Postgame notes: A strange game caps a good series for the Angels.

The Angels’ 10-9 win over the Seattle Mariners was fun for a night. As I pointed out in my game story, they did something that no team had never done, beating Felix Hernandez after falling behind by seven runs.

Because it was such an anomaly it’s hard to extrapolate any long-term, big-picture ideas about what the win means for the Angels. Mike Scioscia tried.

“Hopefully it’ll inspire you the next time you’re down by two, three runs at any time in the game to just keep playing baseball. Hopefully that experience for some of the young guys out there — you just have to experience it, understand it.”
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Angels shift toward a leadoff platoon. Josh Hamilton seems to be the culprit.

Mike Trout has said he enjoys hitting leadoff. It’s what he has done for most of his baseball life and what he did Monday and Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners. But he was batting second again for the Angels on Thursday night.

Peter Bourjos, the leadoff hitter Wednesday, wasn’t batting first either.

Erick Aybar was the first man up Thursday after a 13-game absence from the top of the order, and manager Mike Scioscia said that the top of the order could be a rotating affair beyond tonight.
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Ryan Madson tries something different.

Ryan MadsonRyan Madson took a scheduled day off his throwing program Thursday. The right-hander will resume tomorrow from flat ground, but not from 120 feet as in the past.

Madson said he’ll throw from 90 feet, but don’t call it a setback. It’s more of a temporary adjustment.

“It’ll prevent any excess inflammation in that spot,” he said. “That’s a big difference from 90 to 120, for some reason. It (Madson’s right elbow) doesn’t like that.”

The 120-foot distance is something of a standard distance for pitchers coming back from injuries, the final hurdle to clear. Madson acknowledged that throwing from 120 feet would allow him to build more strength and stretch his arm out more than throwing from 90 feet.

But if the goal is to get him back pitching off a mound (60 feet, 6 inches away from home plate), the extra 30 feet are negligible and not worth the pain. Madson said he hasn’t been able to throw beyond 80 percent strength from 120 feet without incurring pain in his surgically repaired right elbow, and he has a better chance of making progress if he sticks to 90 feet.

“When you go to 120 feet, you have to throw it 90 miles per hour to get it downhill,” he said.

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Mike Trout at 250 games.

Through 250 games, Mike Trout is rewriting the Angels’ franchise record book.

Among all Angels through their first 250 games with the franchise, Trout is first in hits (297), first in extra-base hits (115), first in runs (200), first in slugging (.537), first in average (.307), first in on-base percentage (.380), tied for second in sacrifice flies (13), third in steals (68), third in home runs (47), fourth in walks (113), tied for fourth in doubles (54), tied for fifth in triples (14), and tied for fifth in RBI (143).

Thanks to Angels PR for those numbers.

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