Hopefully the Simpsons reference is appreciated. Brian Fuentes came back off the DL and got a rude welcome in a tight situation, giving up a game tying jack and an eventual game winning RBI hit for the Tigers last night. I'm sure you can picture the chorus of boos raining down from the upper decks at The Stadium last night, and even better, the calls to local sports talk radio to put Fernando Rodney back in the closer role. Um, Fuentes was the MLB save leader last year. He blows a save and we're supposed to cast him back to Rancho? We win 5 in a row, and all of the sudden you get greedy and expect to beat a team with Miguel Cabrera when you only score 3 runs and don't have a single player with a multi-hit game. Just a week ago, we couldn't buy a win, what's with these bandwagoners? Well, put down the suicide axe, while we explore why this one loss doesn't make life not worth living.
-- Starting pitching: We be rolling. Even in last night's loss, Jered "Ace" Weaver tossed 7 innings of 2 run ball. It was the sixth straight awesome outing for a Halo starter, and seventh nice start in the last eight games. Surely a bullpen is going to cost you some wins on the back end, but if you have this kind of stellar starting pitching day in and day out, you're going to be winning way more often than not. It makes you optomistic for every game against any opponent.
-- Baserunning: Has anyone noticed, because no one is talking about it. During the Angels winning streak, and even last night (Aybar and Hunter), the Halos are stealing bags again. For some reason we found our legs again, and are playing "Angel Ball." When we are swiping bases, we are pressuring the bad guys, and when we apply pressure we win. The increased speed on the basepaths is a huge asset.
-- Howie Kendrick: HK-47 has turned it on. The often called "Future Batting Champion" has found his stroke. Despite going 0 for 4, HK is hitting .315/1/8 over the first 16 games, and seems to be getting hot lately. The middle of the order will always be slamming, but Howie holding it down in the bottom third is encouraging as all hell.
-- Look at the division: We're a game and a half off the division lead. The season is early, we're only rolling at .500 (8-8), and we're still only 1.5 games back. Oakland is 10-7, Seattle is 9-7, we're 8-8, and the Cocaine Rangers are 5-9 (Vlad was a solid addition, eh?). No reason to worry when you look at this division, even if we got ripped up for the next couple of games.
So, it's time to get back on track and show the bandwagoners that their concern was all for naught. I mean, Brandon Wood is still hitting just .093/0/0, but still, there is no need to worry about A) Fuentes, B) Wood (yet), or C) this team in general. Guess what? Big Joe Saundo (1-2, 4.26) is ready to get to his personal .500 and be the stopper after last night's loss. He'll face Justin Verlander (0-1, 6.88). Early last year, Verlander gave up 7 runs in 5 innings against the Halos, a mistep he is sure to repeat. Good luck boys.
In other news, the Rams are on the clock in 4 minutes at the NFL Draft. Will we be shocked by their move?
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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