It was an earlier than usual game between the Angels and Mariners at SafeCo, and to try and quell the recent media love for the red hot SoDo MoJo (sorry, but I have Mariner loving family in Washington, so I know their nicknames), the Angels were looking to bring the heat. Things were going well enough, with Shane Loux pitching over his head and the offense matching up with Griffey and the blue hats, but a sad guffaw by Scot Shields in the bottom of the tenth allowed a walk off Mariner win.
It was a tough start for the Angels rookie and Rapid City, SD native pitcher. A bumpy first inning resulted in a fielder's choice RBI by Adrian Beltre that allowed the M's to jump out to the early lead. Shane would setting down, though, giving up just one more run in the fifth on a single by Endy Chavez. In the end Loux finished with 5.3 innings of 2 run ball, punching out 2 and walking one. Not a bad start. However, not as sweet as the relief work by Kansas City boy Darren Oliver. DO went 3 innings out of the bullpen, shuting out Seattle, allowing just 1 hit, and punching out 4. What the hell? I thought that DO was only good after the all star break! Stud! Meanwhile, the bats were fairly decent, with Vlad grounding out to score Howie from third base in the fourth (to tie the game), and Torii Hunter hitting a jack to deep left in the sixth (again, to tie the game). With solid relief from both teams, we went to extra innings. Enter Scot "Gas Can" Shields. In the bottom of the tenth, Franlink Gutierrez led off with a deep double over Torii's head straight up the pipe. The next batter was the only guy I like on Seattle (besides Griff), Yuniesky Betancourt, and he laid down the bunt heard round the AL West tonight. Shields picked up the bunt and air mailed the easy throw to first into the crowd, and the game was all over, 2-3.
Time for the take that of the post. Adrian Beltre, who for some reason gets every one to say how great he is (ESPN called him "the best third baseman in the AL"), finished the night 0 for 4. TAKE THAT!
The loss has slammed the Angels back below .500 at 3-4, with a 2.5 game deficit looking up to the heroes from Seattle and their 6-2 effort so far. I think we need to pick up the pace, eh? Well, we can start tomorrow in a battle with one of our favorite former Halo pitchers. The Mariners Jarrod Washburn takes the bump tomorrow evening at SafeCo to battle Jered Weaver and the red hats. Both pitchers had a fairly awesome effort in their first game of the season. Wash went 8 innings of shutout ball in a 2-0 win against the Twins, and Big Baby (who I think had that nickname prior to Glen Davis) pitched 6.67 strong shutout innings against Boston in a game that ended in a 6-3 win. Is this the clash of the pitching titans we've been waiting for this season? All I know is that we don't want to drop that far below .500 here while we wait for Lackey, Ervin, and Esco to rejoin the squad.
I'm wanting to do a "hero of the game" nominee when the Angels win and a "blame of the game" nominee when we lose, if I can remember. Give your votes to the comments section, if you want. Blame of the game nominees: 1) Scot Shields ("Nice toss, buddy"), 2) HK-47 (a rare 0 for 3 night with 5 LOB), and 3) Mike "Rotini" Napoli (0 for 5? Where are all those jacks?).
I'd like to give love to the MLB for suspending Josh Beckett for six games today after reviewing his intentional throw at the head of Bobby Abreu the other day. Good call. Now, I think we have waited long enough to explore the decision of the Angels to fill the role lost by Nick Adenhart, God rest his soul. Will Darren Oliver get a spot start? Did he pitch 3 innings of shutout ball in Seattle this afternoon to prove that he can stretch himself out and do well? It would be an interesting option that would shock most Angel fans, but I'm ready to see the big Missourian who hasn't started a game since 2004. Looking at SLC, other viable options would be Anthony Ortega (1-0, 1.80 in AAA this year) and little known Camden, ME native Mike MacDonald (0-0, 3.60, 4 K in 5 innings). We'll have to wait and see, probably until Saturday's match against the Twinkies.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are in the middle of their penultimate game, tied at 95 with the Sixers with about 3 minutes to go. This could be a big game, in reality, as the C's and the 76'ers are likely to be battling each other in the 2/7 first found matchup soon. The C's are 3-0, and are going to try and make it 4-0 throughout the regular season, so it should be an easy playoff run in round 1, eh?
0 comments:
Post a Comment