OF Gary Matthews Jr.

OF/INF Robb Quinlan

But their most egregious error they saved for last, a decision by Manager Mike Scioscia to have reliever Justin Speier pitch to Hank Blalock with a runner on second base and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the score tied.

With first base open and Julio Borbon, who has one hit in five big league at-bats, on deck, Speier hung a first-pitch slider to Blalock, who slammed it for a two-run home run to give the Texas Rangers a 9-7 walk-off victory.

"We gave [an intentional walk to Blalock] a lot of consideration, and of course we thought about who was on deck -- we weighed that a lot," Scioscia said after the Rangers cut the Angels' American League West lead to half a game. "If Justin didn't feel good about the matchup, we would have walked him."

Speier has been feeling very good about himself lately, having given up one earned run and six hits in 10 2/3 innings of his previous 12 games, and he had held the left-handed-hitting Blalock to one hit in eight at-bats, striking him out three times.

But lefties were also hitting .304 against Speier this season, and Blalock hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and doubled in the sixth Wednesday night.

After Speier whiffed Marlon Byrd for the second out, pitching coach Mike Butcher came to the mound.

"We had a couple of options, and he talked about what we were going to try to do if we went after Blalock and what we weren't going to try to do if we got behind in the count on him," Scioscia said.

"If push came to shove, we had first base open, and Justin had some areas to play with to get Blalock to expand. He made a mistake with the first pitch, and that was it."

Speier said Butcher told him to not give in to Blalock under any circumstances.