I've got balls. I'll come out and say that yesterday afternoon was a turning point. Yes, I said that after a recent Oakland sweep and it didn't quite work out, but this time it's for real. The Halos looked like the Comeback Kids of old. Messing things up and then recovering for the win; that's Angels baseball. The foundation for the win came from La Piñata pitching 6 innings of three run ball, allowing just 2 hits (but 4 walks). He said the midday sun was blinding him during his windup, so that's not good, but it seemed to help. Maybe we should shine a flashlight in his face during night games! The offense was anchored by 2 RBI nights by Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu. Godzilla credited his father coming to Angel stadium for the first time with his 6th inning 2 run jack, and Abreu did just enough to atone for his 9th inning error. Torii Hunter, back from his son's graduation, was the lone starter to fail to reach base, while Erick Aybar continued to start stuff on the basepaths with 2 walks and a run scored.
It really all came down to the top of the 9th, though, when Brian Fuentes induced a lazy pop fly to shallow right. Abreu charged in, calling of Howie Kendrick, stopped running and did the Tim Salmon slide, only to biff the ball off his wrist and allow a runner on second with no outs. The next batter doubled in the game tying run, and we were doomed for extra innings. Napoli led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, inciting the fans. He took third on a ground out by Maicer. Then, amazingly, the Blue Jays intentionally walked Juan Rivera and Erick Aybar to load the bases with one out and HK-47 coming to the plate. Howie grounded into a force out at home, but beat the throw to first. That part of the 9th has been hugely underrated by the "real" media. With the bases stil juiced and 2 outs, El Comedulce came through with a giant game winning single to left to win the game. There was no Robb Quinlan to be in it, but there was still a dog pile on the infield, and the Angels looked happy for the first time in recent memory. Booyah, Andrew.
The 6-5 win and the series win over a solid AL East force, have combined to lead me to declare that the slumping from the first month and a half of the season is over. A comeback win like that changes a team. But wait, Mark Saxon of ESPN LA wrote a whole article today declaring that no one should start saying the slump is over. He says it's a fool's statement. Saxon says that the Halos may have had the right to be more confident about the bad play being over if they would have won in a more "conventional" way. The late inning comeback is a sign that the slump is probably continuing, says Saxon. You idiot. This is exactly the kind of win that turns a season around. A win is just a win, but a walk off win lights a fire under the team and the fan base. So, Mr. Saxon, this blogger is ready to declare that the slump is over! FACE!
At 23-26, you an almost smell .500. Or maybe that's the cookies my wife baked me. We're 4 games back of the Rangers, and we're staring a Thursday off before the huge weekend series with bottom of the division Seattle comes into down. Rivalry weekends are so much fun.
Bring it, Desmond Figgins.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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