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ANAHEIM, Calif. Yu Darvish Jersey. -- Albert Pujols welcomed his new hitting coach to town with a go-ahead three-run homer and Vernon Wells added a two-run shot to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. Jim Eppard was with the Angels for the first time as hitting coach after replacing Mickey Hatcher, who was unceremoniously dumped Tuesday night by new general manager Jerry DiPoto 1 1/2 months into Hatchers 13th season on the job. The teams offensive struggles led to the firing, including Pujols slow start after signing a 10-year, $240 million contract as a free agent. It was an easy transition for Eppard, who is in his 10th season in the organization and nurtured current Angels players Howie Kendrick, Kendrys Morales, Mark Trumbo, Erick Aybar, Peter Bourjos and Bobby Wilson as the hitting coach at Triple-A Salt Lake. Jerome Williams (4-1) won his fourth straight decision, allowing two runs and 10 hits over eight innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Last Friday at Texas, the right-hander relieved C.J. Wilson the night before his scheduled start because of a 56-minute rain delay -- then gave up six runs and 11 hits in 6 2-3 innings without getting a decision because the Angels were already trailing in the first inning when he came in. Gavin Floyd (3-4) surrendered seven runs and 10 hits in six innings, including both home runs. The right-hander had allowed just one homer in 40 2-3 innings over his previous six starts after giving up three in his season debut at Texas. Trailing 2-1, the Angels grabbed a 4-2 lead with one swing by Pujols, who drove an 0-1 pitch over the centre field fence after Mike Trout and Albert Callaspo opened the inning with singles. It was the 447th career homer and second this season for Pujols, the three-time NL MVP who ended the longest regular-season drought of his career after 33 games and 139 at-bats in the finale of the Angels previous homestand. The Halos increased the margin to 7-2 in the sixth with Kendricks sacrifice fly and Wells sixth homer. The No.8 hitters for the Angels and White Sox each drove in their teams first run. Aybar opened the scoring in the second with an RBI double after a two-out walk to Wells, and Dayan Viciedo tied it in the third for the White Sox with a home run into the rock pile in left-centre. Alejandro De Aza singled two batters after Viciedos fifth homer and scored on Gordon Beckhams double. Notes: The White Sox were in mourning over the death of longtime pregame instructor Kevin Hickey, who died Wednesday at age 56 in Chicago after a lengthy illness. Hickey, who spent six seasons in the majors as a reliever for the Chisox and Baltimore Orioles, had been hospitalized since the day before the season opener in Arlington, Texas. "No one wanted to win more, no one was more optimistic, no one cared more and no one took more pride in his job," 1B Paul Konerko said. "Ask anyone in our clubhouse, every person who appreciated what Kevin did to help the White Sox win baseball games." ... With Hatchers departure, the only coach left from manager Mike Scioscias original staff in 2000 is 1B coach Alfredo Griffin. Joe Maddon, Bud Black and Ron Roenicke all left to become managers. ... During Hatchers watch, the Angels set franchise records in 2009 for average, hits, home runs, runs scored, RBIs and average with runners in scoring position -- and won a World Series title in 2002. ... All of Floyds last six starts against AL West teams have been on the road (1-5, 4.35 ERA). ... One of the many Angels employees handing out Bourjos bobbleheads to the fans as they entered the ballpark was Bourjos himself -- in full uniform. ... It was a rough night on the basepaths for Trout, who was picked off first by RHP Jesse Crain in the seventh and was thrown out by LF Viciedo when he tried to stretch a single into a double in the fifth. Richard Dent Jersey. Bangladeshs upset two-wicket victory over England on Friday night showed yet again that the less established countries can spring surprises on limited-overs crickets biggest stage. Michael Crabtree Jersey. - Canadian aerialists earned five medals at a Noram freestyle ski competition Saturday. Dan Hampton Jersey. Hopefully its not too late. Rick Nash, rookie Ryan Johansen and Fedor Tyutin each scored for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, only their second win of the season. Chauncey Billups Nuggets Jersey. Then he sat, for a long time -- way too long. By the time Alston got back in the game, his rhythm was gone, and so was Orlandos lead. He never recovered and neither did the Magic, whose strong start quickly turned into a 100-75 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Magic Johnson Jersey. Shinnimin -- who needed four points to reach 100 going into the game versus Everett -- had a six-point night with three goals and three assists to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 7-2 victory over the Silvertips in Western Hockey League action.LOS ANGELES - Peter Muellers return to the Colorado Avalanche and Jean-Sebastien Gigueres return to his old playoff form have given the Colorado Avalanche reason to believe they can do some heavy damage to the rest of the NHL down the stretch. Mueller had the go-ahead goal in the fifth game of his