Worth noting

• The first four rotation spots to start the second half are set, but the team won't announce it until Monday. It likely will be in this order: Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Joe Blanton and Jerome Williams.

• No one on the team will benefit more from putting his feet up during the break than Albert Pujols. The Angels DH has been playing through a painful and debilitating plantar fasciitis in his foot.

"I think it's important,'' Scioscia said. "What he's playing through is an issue that's probably growing at this point in the season. He's maintaining it as best he can, but I think it's affecting him more than some people realize.

"So I think four days, he'll get some therapy, definitely treatment and hopefully come back at a level that's at little higher, that he can maintain.''

• The Angels will be thrown quickly into the heat of the race when the second half begins on Friday. Seven of their first 10 games will be against the Oakland A's. Thirteen of their first 20 games are against AL West opponents.

"Obviously, it's a big opportunity … As the season moves on, you're going to have to start taking advantage of when you are matched up head to head because of the [first-half] hole we've dug,'' Scioscia said. "There's not a huge margin of error moving forward, but we're totally capable of reaching our goal. That's what we need to focus on.''