ANAHEIM, Calif. -- It's Aug. 7, the day of his 32nd birthday, and Mike Trout finds himself in a race against time.
He wears a backward cap and a red Los Angeles Angels tank top and sprints along the basepaths at 2 o'clock on a bright, sweltering Monday afternoon, doing his best to simulate game action on an otherwise empty field. Trout has spent the better part of a month doing everything possible to beat the six-to-eight-week timetable that has become a standard-bearer for hamate fractures, pushing the limits of his rehab in hopes of returning before an entire season -- another one -- slips away.