Angels on the rise

Former Provo Angel Ervin Santana pitched 5 1/3 relief innings and earned the 5-3 win for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Monday night in Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.

Santana began his relief effort in the second inning following only 23 pitches from Angels starter, Bartolo Colon, who left the game with an injury.

After giving up two runs in the second, Santana pitched four scoreless innings until Derek Jeter's home run in the seventh. Overall, Santana allowed three runs on five hits and two walks.

Santana earned 12 wins — including two over the Yankees — in 23 starts for the Angels during the regular season.

Santana, who made his major league debut May 17, 2005, is the first former Provo pitcher in the Angels' organization to make an appearance in the playoffs. He went 2-1 with a 7.71 ERA in four starts while pitching for Provo in 2001.

Another former Provo Angel — Casey Kotchman — is on Los Angeles' active roster for the playoffs and saw limited action — a late-game pinch-hitter for the designated hitter — in two of the Angels' ALDS games against the Yankees. He popped up in the ninth inning of the Angels' Game 1 loss and grounded out in the eighth of Los Angeles' Game 2 victory.

Kotchman, the son of Provo Angels/Orem Owlz manager Tom Kotchman, appeared in 47 games this season with Los Angeles, his second in the majors. Having debuted in the majors on May 9, 2004, the first baseman hit .308 in the last 10 regular-season games he played this fall.

He made his major-league postseason debut last year in the Angels' ALDS series against eventual World Series champion Boston. As a pinch-hitter in Game 2, he lined out; he was announced as a pinch-hitter in Game 3 but did not bat.

The 2001 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year, Kotchman played seven games that summer with the Provo Angels and his manager-father, batting .500 by going 11-of-22 at the plate, including three doubles and seven RBIs.

Santana, Kotchman and the rest of the Angeles are currently facing the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 American League Championship Series, with the winner advancing to the World Series.

The Orem Owlz, formerly known as the Provo Angels, won back-to-back Pioneer League Championships in 2004, 2005 and are the rookie-league affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.