HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros dont have enough time for their bats to go quiet like they did Thursday night.Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Ricky Nolasco pitched seven solid innings, helping the Los Angeles Angels hinder the Astros wild-card hopes with a 2-0 victory.The Angels ended an 11-game skid and pushed Houston 1 1/2 game behind the Tigers for the second AL wild card.Were not perfect, Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. I dont know if anybody is going to run the table, and I think losses anytime of the year hurt. These obviously hurt when youre glued to whats going on.Pujols homered into the Crawford Boxes in left field, helping Los Angeles move to 2-11 against the Astros this season.Its nice to win, Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. We have played some tough games. Those guys have had our number. Theyre a tough team. They have played well against us, but we are going to keep playing hard.Nolasco (7-14) gave up five singles and struck out five. He did not allow a baserunner past second. Nolasco had a second straight scoreless start after throwing six shutout innings Saturday against Toronto.I was spinning the ball pretty good, Nolasco said. I thought I was feeling the strike zone for the most part. I was challenging with fastballs when I had to. I was pitching off some good breaking balls to keep them off balanced.JC Ramirez pitched the eighth before Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his fifth save.Mike Fiers (11-8) allowed two runs and four hits with a season-high nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.We knew in April losing to any team in our division was a big loss, Fiers said. Obviously coming down here in September it seems bigger but its one game.The right-hander retired 13 straight at one point. Fiers had his second straight strong outing after throwing six scoreless innings Saturday in Seattle.Just came out of the gate slow and made too many mistakes in the first inning, Fiers said. Pujols capitalized on a first-pitch fastball and after that I settled in and got my pitches working and kept them off-balance for the most part.Jose Altuve had three hits for Houston, which grounded into three double plays.We couldnt piece an inning together where we had multiple hits in a row or multiple baserunners, Hinch said. There was always something in the way either too late after a couple outs or starting something up with two outs and then them making a big pitch at the right time.TRAINERS ROOMAngels: LHP Tyler Skaggs (left forearm tightness) played catch and will throw some bullpens in the coming week. Hes symptom free, but we are going to obviously be very conservative where his treatment is now to make sure that this doesnt re-occur or turn into anything bigger, Scioscia said. Right now he feels great.Astros: RHP Lance McCullers, who has been out since Aug. 2 with a mild right elbow strain, threw a full bullpen Thursday. McCullers was pain free and will have another bullpen in a few days.BROWN RETIRESHouston Astros TV play-by-play announcer Bill Brown will retire this month. The 69-year-old Browns final scheduled broadcast will be the last regular season home game, Sept. 28 against the Mariners. Brown started with the Astros in 1987 and has called games for them for nearly 30 years.PUJOLS MOVING UP THE CHARTSPujols two RBI broke a tie with Frank Robinson for 20th on the career list. His 116 RBI this season are his most since driving in 118 in 2010. The home run was Pujols 53rd against the Astros.UP NEXTAngels: RHP Alex Meyer (1-3, 5.63) will make his fifth start of the season and fourth for the Angels on Friday. Meyer earned his first career win in his last start Sunday, tossing five shutout innings against Toronto.Astros: RHP Doug Fister (12-12, 4.45) will make his 31st start of the season Friday, looking to snap a four-game losing streak. Fister allowed seven runs in less than four innings Sunday at Seattle. Wholesale Nike Air Max . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Discount Air Max Online . LOUIS -- St. http://www.wholesaleairmax.us/ .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. Cheap Air Max Wholesale . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Authentic Air Max Outlet . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. LAS VEGAS -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied the Vegas Golden Knights trademark application a little more than two weeks after the new NHL franchise unveiled its name and logo.The office cites potential confusion with the team name for the College of Saint Rose in New York, which is also the Golden Knights. The Las Vegas franchise is set to take the ice next season.NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league will formally respond by a June 7 deadline outlining why it believes the name should be registered in co-existence with that of Saint Rose just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports (particularly where there is no overlap as to the sport for which the nickname is being used).We consider this a routine matter and it is not our intention to reconsider the name or logo of this franchise, Daly said Wednesday. We fully intend to proceed as originally planned, relying on our common law trademark rights as well as our state trademark registrations while we work through the process of addressing the question raised in the federal applications.David Alexander, assistant athletic director for communications at the College of Saint Rose, said the schools trademark was registered in 2004. He declined to say how the college would react if the NHL franchise continued to pursue its application to use the nickname.Its only the first period, I dont want to get too far ahead, Alexander said.Saint Rose does not have a hockey team.We have a registered trademark. We lovve the name, Alexander said.dddddddddddd Fifteen years ago we redesigned the logo and wanted a trademark to specifically protect our brand. The logo represents the spirit of the school.The patent office said the similarities were too many to overlook.In this case, the marks are identical in part, sharing the same dominant wording and overall commercial impression, it said in denying the application. The nature of the applicants and registrants services is similar; both offer sports entertainment of a kind available in the same venues, broadcast on television, and are generally available to the same class of consumers. Accordingly, the examining attorney concludes that there is a likelihood of confusion between the applicants and registrants marks.The team told Sports Illustrated it found the patent office decision not at all unusual and said the official response would be crafted with help of legal counsel .Clarkson University in northern New York has a Division I hockey team nicknamed the Golden Knights. The school has not trademarked the name, and Kelly Chezum, vice president for external relations, said the college entered into a peaceful coexistent agreement with the owner of the new NHL team in Las Vegas earlier this year. Chezum said she knew there was a possibility of questions regarding the nickname and took a proactive stance.---AP Sports Writer John Kekis contributed to this report. ' ' '