The Angels traveled to the Trop on Tuesday afternoon, getting started moments before they picked their opening round draft picks, and the came away with a really solid 4-3 victory. Joe Maddon and Tampa pulled a little switch-a-roo on us, starting James Shields instead of Rice graduate Jeff Nieman (who will start tomorrow), but the Red Hats were up to the task. With Jered Weaver leading the charge, the Angels earned a big win against the defending American League Champions.
Big Baby Weaver has just been absolutely hot as a branding iron lately, as has been documented on this website, and he did not disappoint in this series opener. J Weav went 6 innings of 2 run ball, punching out 6, and allowing just 5 hits. He pitched a shutout effort through the first five innings, and just frustrated the hell out of the Rays. Even the two runs he allowed were given up on a) a RBI ground out and b) a sac fly. What are you going to do? Weaver has now only allowed 4 runs in the last 21 innings of play, and he pulled it off in this game despite mad sweat. "I was sweating. It probably got to me a little bit. I changed by shirt and jersey in about the third or fourth inning." Turn on the AC Maddon! The bullpen came out strong, with Darren Oliver going 1 inning of shutout ball, Jason Bulger semi redeeming himself with 1 inning of 1 run ball (an eighth inning jack to Zorbist), and a final inning of shutout ball by Brian Fuentes. Fuentes earned his 16th save on the year, after walking the leadoff hitter, and doubled up Carl Crawford to end the game (Crawford's first GIDP of the season!).
It was nice to get Torii Hunter back from his mild groin injury (although he'll take tomorrow off and come back Thursday), but he wasn't Mr. Action in this win. The Halos opened the first inning with runs again, getting two on a Vlad RBI single and JR RBI fielder's choice. Chone Figgins got into things with a sac fly in the fifth, and Abreu doubled home Figgins in the seventh to earn the fourth and final run. Figgins finished with a 2 for 4 night with 1 RBI and 2 runs, and was joined in the pancake club by BA (2 for 5, RBI), The Return of Vlad (2 for 4, RBI), good ol' JR (2 for 4, RBI), and Mr. Surprise Howie Kendrick (2 for 4). Interestingly enough, not a single Angel drew a walk, which has me slightly worried, but what are you going to do? I'm not really a fan of big criticisms after a win. By the way, two errors on the Rays in the opening frame helped us plate those opening runs. Jeff Mathis and Kendry Morales were the only Red Hats without a hit, but Kendry more than made up for that. With runners on first second late in the game, Kendry Morales snagged a crazy line drive hugging the first base line and doubled up the Rays runner to save the game. Take that Carlos Pena! And please, stand up against idiot Angel fans saying that Kendry has no glove skills; his fielding percentage is 99.4% with just 3 errors in 54 games.
Interesting news that the Angels recalled Kevin Jespen from the Bees and sent Jose Arredondo down. I guess JA Rule hasn't been in his 2008 form, going 1-3 with a 5.55 ERA in 24.3 innings. Hopefully he can get it back. Good thing the Angels didn't follow the advice of moronic Angel fans and make him the closer. Check back on LSF, I said he needed to have at least one more solid year to prove he was up to the task. So far, I'm right, but he'll be back in shape soon. Meanwhile, the Anaheim native Jeps is good enough, just don't pay attention to his 0-2/19.29 mark here in '09.
At 29-27, the Angels have crept up to just 3 games shy of the mighty Rangers. Seattle trails the Angels by 2, and the A's trail by 3. We're maintaining the -5 run differential, but that is going to need to get better for us to be an elite team. We have a damned good chance tomorrow afternoon. Big Daddy John Lackey (1-1, 5.13) will be looking to get back to his #1 status against T. Bay. John has given up 16 runs in his 5 starts this year, but was much improved in his last outing against Toronto (7 innings of 2 run ball in a 6-5 win). Still, he knows just like we do, that he needs to pick up the pace here to earn his $10 million. Houston, TX native Jeff Niemann (5-4, 3.77) will be facing off against Lackey, and we chronicled Niemann in the last Angel post, if you're interested. With Torii taking the day off tomorrow, we'll need an unusually hot day from Gary Matthews Jr.
Before I go, we're going to have to check out the Angels draft picks. They started with picks #24 and #25, and tried to address a power problem that fans constantly complain about. The first pick was compensation for losing Frankie Rodriguez to the Mets, and the Halos snagged outfielder Randal Grichuk from Rosenberg, TX. At 25, compensation for losing Teixiera to the other New York team, the Angels picked New Jersey outfielder Mike Trout (going for the same kind of love as Tim Salmon?). Grichuk is a 6-foot 185 pound corner outfielder with an impressive bat and speed. He ripped three jacks for Team USA to win the gold medal against Venezuela in the 2007 World Youth Championship, and will hopefully grow into a MLB slugger. Meanwhile, Trout it the total package. He was a shortstop and pitcher in high school, but is reported to be "an athlete" who can play any position. Trout hit .520 this season with 17 jacks in high school, and even went 5-1 with a 1.71 ERA on the mound. The Angels also picked up a pitcher named Tyler Skaggs, who you'd have to hope will make it all the way with a name like that. While high school talent doesn't mean even MiLB performance, one has to think of Hank Conger in 2006 and how quickly he's moving up the Angels ranks, and hope for big things for these first two guys. Fun stuff.
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