The Halos good, bad, and ugly.

I was all ready for the Angels to lose 2 out of 3 to the Yanks, get to a 9-11 record, and help me have a title for my post that would have read "9-11: Never Forget," or "Life after 9-11." Instead, we win the series against the Spanxx, get to 10-10, and the terroritsts won. Scott Kazmir had a much better game in the box score than it looked on the field, finishing up 5.3 innings of 4 run ball allowing just 3 hits. Of course, he handed out 4 free passes, allowed 2 jacks, and even beaned Robinson Cano. Thanks to an offensive explosion (8 runs on 7 hits) and a dominating bullpen (Bulger, Jeps, Rodney, and Gas Can going 3.67 innings of no hit ball). We've waited for the bullpen to come strong, and they certainly did yesterday...all over the face of the New York Yankees (inappropriate reference!). Meanwhile, Kendry Morales taught Joe Girardi and the Yankees a valuable lesson. Don't pitch to Bam Bam. In the 7th inning, with Hunter and Matsui on base, the Yanks decided to intentionally walk Morales with the score sitting on 5-4 in favor of the Angels. After the first ball, the Yankees changed their mind, and decided to go after K-M. Bad call. Morales poked a 400 foot bomb to left center and blew the roof off the place. Game over. Morales finished the game 3 for 3 with 3 RBI and a walk, while the combo of Jeter/Swisher/A-Rod/Teixeira went 0 for 13. 

There was much more good, bad, and ugly stuff from the weekend series that we can explore.

Good:

-- Kendry Morales, as mentioned, was a total stud this weekend. How about going 7 for 10 with 6 RBI in a huge 3 game series against a team like New York? Bam Bam is now hitting .329/6/16, just completely leading this team onward to victory.

-- The bullpen in the wins was no hit city. Brian "Tito" Fuentes quietly earned a perfect save in the ninth inning Friday night. No one really cared, despite drilling him last week for blowing one against Detroit. The rest of the hurlers were on point in relief of our starters. On Friday, it was Jeps/Rodney/Tito providing three innings of no hit ball. On Saturday, Scott Shields and Brian Stokes combined for 3 innings of 1 run ball, with Stokes contributing 2 innings of 1 hit/shutout ball. And, as mentioned, the staff was flawless on Sunday, wit 3.67 innings of no hit ball. Very nice to see it coming together, and to slowly start seeing Shields getting back into the groove. 

-- Brandon Wood makes a good list!! A 2 run double in the fourth inning gave the Angels the lead, and would really be the big moment in the big 4th inning that turned the game in the Halo's favor. Finishing 1 for 4 in the game, Woody went 2 for 7 in his 2 games played this weekend, and has "improved" to .113/0/2 on the year. Certainly not the start he was looking for, but he's +.100, and we should be proud and expectant of a better May.

Bad: 

-- La Piñata got straight killed in the 1-7 loss on Saturday, going 6 innings of 6 run ball, allowing 11 hits and only punching out 2. And that's despite his usual ground ball/fly ball ratio, which sat at 11/4. The sinker wad working, but so were the Yankees' bats.

-- The top of the order went 1 for 10 over the weekend. The combo of Aybar (2 games) and Ma$e (1 game) at the top of the lineup turned out a .100 batting average in the series. How can we eat dinner, if the table isn't set? EA is now hitting .246, while Izzy is hitting .219. Hm.

-- Mike Napoli went 1 for 7 in the series, and his season is now looking like .156/0/2. The unfortunate injury to the red hot Jeff Mathis was supposed to be the chance hardcore Nap fans would have to show he was the man needed in the lineup. Jacks were always your proof. Where did they go? I still support Napoli, since he's an Angel, but we sure are missing Math right now, eh?

Ugly:

-- The collision between Mark Teixeira and Bobby Wilson has to be the lone point in the final category. Many around the "real" media are complaining about the hit. Many say that while it wasn't dirty, it may have been motivated by A) Mark's awful start to the year and B) Ervin beaning him earlier in the inning. Whatever the motivation, it sucked that Bobby Wilson got knocked the fuck out (I believe the explative is warranted based on the hit). Was it dirty? Probably not. Even Scioscia said it was a clean hit after the game, and while I don't generally agree with his decisions, he'll usually speak out in this kind of situation if it was really dirty. Just a tough play, and a bad situation. At least Wilson doesn't remember what happened. Get well soon Bobby, Napoli needs some help.

Now we're 10-10, 2 games back of 12-8 Oakland, and half a game up on the 2010 AL West Champions from Seattle (9-10). With the Indians rolling into town (8-10), we may have a little chance to get closer to that AL West lead. Tonight, it's Big Baby (2-0, 2.77) against David "Who Am I?" Huff (1-2, 3-flat). The Indians have been shut out in three of their last five games, and there couldn't be a better time to put some distance between us and the .500 mark.

Good luck, boys.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē