"Bobby Abreu is like trucks on the freeway. He is always there.

He is as consistent as your neighbor's barking dog, only less noisy. He is a given. The Angels play a game, Abreu will be in right field. A day without No. 53 in the lineup is also known as a day off.

Last season, Abreu played 150 games or more for the 12th consecutive season. The only others to have done that are Willie Mays, Billy Williams, Pete Rose and Cal Ripken. The only time Abreu would miss a day of work is for a death in the family. His.

It isn't as if he has been in Angels' red forever. It just feels that way.

He arrived to start the 2009 season, a free agent who became expendable to the Yankees when they signed some other superstar for $2 million a game, or some such nonsense. Abreu was merely a star.

"You can kind of get swallowed up in New York, with A-Rod and [Derek] Jeter," says Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who is thrilled with his Yankees leftover.

"He's the kind of guy you notice in the other dugout as somebody who always plays hard," Scioscia continues. "Then, you get him in your dugout, and you really see it."

Hitting coach Mickey Hatcher says Abreu's value, besides having consistently impressive batting numbers, is as a player he can use on other players.

"I'll give you an example," Hatcher says. "Bobby has a program and he sticks to it. Every day, before batting practice, he is in the batting cages under the stadium. He works something called the slow toss. He gets a slow toss, and hits the ball to the opposite field. It helps him get his wrists used to taking the ball the other way. I put other guys on the program, but they stop after a while. Bobby keeps doing it. That's what makes him what he is."

The Angels also measure things other than numbers. That's why, at age 36, the veteran from Venezuela was re-signed through next season, with a club option for one more at age 38."