After taking three out of four from Kansas City and sweeping Seattle, the Angels continued their late season push with a series opening win against the hated Chicago White Sox with a 7-1 blowout. The win helped push the Halos to a 5.5 game lead over the Rangers, continued our stranglehold on a playoff spot, and put a big block in the White Sox post season dreams. It was a beautiful big bang kind of Friday night.
Isn't is just great to see Joe Saunders kicking butt since coming off the injured ego DL? Big Joe stepped up to the rubber and pitched another solid game to get his fourth straight outing since coming off the DL, and his timely resurgence couldn't be any better. The Colonel went 7 strong innings of 1 run ball, allowing just 3 hits, while punching out 3 in his winning effort. He boosts his record to 13-7, despite most realizing that he's had a tough go of things in 2009, and all of Angels Nation knows that he needs to be spot on if we want to move on through the post season. The bullpen effort was nearly perfect. Jason Bulger didn't get much of a chance to do anything, getting an out and giving up a hit before being lifted in favor of Darren Oliver. Everyone's favorite KC native came in to finish the inning, and gave way to Jose Arredondo in the ninth. 'Dondo pitched a perfect inning, showing that he still has something in the tank from his amazing break out season last year. All in all, the Black Sox were only able to muster up 1 run on 5 hits (coming on a Nix jack in the third), and the Angels offense was able to step it up and bring the Red Hats the win.
7 runs on 10 hits, including a nice three run 5th, and the Angels waltzed their way to a series opening win. The offense was sparked by Mighty Maicer Izturis and his 3 for 4 evening with 2 RBI and 2 runs. Ma$e was electric in the two hole, chipping in a two run double in the fifth that really broke the game open. Izzy was joined by Vlad (by the way, I laughed out loud when I saw a sign in the crowd that said, "Vladdy The Daddy"- must have been an ESL student) who went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and Juan Rivera who went 2 for 4 with 1 RBI. Honorable mention has to go to Figgy (0 for 2 with 2 walks and 2 runs), and Bobby "El Comedulce" Abreu (who got 2 RBI without a hit on a RBI ground out and a sac fly). Let's take a quick look at the middle infield battle that we have had going on all season. Between Erick Aybar, Maicer Izturis, and Howie Kendrick, only two can play each night. So, once we get to the playoffs, should we continue the carousel or make a decision and run with it? Well, EA Sports is hitting .306 this season (.350 OBP) and has 63 runs and 53 RBI. He will primarily be the shortstop, but can be swapped out with Izzy if it is needed. Izzy is ripping .297 this year (.358 OBP) with 66 runs and 57 RBI. The numbers are pretty damned close if you are trying to pick who is better. Maybe the fact that Aybar has played in 119 games to Ma$e's 99, and that leads you to think that Izturis is quietly having the better year. My main man HK-47 has really turned up the heat since returning from his AAA trip earlier in the year. Howie is going .292 in this campaign (.335 OBP) with 54 runs and 52 RBI in 89 games. Despite the fact that HK is my favorite Angels, I think on behalf of Angels Nation, I would have to put out a call to Mike "Lorii" Scioscia to have Aybar start at SS and Izzy start at 2B throughout the playoffs, with Howie spelling if needed and coming in off the bench for pop later in the game (he has 8 jacks, which is equal to Ma$e and +3 on EA). Who would have thought that I would have decided that, right?
The win has boosted the Angels to 30 games over .500 with an 85-55 record. The lead in the AL West improves to 5.5 games over Texas, with the Rangers raining out. Seattle is now back by 13.5, with Choke-land sitting 21.5 in the rear. We still hold the 2nd best record in the MLB (behind the Yankees and well ahead of the Cards/Dodgers). Plus, we have improved out run differential to +107, which is ridiculous if you look back on my posts to see where we've been. That is the fourth best run differential in the bigs, behind LA (+146), New York (+142), and Boston (+109). The Angels will look to keep the good times rolling today (actually the game is already underway) against the Sox with Ervin "Black Magic" Santana (7-8, 5.69) going against John Danks (12-9, 3.84). Danks, the Austin native, has seen the Sox go 5-5 over his last 10 outings, but he has only allowed more than 4 runs in a game just once over those last 10. So, if the Chicago bats can swing, Danks is in business. However, he is 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA against the Halos this year (allowing 10 runs in 12.3 innings), and hopefully he'll get touched up again. Ervin, meanwhile, has hit a rough patch all of the sudden. After seeing the Angels win 5 straight El Rosario starts, we've now witnessed 3 straight losses. However, two of those games saw Erv give up just 2 and 1 run respectively. This time around, the Red Hat bats are swinging a little more effectively, and the run support should be there if Erv pitches well.
Since the game already started, I can tell you that Chicago leads 3-0 in the bottom of the third, despite the Angels looking pretty solid on offense so far (Chone is 2 for 2, Abreu & HK are 1 for 1). Scott Podsednik hit an inside the park jack, and that's really why we're down. Those hurt. A comeback seems to be in store.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame is up 20-14 on Michigan with 24 seconds to go in the first half. Can't wait for the finish!
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