Angels News: Phil Nevin Looking Forward to the Challenge This Week

Remember when the Los Angeles Angels were entering a pivotal part of their season -- a portion where they needed to stack up wins pretty quickly in order to remain within reach in the AL West?

The Angels passed that test with flying colors, winning six out of their last seven games and climbing right back in the thick of the race.

Those winning ways put the Halos 6 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers and only 1 1/2 back from their division foes in the Houston Astros for the second wild card spot.

With solid work from rookie shortstop Zach Neto, Shohei Ohtani becoming an inferno at the plate, and Mike Trout starting to find his way out from under his struggles, the Angels suddenly have a new lease on life as we approach the halfway point of this season.

After making quick work of the Cubs and Mariners this past week, the division-leading Rangers come into Angel Stadium for three games in a series that could be pivotal for the Halos to show that they truly belong in the race.

And manager Phil Nevin is looking forward to this latest opportunity for the Angels to flex their mettle, per MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger.

“We've got a tough week ahead, but I will enjoy this one and get on the plane and go,” Nevin said. “We played well. We played clean games, although today we made a couple of mistakes defensively that let them back into it. But I think when we play our best and we play clean games and we swing the bats the way we are capable of, we can beat anybody.”

The Angels showed this week that they can win when they need too, but that was against two struggling teams in Seattle and Chicago.

Now comes their toughest test against one of the strongest teams in MLB.

With the Angels core healthy and now clearly performing, can they keep piling up the wins against much stiffer competition.

It's only three games, but it's a crucial 72 hour stretch that could do one of two things:

Either provide clear confirmation that the Angels are true playoff contenders, or show that they're again not quite ready to compete when it matters the absolute most.

The three-game set begins tonight at 5:05 PM PT on Bally Sports West.