Juan Rivera, my hero.

O ye of little faith. The Angels were down 1-4 to the hated Blue Hats, with the Dodgers "best" pitcher on the mound, only to stage an epic comeback the size of Mt. Rushmore and win the opening game of the series 5-4. 

With Joe Saunders on the hill, I had plenty of faith that we would win our seventh consecutive game. We did, but he didn't have a whole lot to do with it. Joey had trouble finding the strike zone all evening long, just doing enough to keep our boys in the game. In the end, he finished with 6.3 innings of 4 run work, punching out 4 but allowing 2 jacks. He also walked a runner in with the bases loaded. Props to Loney and "Pur-call" for ripping bombs. I'll admit, I wasn't too hopeful turning things over to the bullpen with a dramatic comeback needed. But, you can believe it or not, the bullpen was magical. The combination of Jason Bulger (0.67 innings of shutout ball), Darren Oliver (0.67 innings of shutout ball), Justin Speier (0.3 really scary innings of shutout ball to earn the win...somehow), and Brian "Who is Frankie?" Fuentes (1 inning of shutout ball for his AL League leading 19th save). "The Amazin' Billingsley," by the way, went just 6 innings of 4 run ball (3 earned). What's the big deal (he says sarcastically)?

We are watching a team, in the Angels, that remind me of the 2002 World Championship squad in this way: The offense doesn't give up. I am starting to get that feeling, and yes I know this may only be because I am in the middle of a 7 game winning streak, that the Angels are never going to lose no matter the situation. I haven't had that feeling since the regular season of 2002. It helps when Juan Rivera is just a stud. I don't care if you believe me, but when the Angels traded Jose Guillen for Maicer Izturis and Juan Rivera, I said it was one of the most underrated moves in a long time. And when you look at JR, Ma$e, and Guillen at this point, I'd have to say that I was right. Juan Rivera came up against Mota in the bottom of the eighth and did the whole, "I'm going to foul off a million pitches before hitting a jack" thing. He bombed the ball into the left field bleachers, and the entirety of Angels Nation knew that we had this one in the bag. Joining JR (.316/10/36) in the VIP club for last night were the still surprisingly incredible Chone Figgins (2 for 3 with a walk) and Vlad (2 for 4 with 1 RBI). However, I have to give huge love to Mighty Maicer for coming away with a clutch one out 2 run hit in the sixth that really opened the door for the comeback. It was simply huge. Noticeably absent was Bobby Abreu with his 0 for 3 night, but how can one complain after a night like this? 

Thanks to the San Francisco Giants, no hard feelings after the sweep, the Angels and their 36-29 record have pulled to within just 0.5 games of the AL West leading Rangers. This streak has been mighty fun. The Mariners sit 4 games back of the Halos with the A's trailing my boys by 7.5. I've followed the run differential quite a bit, as you know, and the Angels have completely turned this thing around, now running at a +9. Keep up the good work! Tonight, we have a pretty damned good chance to take over the AL West lead, wouldn't you say? This is going to be a really fun game. Jered "Big Baby" Weaver (7-2. 2.08) goes head to head with Jeff "Traded Straight Up For Terry Evans" Weaver (3-1, 3.72) in a battle of brothers that is must watch TV. Our Weaver, as has been documented on this blog repeatedly, holds the #1 spot in the AL for WHIP (1.00), the #2 spot for ERA (2.08), and is #2 in complete games (3). The Angels have come away with the win in the last 5 games pitched by Jered. He hasn't allowed more than 4 runs in a game all season, and has allowed this many in order lately: 0, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 4, 0. That is his earned runs in all his starts this year. Are you kidding me? Is anyone besides me talking about Cy Young?  I know that Greinke is 8-3 with a 1.96 ERA, but he's from Orlando, so F him. Right, Lakers fans? 

Predictions? Angels 6, Dodges 1.