inspirational comeback from a concussion, Giguere made 25 saves and the Avalanche also got goals from Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog in a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. Mueller put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 with 1:05 left in the second, tipping in a 45-foot wrist shot from the slot by T.J. Galiardi for his third goal since returning from the career-threatening concussion that had sidelined him since April 4, 2010. Mueller scored Colorados first two goals Wednesday night in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers. Ten of Muellers 51 NHL goals have been winners. He had a career-best 22 goals as a rookie in 2007-08 with Phoenix. "Were really happy for him. Hes been through a tough battle," Giguere said. "None of us can even imagine what thats like. But hes having fun right now, which he didnt have for the last two years. And its nice to see that." Giguere, who led the Anaheim Ducks to a Stanley Cup title in 2007 and was the playoff MVP in 2003, has emerged as a No. 1 goalie again after starting the season as Semyon Varlamovs backup. In Gigueres last 11 starts, he is 8-2-1. "Giggys a pro and hes a competitor. He gets in there and gives you a chance to win every night," Colorado defenceman Shane OBrien said. "Hes been great with Varly, and now hes playing a bit more and taking advantage of it. Theres a reason why he won a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy and why hes played as long as he has. Hes huge in the dressing room, hes huge on the bus and in the plane, and hes huge in net for us." Kings goalie Jonathan Quick came up short on his 26th birthday after stopping 28 shots. Colorados other goal was by Gabriel Landeskog on a power play with 1:57 to play. The Kings have scored fewer than three goals in 20 of Quicks 21 losses this season, including overtimes and shootouts. "I know hes frustrated, obviously, that were not scoring goals and supporting him," Justin Williams said. "Im sure hell never say that, but we have to do that for him -- as well as play good defence." The regulation loss was only the second by the Kings in 16 games since Darryl Sutter replaced Terry Murray as coach (8-2-6). The other one was a 1-0 defeat against Columbus in which Quick faced a season-low 18 shots. "It was definitely a playoff-style game," OBrien said. "Theyre a good team and theyve been playing extremely well, so we knew that we had to play well defensively. All year weve been stressing that, and were getting better as a team. Wayne Gretzky Jersey Giggys been great in net for us and were playing hard in front of him. Theres no secret to winning in this league. Youve got to play good solid defence, and were doing that right now." The Avalanche had a 10-3 advantage in shots on net when Los Angeles forward Dustin Penner received a double-minor at 12:02 of the first period for cutting Cody McLeod with a high stick. But the Kings vaunted penalty-killing unit kept the puck away from Quick while Penner was in the box, and Kyle Quinceys interference infraction nullified the final 49 seconds of the four-minute power play. In fact, Colorado didnt get another shot the rest of the period. The Kings werent doing any better in that department, getting only one shot on net over the final 15:21 of the opening period. They didnt get another one until Giguere stopped Dustin Browns point-blank attempt from 10 feet in the left circle and Anze Kopitar converted the rebound into a wide-open net at 5:34 of the second for his team-high 15th goal. "Its hard to get shots when you dont have everyone playing the right way," Brown said. "Its going to take 20 guys. Tonight I dont think we had 20. Im sure it will be clear on video, but we need more. Tonight we had some good lines, but you need four lines if you want to win games in this league." Colorado tied it at 13:35 of the second with McLeods third goal of the season. Defenceman Stefan Eliott was skating with the puck about 15 feet from his own blue line when he spotted McLeod breaking toward the Kings line and hit him with a perfect tape-to-tape pass as he entered the zone a step ahead of defencemen Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell. Quick backed up and McLeod stuffed the puck between his pads before crashing into the net. "It was a great pass, and thats what Ellie does. Hes an offensively gifted guy, and he sees guys who are open," OBrien said. "He made a great pass to Macker and then Macker did the rest. He went to the net hard, put the puck in and put Quick in. It was a huge goal for us." Notes: This was the third time Quick has played on his birthday in the NHL. In 2010, he beat Buffalo 4-3 in a shootout at Staples Center with 26 saves. In 2009 at Colorado, he beat the Avalanche 6-5 with 36 saves. No goalie has ever had a shutout on his birthday in a Kings uniform. ... The Avalanche are 6 for 46 on the power play over their last 17 games. They came in with a league-best 25.0 power play percentage on the road (17 for 68). ... D Jan Hejda was back in Colorado lineup after missing Wednesdays 4-3 overtime win at San Jose. He hit the left post with a 60-foot slap shot from the left point with 9:20 left in the first period. ... The Kopitar-Brown-Justin Williams line has 10 goals and 13 assists in the last seven games. ' ' '