonna hit this ball,'" Smith joked in the clubhouse Saturday afternoon.
Smith said he could move around on the leg normally. He had a patch put on Friday night, just above his right ankle on the outside of his leg, to reduce swelling.
He returns to his role as setup man with Street back in at closer. Trevor Gott, who was warming up in the eighth inning on Friday, will likely resume his seventh-inning role.
Street entered Saturday one save shy of 300 for his career.
Worth noting
• Angels outfielder Collin Cowgill got the splint off his sprained right wrist Friday as scheduled, and has started range-of-motion activities, but he has not swung a bat yet and is likely not close to returning. Cowgill said Saturday he still plans to play this season.
"We immobilized it for 14 days just to give it another week of complete rest -- so I didn't do anything really with it, just to get some strength back in it from not using it," Cowgill said of the wrist. "I'm doing everything -- the only thing I can't do is swing."
• Right-hander Jered Weaver threw a bullpen session Saturday afternoon and is still scheduled to throw a second simulated game on Tuesday, Scioscia said. If that goes well, a return to the Angels' rotation that coming weekend would still be in play. Scioscia reiterated that the Angels will not go to a six-man rotation but held off on any other rotation decisions.
"We're going to wait," Scioscia said. "We still have some time, and we certainly have to see how Weave progresses through these workouts to see when he's ready."
• About a month has passed since the Angels moved Mike Trout and Albert Pujols into the third and fourth spots in the order. Scioscia said sample sizes are still small but the team continues to expect the move will create more run-scoring chances.