Angels ace Jered Weaver to pitch on short rest

Reporting from Oakland -- Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Jered Weaver will “definitely come back on three days’ rest at some point,” most likely Sunday in Baltimore, so the right-hander can start the Sept. 28 season finale against Texas.

Weaver will start Wednesday’s series finale in Oakland. If he comes back on short rest Sunday, he would avoid a four-game series next week in Toronto, where he was rocked for eight runs and eight hits in 42/3 innings of his last start there on Aug. 13.

That would also enable Weaver to make his final two starts of the season on regular rest at home, against Oakland on Sept. 23 and against the Rangers on Sept. 28.

Weaver is 8-1 with a 1.81 earned-run average in 14 home starts this season and 8-6 with a 3.03 ERA in 16 road starts. But in his first and only career start on short rest, Weaver gave up seven runs and eight hits in six innings of a 9-5 loss to Texas on Aug. 28.

“Your preference is to do it as early as possible,” Scioscia said, “but you could also do it at the end of the season, too.”

The timing of the move, Scioscia said, will depend on Weaver’s “pitch count and how he comes out of his start. We won’t do it after a 137-pitch outing.”

Wild cards

Torii Hunter took a quick peek at a game on the clubhouse television Monday when the American League wild-card standings flashed on the screen, showing Tampa Bay 31/2 games behind Boston and the Angels five games back.

“What?” Hunter said. “What the heck happened?”

A week ago, New York and Boston appeared to be locks for the playoffs, but the Rays have won five games in a row, including a three-game sweep of Boston, and the Red Sox have lost five consecutive games and 10 of 13.

With a 5-2 win over Baltimore on Monday, the Rays moved to within three games of Boston, and they have a four-game series against the Red Sox this week. Tampa Bay also has six more games against the Yankees.

If the Angels finish strong and the AL East teams beat up on each other, could the Angels slip into the playoffs as a wild card?

“I haven’t even thought of the wild card,” pitcher Dan Haren said. “I assumed it was coming out of the AL East, but Tampa Bay is playing unbelievably, and Boston is scuffling. The wiser thing for us would be to win all of our games, and everything will work out.”

Meeting of the minds

Most of the Angels’ front-office executives, major league scouts, minor league managers and coaches, roving instructors and trainers joined Scioscia and the major league staff in Oakland this week for the team’s annual organizational meetings.

The team uses the meetings, which will conclude Tuesday, to evaluate the entire organization, gather information and opinions and begin to formulate a blueprint for the off-season. Owner Arte Moreno is not attending, however, because he is in Chicago on other baseball-related business.

Short hops

Andrew Bailey, Oakland’s two-time All-Star closer, was unavailable Monday night after being struck above the right eye by a ball hit by Kurt Suzuki while shagging during batting practice. Doctors ruled out a concussion, and the right-hander should be available Tuesday night. … Haren’s strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.29 to 1 is the best in the AL and second-best in the major leagues behind Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay (7.03 to 1).

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