Honestly, beating the Mariners is almost as sweet as beating the A's. The Angels pulled a huge 10-0 shutout win over the M's in their series opener, with Joey Saunders going big, and Vlad going yard (which, interestingly enough, was my old AIM screen name).
Continuing his triumphant return from the "hurt pride DL," Big Joe Saundo went 7 big time innings of 3 hit shutout ball against the hated Mariners, and led the way for a big Halo victory. He was backed up on the back end by Trevor Bell's first relief appearance, as he went 2 innings of near perfect ball (0 hits/runs, 3 Ks, and 1 BB). Joe Saunders, however, is the focus of the hurling after this 9 innings, and he has now gone 12 innings of 2 run ball in his last two starts, placing his hope squarely in getting into that all important playoff rotation. What do you think? At 11-7 with a 5.02 ERA, Saunders isn't having nearly the season he had in '08, but he is somehow hanging in there lately, and has a pretty solid shot at getting in there in the second season, right? Meanwhile, the offense was dead on last night, getting 10 runs on 13 hits.
Vladdy was once again the solid force in the lineup, going 3 for 4 with 4 RBI, hitting 2 jacks to continue his blistering pace since coming off of the DL. Big Baby G was helped out by Chone Figgins (2 for 5), Magic Juan'd (2 for 5 with 3 RBI on his fifth inning jack), Kendry Morales (3 for 4), and even Howie Kendrick (2 for 4 with 2 RBI). This lineup is rolling, with 19 runs in the last 2 games. This was the largest blowout of Seattle since 1997, when the Halos won 18-3 at home. That game featured Chuck "Fin To Win" Finley as the winning pitcher, and Gary DiSarcina leading the way with a 4 for 6 game, including 4 RBI. Would you believe that our starting outfield back then was GA, Jim Edmonds, and Tony Phillips? All that, and we went 10 for 24 with runners in scoring position. Take it M's!
As I type, Ervin is engaged in a pitching duel with rookie Doug Fister (don't even get me started on coming up with a nickname for this guy). The Angels and M's are tied at 1 going into the seventh inning stretch, and it is really anyone's game. Tonight's result notwithstanding, the Angels are 78-52, with a 5 game lead over the Rangers. The Rangers somehow won both games of a double header against the Blue Jays, which has them back into things, but if the Angels can pull things together in the last couple of innings tonight, we'll be up by 5.5 heading into bedtime. Tomorrow's game is going to be pretty damned exciting. Scott Kazmir (8-7, 5.92) will be making his Halo debut against King Felix (13-5, 2.77). Our newest Houston native Kaz is turning things around lately, with his former team going 4-2 over his last 6 games, and has only allowed 7 runs in his last 19.67 innings. Can he bring the Angels the extra pitching we need to make our playoff push? Meanwhile, the M's are 4-2 in King Felix's last 6 starts as well. He's allowed 10 runs in his last 27 innings, and you never know when he's going to have a sweet game. Hopefully Kaz can out duel him to make us all proud.
However, a new addition to the Kazmir deal has this Angel fan questioning this whole thing. You can read here to find out how I felt about the deal when it got pulled off. There, of course, was the lovely "player to be named later." Well, they named the player to be named later today, and it was none other than my former Rancho man crush Sean "HR Rod" Rodriguez. Really guys? I've been pulling for this guy for years, he's been getting his shot lately and making good use of it, and now he's gone. I still feel that Rod is going to be bigger than Brandon Wood, and stand by that assessment, so it will be interesting to see who has the better Major League numbers come 2011 or so. Kazmir is going to have to be nuts, heads above where he has been this season so far, to make me forget about Seanie, and I hope he does it. Meanwhile, if I'm watching Sports Center in 2011 and I see HR Rod going 4 for 5 against the Red Sox to lead the Rays to victory, I might start crying.
As usual, when a player I love departs a team I love, here is the You Tube tribute video. Love the pink.
0 comments:
Post a Comment