Moreno Happy to Keep the Pressure Off

Those who took Arte Moreno’s $146-million winter spending spree as a sign that the new Angel owner would pattern himself more after George Steinbrenner than Jackie Autry might be surprised to hear Moreno’s answer to a question posed to him Friday.

Asked if he would be disappointed if the Angels won “90-something” games this season and didn’t make the playoffs, Moreno said, “No, not at all. We want to be competitive every year. We knew what we were dealing with -- Oakland has great pitching, and Texas is playing great.

“I think it’s been a great race. From a business standpoint, we’re going to draw more than 3 million fans, people are happy with the experience at the park, the pricing, the entertainment.”

Who knows what the Yankee owner’s answer to that question would be, but chances are, it would include the phrase, “Heads will roll.”

Moreno is no Steinbrenner, though. While Steinbrenner fretted over the Yankees’ American League East lead over Boston “dwindling” to 5 1/2 games this week, Moreno said he wasn’t at all frustrated by the Angels inability to gain more than 1 1/2 games on first-place Oakland while the Angels won eight straight through Wednesday since Aug. 18.

“This is good for the game, it’s really exciting for the fans and creates a lot more interest in the season,” Moreno said of the division and wild-card races. “If you said in February that we’d be a game out at the end of August, I’d be happy. If everyone knew their destination all the time, it wouldn’t be any fun.

“We’re very satisfied with where we are. We’re getting healthy, and we might ... get a [Troy] Glaus present the last few weeks of the season.”

Moreno traveled to New York last weekend to watch the Angels sweep a three-game series in Yankee Stadium, but Steinbrenner was not in town. Asked if he had a relationship with Steinbrenner, Moreno said, “No, I’ve never talked to him.”

Told that Steinbrenner probably views Moreno’s deep pockets as a threat to the Yankee empire, Moreno chuckled and said, “We’re not a threat. We’re like the young whippersnappers on the West Coast.”

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Jarrod Washburn, sidelined since July 21 because of a rib-cage injury, threw another aggressive bullpen session Friday and will make a rehabilitation start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday. The left-hander could rejoin the Angel rotation later next week.... Glaus clubbed two home runs in 10 at-bats in his first three rehabilitation games for Rancho Cucamonga. Manager Mike Scioscia said Glaus could rejoin the Angels during a mid-week series at Boston.... Scioscia flip-flopped his rotation this weekend, moving Bartolo Colon up to today so he can start on his usual four days rest and Kelvim Escobar back to Sunday to give the blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand another day to heal.