Like I said, the offense is not the problem. The Angels finally got back home last night and just completely "effed up" the Padres in a battle between the AL & NL West. Matt Palmer improved to 6-0 in his triumphant return to the rotation, the Halos scored 11 runs on 18 hits (with just 2 home runs!), and my guys beat the Padres by a resounding score of 11-6.
Move over history. Matt Palmer became the second starting pitcher in franchise history to win his first six decisions with the club, following the lead of Jered Weaver. Sorry Bo Belinsky, but these guys are the legends now. Palmer was just himself, going 6 innings of 4 run ball (3 earned) with 3 punch outs and 3 free passes. Okay, so a lot of people think Palm Tree is a fluke because of wins in games like this. I mean, he gave up 10 hits and 3 walks in six innings and come away with the win. Can you blame the guy for getting run support? Have you actually watched him pitch? This guy seems to dominate at times, and I'm not really sure how anyone isn't a fan of MP. The bullpen of Darren Oliver (2 runs allowed in his inning), Justin Speier (1 shutout inning), and Jason Bulger (struck out the side in his perfect inning) did enough to keep the game squarely in the Angels hands, and Matt Palmer earned win number 6. One more and he breaks the Angels all-time record! His big chance comes Wednesday against the Giants.
Let's focus on the mega-sweet offense that my boys brought to the table. First off, thanks to the Padres for starting former Oakland A's hurler Chad Gaudin. We killed him when he was in the AL West, and we killed him last night. Let's start with the VIP club: Chone Figgins (3 for 5 with 3 runs), Bobby Abreu (3 for 4 with 3 RBI), Kendry Morales (2 for 4 and a bomb), Mighty Maicer (4 for 4 with 2 runs and a RBI), and even Erick Aybar (2 for 4 with 2 RBI). That is far and away the largest Angels VIP club of the season! Not a single starter went 0'fer in the game, and the bats were just hot. How about Ma$e's triple? How about Torii's first inning bomb? How about the five runs in the fourth inning with seemingly a hit after a hit after a hit? It just couldn't get any better. Gaudin only made it 3 innings of 8 run ball, and the squad ousted him off the hill. However, the bigger news about the offense was what happened after the game, and I'm questioning the call.
I thought during the game, "Hm, I wonder why Ma$e is playing second base?" Then he got 4 hits in 4 at bats, and I forgot all about my pre game question. Then it came to me. The Angels demoted my favorite player to AAA. That's right, the HK-47 Howie Kendrick has been optioned to the Salt Lake Bees. Mike "Lorri" Scioscia explained the move, "We feel it's time for Howie to go down and just take a little pressure off of him, let him exhale a little bit, get some at bats and find his swing. Hopefully it's going to be a big turnaround, but it's tough to search for it up here. I know he's pressing." My boy responded with, "We're trying to win games here, and if they need to make a move, I'm okay with that. You never want to hear this type of news, but it could be positive. I'll go down and try to find myself, start attacking balls in the zone and be the same hitter I was. Hopefully, this well be a reality check for me. Sometimes we make the game harder than it is, and that's what I'm doing right now." At least my man HK is maintaining the right attitude about the move. However, is this really the answer? I've always questioned if sending someone down to "find their swing" actually works. I mean, he's not a minor leaguer trying to make it big and having a tough time, he's a big time hitter who is off to a slow start. Did we send Steve Finley down to AAA when he was having a tough time? Or GMJ? No. Interesting. Of course, everyone around Angels Nation thinks that Brandon Wood is going to get the call up, but who knows. B Wood could play short stop with Aybar and Izzy trading off second base duties until Howie comes back from his demotion. However, Wood is hitting .299/14/35 (only 36 strikeouts in 44 games!), and my main man Sean "HR-Rod" Rodriguez is hitting .273/21/60 (with 68 strikeouts in 57 games). HR-Rod plays second base naturally and could trade time with Izzy while Izzy and Aybar could trade off at SS. Then again, the Angels brass could shock all of us and go with Terry Evans (.293/14/41), who continues to be the best part of the straight up trade for Jeff Weaver a while ago. Who knows, but let's all pray that Howie gets called back up right quick.
Once again above .500, the 30-29 Angels have taken second place over again. Trailing the Rangers by 4.5 games, the Halos now lead Seattle by 1 and Oakland by 3.5. Tonight is the big Saturday night game between Joey Saunders (6-4, 3.94) and Rusty Greer. Oh wait, I mean Josh Geer (1-1, 5.60) This is the second graduate of Rice University that the Halos will face this week, and hopefully it goes better than the Rays debacle. In his last three starts, Geer has allowed 13 runs, and he hasn't tasted victory since May 23 against the Cubbies. Meanwhile, our very own Mr. Hokie has been having a well documented rough time as of late as well. Joey hasn't smelled a win since May 21 against Seattle, and has allowed 13 runs in his last 3 starts as well. The Angels are 1-4 in Saunder's last 5 starts, and the Angels went 4-1 in his starts prior to that. Can he right the ship? His ERA dips to 3.15 at home here in 2009, but he's going to have to overcome his 7.94 June ERA to work his way toward a victory. Luckily, we're playing against the Padres.
Let's take a quick minor league stroll here on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. The Salt Lake Bees dropped an exciting 11 inning bash against the Reno Aces last night, with 6 runs scored between the two teams in the 11th. The Bees thought they had pulled out the win scoring 2 runs in the top half only to see reliever Jeremy Hill blow it by allowing 4 in the eleventh, which is pretty uncharacteristic for him (1-2, 2.89). Playing first base, Brandon Wood gets player of the game with a 2 for 5 night with 2 RBI to raise his average to an aforementioned .299. Respect to Brad Knox, the Bees starter, who lasted 5 innings of 1 run ball despite walking 5 and only punching out 2. The Bees are now 35-27 (1 game back of the lead). Meanwhile, the AA Travs got defeated in both games of a double header against NW Arkansas. The scored zero runs in the first game, but earned a couple in the second, with Anaheim native 1B Mark Trumbo getting player of the game with a 2 RBI pinch hit. Tough luck loss to Amalio Diaz, who pitched 5 innings of 2 run ball, punching out 4 to drop to 1-4 with a 5.44 ERA. Out east, Rancho completed the triple loss for our major minor league clubs. The single-A Quakes dropped a 3-6 decision to the Bakersfield Blaze (which I believe is a reference to all of the meth being smoked out there). Player of the game honors go to USC graduate Hector Estrella and his sacrifice ground out RBI. Starter Robert "Reel Big" Fish didn't have a great game, dropping to 1-5 after 7 innings of 4 run ball, but reliever Ryan Brasier was big time going 2 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just 1 hit and punched out 4 to make Wichita Falls, TX proud. Low- Cedar Rapids lost as well, so it's a good thing the Angels big boys won.
470 blog posts, 35 tweets, and an Andrew/Jon/Brandon post strike of just 3 days? The LSF is in full swing, baby.
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