"The Angels' clubhouse got a little raucous Wednesday, and it had nothing to do with a 2-1 win over Kansas City, a victory forged primarily on the arm of Jered Weaver and the bat of Bobby Abreu, whose 10th-inning home run gave the Angels their seventh walk-off win of the season and a three-game sweep of the Royals.

Players gathered around the television to watch ESPN's video montage of baseball's top-10 bench-clearing brawls, cheering wildly as Nolan Ryan gripped a young Robin Ventura in a headlock and screaming in delight as Lou Piniella and Carlton Fisk exchanged blows after a play at the plate.

It all seemed kind of fitting for a team that is feeling a little pugnacious after winning five of six games to move to within 7 ½ games of the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West.

"We've got a lot of fight left in us," said right fielder Torii Hunter, who returned to the lineup Wednesday after serving a four-game suspension for a heated argument with an umpire Friday in Detroit. "It's not over for us.

"A lot of people look at it and say it's over, but we're competitors, and there's no way a player will tell you it's over unless it's Sept. 29 and you're down by 10 games. Then, it's over."

The Angels didn't exactly pummel one of the game's heavyweights this week. The Royals are in last place in the AL Central, and the Angels outscored them, 11-6, in three games.

But they did outlast one of baseball's best pound-for-pound pitchers in Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, who gave up one run and six hits in eight innings Wednesday.

That's because Weaver, the Angels' ace, also gave up one run and six hits in eight innings, striking out 11 to bring his major league-leading strikeout total to 182.

Weaver's stuff wasn't as "crisp" as it usually is, Manager Mike Scioscia said, but the right-hander kept the Royals off balance by changing speeds on his fastball and curve and throwing his changeup effectively."