I can’t remember the last time I saw a televised baseball game from start to finish. Sometime in 2009, I guess it would be. I’ve seen stretches of playoff games, while in Abu Dhabi, but the time differences are so weird that I inevitably miss the start of a game or its finish.

So I felt a little bit privileged to sit in Long Beach and watch the Angels and Rangers play Game 4 of their series from beginning to end, considering that the Angels may have saved their season as I stared at the TV. They at least extended the meaningful portion of it.

The situation: Key four-game series with the Texas Rangers, who had suddenly gotten out to a four-game lead over your gutty little Angels, the hitless wonders. Texas took the first three games with various degrees of emphatic/telling victories, and the Angels were seven games out with one game left in the series.

And a meaningful game it was, too, because a loss would drop them eight back with 37 to play — which is significantly worse than the six games they would be back if they could win. Eight back after a four-game sweep? That’s when you start to think “season over.” Six back? Still have a shot.

Through eight innings, it looked as if Jered Weaver’s latest strong outing would be wasted by the typically feeble Angels offense. Mike Napoli hit a home run, his 20th (and can we agree that the trade of Napoli and Juan Rivera to Toronto for Vernon Wells was the Angels’ worst deal of recent vintage?), and it was 1-0 going to the bottom of the ninth.

With newly acquired Mike Adams trying to close out the Angels (because Neftali Perez was unavailable), Torii Hunter singled to lead off, extending his hitting streak to 16 games. That brought up Mark Trumbo, who is essentially the only regular who has a reasonable chance of providing instant offense. (With 23 homers and 68 RBI, Trumbo is on pace to become the first rookie to lead his team in those two stats since Jody Gerut of the Indians in 2003, which is interesting but also a little creepy, considering what Gerut did in subsequent years.)

Trumbo got a slider on the inner half of the plate, and the big boy got a good hack on it, and the only question was whether it would stay fair. A similar blast by him had hooked foul earlier in the game.

This one stayed fair, the Trumbo circled the bases and his teammates were waiting to congratulate him, albeit at a safe distance from home plate, the club having learned the hard way (see: Kendrys Morales) not to pound on a guy while he’s running, and the Angels are Not Dead Yet.

The baseball season is 162 games, so identifying a “turning point” often is impossible or even silly. But if the Angels somehow win the American League West and make the playoffs, it will be very tempting to look back at this one and say, “That is when the comeback began. August 18, bottom of the ninth, two-run homer by the rookie, six games out stead of eight.”

A good game to see.