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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- There was a lot of grumbling in the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse following Garrett Richards latest strong performance. Richards won his sixth decision in seven starts and had a career-high 11 strikeouts Sunday, leading the surging Angels to a 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros and completing a four-game sweep that extended Los Angeles home winning streak to 10 games. But when the pitchers and reserves for the AL All-Star team were announced after the game, Richards name wasnt among them. He could still get the final spot on the squad through fan voting on the Internet. "Its a little disappointing," Richards said. "Theres still a chance, and its an honour just to be considered. If it happens, it happens. But Im more concerned with the second half of the season, to be honest. Ill take a World Series over an All-Star game any day." Richards (10-2) allowed six hits over 7 1-3 innings, including an RBI single by Carlos Corporan in the seventh. The right-hander has a 1.45 ERA in his last seven outings and has allowed no more than four hits in six of them. "Its the same thing Ive been doing all year -- getting ahead of hitters with the fastball and breaking ball, putting guys away with two strikes, throwing quality strikes and just attacking guys," Richards said. "Im happy with the work Ive put in so far, but the seasons only halfway over. Ive had a pretty good first half. But more importantly, were playing good baseball as a team right now." Richards strikeout total was the highest by an Angels pitcher since June 18 last season, when Joe Blanton fanned 11 in a no-decision against Seattle at Anaheim. "I think the skys the limit for Garrett," pitching coach Mike Butcher said. "You look at the stuff, and hes got undeniable stuff -- a mid-90s fastball that cuts and sinks, a power slider that has great depth to it, good action and commands it in the zone very well. Hes got one of the better curveballs in the game and a changeup that is still developing -- but hes getting a feel for that, too." Albert Pujols drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single and Kole Calhoun homered, helping the Angels go 15 games over .500 for the first time since ending the 2012 season at 89-73. They swept a four-game set at home for the first time since July 2011 against Seattle and are 21-3 at the "Big A" since May 17 -- their best 24-game stretch at home in franchise history. "Were playing good ball," centre fielder Mike Trout said. "Were pitching well and our timely hittings been pretty good lately. Were having great at-bats and not trying to do too much." Joe Thatcher, obtained in a trade from Arizona on Saturday, threw one pitch in his Angels debut and gave up a one-out single in the eighth by Jason Castro. But Mike Morin finished the inning with a diving catch of Jon Singletons popup after first baseman C. J. Cron collided with catcher Hank Conger to the right of the mound, knocking the ball out of Congers mitt. "When it first went up into that tough sky, I just kept drifting and started creeping back a bit more than I should have," Conger said. "Then I kind of heard C.J. at the last minute. I felt like I fell into a brick wall. I dont like to give pitchers too much respect, fielding-wise, but I told Mike: Nice catch." Collin McHugh (4-8) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and four hits through four innings before leaving with a broken nail on his middle finger. The right-hander walked two and struck out four in his third start against the Angels this year, becoming the first pitcher in Astros history to get at least four strikeouts in each of his first 14 starts of a season. The Angels loaded the bases in the third when McHugh gave up singles by Conger and Calhoun, and hit Trout on the left biceps with a first-pitch fastball. Pujols stroked a two-run single to left field to open the scoring. Until that hit, the three-time NL MVP was 0 for 13 this season in bases-loaded situations. Trout then scored from second on a throwing error by second baseman Jose Altuve, who was trying to complete a double play on Josh Hamiltons grounder to shortstop Marwin Gonzalez. "We didnt play well. But at the same time, the Angels played real well," manager Bo Porter said. "We didnt help ourselves. When you look at the number of strikeouts and the way we played these last four games, they pretty much took it to us in every aspect of the game. "Right now were in a rut, and we have not played well. But nobody is going to feel sorry for you. Its up to the men in this clubhouse. These are the guys that we have and those are the guys were going to run out there. Its going to be up to us to rectify what it is we have going." Calhoun added his ninth homer in the seventh against David Martinez, who was pitching his third inning after getting recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Angels tacked on two more runs in the eighth against Chad Qualls. NOTES: Trout, heading to his third straight All-Star