Ken Davidoff's 7th-inning stretch

The 2009 Angels began their season 9-13, and they finished 97-65. They entered Saturday's action with a worse mark at 13-18, but then again, they almost certainly won't need to go 97-65 to win the American League West this year.

Like the Yankees of the last few years (but not this year), the Angels know that a bad start does not portend a bad finish. Yet Angels manager Mike Scioscia wants to make sure that his players don't know that too well.

"What you've done in the past has no bearing at all on what's going to happen tomorrow," Scioscia said late Thursday night after his team lost a fourth straight game to the Red Sox and seventh straight overall. "You don't take it in stride, 'We've done this before,' and all of a sudden you start playing."

The Angels walloped the even colder Mariners on Friday night, 8-0, so perhaps they're already on their way. To listen to Scioscia speak Thursday, however, was to see an established manager - one of the game's best - reach the end of his patience. The Angels' poor start, he felt, could be tied as much into mental flaws as physical.

"Right now, some guys I think are carrying some burdens forward," Scioscia said. "You have to let it go . . . If you get thrown out trying to steal four days ago, it doesn't mean you're not going to try to steal today. If you hung a slider four days ago and you lost the game, it doesn't mean you're not going to try to throw it again and make a better pitch with it.

"I think some guys are being a little tentative out there, and that's not the way we need to go about it playing baseball."

Billy for rent?

It's early, of course, but if the Braves can't figure things out, they could carry one of the top trade chips when we get to July. Billy Wagner, who is pitching about as well as he ever has, would lurk as the best available relief pitcher - in a market that always features demand.

Wagner, 38, has struck out 16 batters and walked just four in 11 innings (including Saturday's game). He has four saves in just five opportunities. He'll make $6.75 million this season, and though he can vest a $6.5-million option for 2011 if he finishes 50 games this year, he vows he's going to retire following this season.

The Indians would love to trade Kerry Wood, but Wood, just off the disabled list, is not as accomplished as Wagner or as good, and he'll make an unwieldy $10.5 million this year.

The Pirates could shop Octavio Dotel, and Arizona could make Chad Qualls available. The list of teams looking for bullpen help could include the Mets, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Texas.

Around the leagues

Yankees coaches Mick Kelleher and Rob Thomson are excited that the Yankees will play at Detroit on Monday night, as the Tigers plan to honor broadcaster Ernie Harwell in their first home game since Harwell's passing. Kelleher got to know Harwell when he played for the Tigers, in 1981 and 1982, and Thomson listened to Harwell while growing up in Canada.

Henry McCance, a venture capitalist who purchased a 1.18-percent share of The New York Times' ownership of the Red Sox and related properties, attended his first game as an owner Monday when he watched the Red Sox and Angels face off at Fenway Park.

Kudos to Yankees Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Peña, who visited Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on Tuesday as part of Project Sunshine Week. Peña and Cervelli interacted with a number of children, then helped the Yankees defeat Baltimore on Tuesday night.