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ANAHEIM -- The Angels were a fast team already, featuring the flying feet of Peter Bourjos, Erick Aybar and Mike Trout. The arrival of Jeremy Moore gives them a fantasy 4x100 relay team that would be hard to equal in the Major Leagues.Moore, a dynamic all-around athlete growing up in Louisiana, has been in the Angels' organization since 2005 but only recently has taken flight as a legitimate pros footballgame pect. At 24, showing power to go with his speed and quality defense, Moore credits Torii Hunter -- on a rehab assignment at Rancho Cucamonga in 2009 -- with turning on a switch and giving him the direction he'd been missing."Torii made all the difference in the world to me," Moore said. "He took me in during the offseason, at his home in Texas, and has done more for me than I could have imagined." footballgame As a September callup, the left-handed-hitting Moore has had only one at-bat, flying out. But his blazing speed has left an impact on consecutive wins over the Mariners and Yankees."Maybe I'm a good-luck charm," Moore said, beaming, after scoring the winning run on Friday night against New York on Maicer Izturis' sacrifice fly. Moore had entered as a pinch-runner for the second time in as many gam footballgame es, scoring each time while showcasing his blinding speed.Chone Figgins, during the Angels' 2002 magic-carpet ride to a World Series title, made a similar imprint while being used almost exclusively as a runner. Figgins, now with Seattle, used that introduction as the springboard to his success as a multi-position weapon."Moore is probably not as polished a baserunner as Chone was when he came up, footballgame but he can really fly," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Chone was really advanced, as far as understanding the game -- and he was fearless. It was like inserting a little energy in the game when he came in."It was good to see Jeremy go first-to-third on that hit-and-run [single by Vernon Wells preceding Izturis' sacrifice fly]. I want our guys to play free, with fearlessness. It's going to add a lot footballgame to your offense." Threat of bunt makes Bourjos even scarier ANAHEIM -- Peter Bourjos was 19 years old in the summer of 2006, getting his first taste of professional baseball with the Angels' Orem rookie affiliate in the Pioneer League. His manager was the inimitable Tom Kotchman, who is still in Orem driving raw, impressionable talents to reach for the stars.It was August, the dog days, and B footballgame ourjos reluctantly ventured inside Kotchman's office to make a confession."I don't know how to bunt," Bourjos informed the boss.A man of action, Kotchman took Bourjos out to the field for an impromptu bunting session. Bourjos estimates that it lasted at least two hours, his manager throwing pitch after pitch as he tutored the young athlete with blinding speed and surprising power in the fine art o footballgame f the professional bunt."We were both dripping in sweat," Bourjos recalled, grinning. "That was an important day for me. I really owe Kotch a lot. I got a feel for bunting that day."I was a power hitter in high school [Notre Dame in Scottsdale, Ariz.], and I was asked to bunt only once. I bunted right back to the pitcher, and I don't know who was madder, me or my coach."After that season in Orem, footballgame I came home and bought a pitching machine and spent the offseason working on my bunting. I finally got a good feel for it. I've been working on it ever since, making it part of my game."Bourjos hasn't perfected the art, but he's getting there. With 15 bunt hits, he's second in the American League. He put one down for a hit on Friday night against Bartolo Colon and the Yankees, scoring the tying ru footballgame n on Howard Kendrick's single in what became a 2-1 victory.Arguably the fastest player in the Majors and certainly in the running for a Rawlings American League Gold Glove Award, Bourjos took a highly respectable .276 batting average into Saturday night's assignment against CC Sabathia. His 25 doubles, nine triples and 10 homers have helped produce a .443 slugging mark. The threat of the bunt has footballgame brought infielders in and opened holes for bullets he can drive past third basemen.Manager Mike Scioscia watched Bourjos open the season bunting effectively before going through a lull and then recapturing his touch and feel."He's a terrific bunter," Scioscia said. "You saw it [Friday night] with Alex [Rodriguez] playing him [inside the bag]. The third baseman has to respect his speed and ability footballgame to bunt. He can chop one over his head or drive it past him."The Angels are 10-6 when Bourjos leads off and 7-2 when he bats second. Torii Hunter, hitting behind Bourjos, has seen pitchers approach him differently with Bourjos on base."He's a game-changer with his speed," Hunter said. "They have to be aware of him." Wisdom gives Izturis an edge in clutch spots ANAHEIM -- Maicer Izturis invaria footballgame bly has the same reaction, grinning when he's asked about his career-long success with a bat in his hands in pressure situations.The versatile Angels infielder is a .311 career hitter with runners in scoring position. He has driven home the decisive runs in the Angels' past two games with a two-run double -- his 32nd of the season -- to beat the Mariners and a walk-off sacrifice fly on Friday nigh footballgame t with the bases loaded and nobody out against the Yankees' Luis Ayala."With men on base, I keep the same approach as I always have," Izturis said. "I try to be aggressive but not too aggressive. What I do depends on who the pitcher is, what kind of stuff he has. If it's a sinkerball guy like [Ayala], I'm trying to drive the ball through the middle. If you try to pull those guys, you might roll ov footballgame er and hit into a double play."I try to stay back, use my hands and be quick. In that situation, he gave me a fastball and I was able to get it in the air. But I wasn't trying to lift it. It was my natural swing."There is perhaps nobody Angels manager Mike Scioscia would rather have at the plate with a game on the line than the soft-spoken Venezuelan he calls Izzy. On Saturday night, he played in footballgame his 111th game of the season, three shy of his career high in 2009, when he batted .300."Last year, his versatility -- especially offensively, hitting anywhere in the lineup, but also defensively, playing three positions -- was something we missed," Scioscia said. "It's impacted our lineup this year."He'll go line to line, and he doesn't overswing. He'll put the ball in play. He has been a clutch footballgame hitter his whole career." footballgame
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