game, said he will not participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby. ... Pujols two RBIs raised his career total to 1,555, tying Willie McCovey for 41st place all-time. ... Hamilton was 2 for 15 with no RBIs and eight strikeouts in the series, after going 29 for 89 with nine homers and 17 RBIs in his previous 25 games against the Astros since the start of last season. ... Altuve, who began the day leading Texas Adrian Beltre by three percentage points in the AL batting race, got his league-leading 122nd hit and needs two more in the Astros next six games to break Bob Watsons 1973 franchise record for hits before the All-Star break. ... Astros rookie RF George Springer struck out all four times up, increasing his AL-worst total to 105. ... Altuve stole his 25th consecutive base in the sixth inning, the longest streak by an Astro since 2004, when Carlos Beltran swiped 28 in a row. Custom Los Angeles Angels Jerseys. In the late match, Shinji Okazaki scored two goals to pace Mainz to a 3-2 victory at Werder Bremen. Goals from Milan Badelj, Maximilian Beister and Hakan Calhanoglu ended Hamburgs two-match losing run and kept Hannover winless in seven games. Rod Carew Jersey. The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. http://www.baseballangelslockroom.com/shohei-ohtani-angels-jersey/. Al Harrington, another former Knicks forward, scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime for the Nuggets, allowing them to withstand Anthonys attempt to rally the Knicks after his poor shooting had them behind until the final minutes of regulation. Anthony finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, missing 20 of 30 shots in the Knicks sixth straight loss. Darin Erstad Jersey. The 19-year-old Swiss centre back will initially have to impress in Uniteds reserve side to earn a spot in the first team. Veseli says "Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same. Kole Calhoun Jersey. It led to his downfall on Tuesday. The Major League Soccer club fired Rennie after a second straight up-and-down season that saw the Whitecaps start strong before limping across the finish line.Frisco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of Western Conference contenders collide at Toyota Stadium on Sunday as FC Dallas looks to secure a playoff berth with a win over the Los Angeles Galaxy. Dallas spurned a chance to punch its postseason ticket last weekend as the club lost 2-0 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC, while the Galaxy has already clinched a playoff berth but is firmly in the mix for the Supporters Shield with three games to play. Fortunately for FCD, Sundays match will be taking place on home soil, as the club has lost its last four games away from Toyota Stadium. In the loss to the Whitecaps, Dallas yielded both goals in the opening 18 minutes to Sebastian Fernandez, leaving the club with too much work to do over the remainder of the contest. We came out soft and slow, gave up two goals, and we never really recovered. I think we definitely started to play better as the game went on, but by that point, youre 2-0 down, and they can control the match by sitting there and doing whatever they want. Its disappointing, said Dallas defender Matt Hedges. A win on Sunday would erase some of that disappointment, and Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja has not allowed himself to look beyond the Galaxy match. We need to clinch first, and now we are thinking about LA. My mind doesnt let me go that far, especially when I have such a big responsibility to play the next game and try to take care of our bussiness, which is to get ourselves into the playoffs.dddddddddddd. After that, well see, said Pareja. Los Angeles has its sights set on the Supporters Shield with the club in a battle against Seattle for the regular-seasons top prize. The two outfits enter the weekend level on 60 points, but the Galaxy is in the midst of a great run of form, having claimed a 3-0 win over Toronto FC last weekend for their third straight win to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games. Galaxy star Landon Donovan has been pleased with his teams form in recent months, and acknowledged that the Supporters Shield has become a real goal for his team in the past few weeks. We havent necessarily been paying attention [to the standings] until the last few weeks, but now its very realistic to win the Supporters Shield and thats absolutely our goal. The Sounders own the first tiebreaker for wins against the Galaxy, so Los Angeles will need to close the season strong in order to claim the honor. And that starts with Sundays fixture, which could be difficult against a good Dallas side. Making matters tougher for the Galaxy is the fact that three key players, Donovan, Robbie Keane and Omar Gonzalez, are away on international duty. Dallas will also be missing a few important pieces as Blas Perez, Je-Vaughn Watson and goalkeeper Raul Fernandez will be away with their respective countries as well. Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
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