After a LSF predicted 8-1 win on Wednesday afternoon (LSF only predicted the win, not the amazing win!), the Angels got some sweet action with the bats, on the base paths, and on the mound to eek out the 6-5 win and the 2-1 series victory against Andrew's Beast from the East.
It was billed as battle between Angels hopeful to be #1 John Lackey and Toronto's Midwest City, OK native Brian Tallet. Tallet didn't do his part, going 6 innings of 5 run ball (despite punching out 6), but Lackey pretty much did. Giant John finished 7 innings of 2 run ball, getting 6 Ks himself. The bullpen would come in and choke up the win, but that doesn't diminish his strong outing north of the boarder. Darren Oliver, who I've made sure to recognize for his solid hurling this season, had quite the unusually bad inning. Officially he pitched 0 innings, allowing 3 runs. The KC native gave up a huge double to Overbay for two runs, and then his helper Justin Speier allowed another run in relief on a sac fly with the bases loaded. Just like that, a solid outing my Lackey was spoiled and the game was tied at 5 after 8 innings. Man, were those Canucks pumped or what? Well, as you will see in the rest of the post, their excitement was all for not. Skipping slightly ahead, Brian "The Big Bad Wolf" Fuentes came in and got through a tough ninth, striking out the side, to earn his 14th save in 17 chances. See? Look beyond that 5.03 ERA to find that our BFF is doing better than you think.
Man, did this game start off well, or what? With Chone Figgins on, he stole second, and was banged home by Vlad. Then Vlad stole second, and was banged home by Torii. Then Torii stole second, and was doubled home by Juan "Latino Heat" Rivera. A 3-0 opening to start the game was pretty promising. Chonie would single home Quinlan in the fourth, and Mike Napoli would add a jack to left field in the sixth. That's how we got the first 5, but the sixth was the most exciting. I'd like to point out that I usually hate when Scioscia has the contact play on because it doesn't end well. This time, however, the baserunner observed the situation prior to making his move, and it paid off. With HK-47 on third base, Erick Aybar grounded into a double play that plated the go ahead run. It was a pretty exciting dash to the plate that sealed the deal. Of course, Jays coach Cito Gaston was bitter, "It was bad base running. He made it look interesting because he didn't break right away. He's got to go right away. I'm pretty sure if you guys go talk to Scioscia, he's probably wondering what the hell that kid was doing." Well, Cito, the media went and asked Mike, "Howie reacted and made a great read." F Gaston. The Angels had Chone Figgins (2 for 4), Vladdy (2 for 5), and Torii (2 for 4) earning the pancakes in the match. Nice to see Vlad back into things, and nice to see Bobby Abreu get a much earned day off. Mostly, I just loved the first inning base running. I didn't get to watch the game because I was at work, but I'm sure the announcers pointed out how that is totally Angels "small ball."
A steaming pile of poop to "superstar" Alex Rios. AR went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts in the game. Tough. Please also note that he had just 1 hit in the entire series. He's hitting .272. What's the big deal?
Also, I'd like to point out my desire for baseball to change the rules of the game. Why should Justin Speier get the "Win" in this game after giving up the sac fly that led to the game tying run being scored? That's really frustrating that a sucka' gets the benefit of a timely run by Howie Kendrick and a nice save by Fuentes.
The Angels are now 27-25 (with just a -5 run differential) and trail the Rangers by just 3.5 games. Don't look now, here we come! Seattle trails the Angels by 2, with Oakland back of the Angels by 3. Up tomorrow we have Ervin "The Year Before Last" Santana (0-2, 9.50) who just hasn't been very good since he came off the DL. There is really no way to get around it. Even the LA Times (and the beautiful writing of Bill Shaikin...sarcastic?) ran with the article, "Ervin isn't out of the rotation...yet." The story points out that Erv won't be yanked no matter what happens against Detroit tomorrow night, but he may be sent to the pen if he performs poorly tomorrow and in 6 days against Tampa Bay. Matt Palmer is always an option to get back into things, but the Angels also have Kelvim Escobar on track to start this Saturday against the Tigers. Hopefully Kelv will be nails (as I'm realizing that I don't even remember what he looks like!), but we also need Erv-Daddy to get on track after that huge contact we gave him. He'll be facing the Tiger's Justin Verlander (6-2, 3.63). At home this year, 'Lander is 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA, and he holds our leadoff man Figgins to a career .091 BA. The key just might be Figgy breaking out of that.
From the SportsPickle: "Overzealous French Open fans behead King of Clay Rafael Nadal."
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