Vintage Angels yesterday. Our head hauncho Jered Weaver pitched 6 innings of 2 run ball with 8 punchouts, leaving the game with a 5-3 lead over St. Louis. Fernando Rodney came in for the eighth and couldn't find the strike zone, walking three and allowing the Red Birds to tie it up on a Mr. Freese 2 run hit. Then, we flew into extra innings, only to see Scot Shields get down on his knees and blow the game. The Cards stormed the field to celebrate the walk off hit by Felipe Lopez, and the Angels lost 2 out of 3 in their first interleague series of 2010.
Jered Weaver now has 4 no decisions and 6 decisions (4-2) on the year, meaning he really has had the potential to go something like 8-2 so far. Knowing Weav, he's got to be pissed. He gets pissed like "every fecking time," so I figure he's pissed now. Will we see Weav go the way of Lackey if this keeps up? His 1 year deal ends at the end of this season, and I would honestly be surprised if he doesn't decide to test the free agent waters (even if it's just to drive the price up for the Halos). He's a young big time pitcher, and he believes that more than anyone else, and the way our squad is looking, he may start wanting to look elsewhere.
I guess it's a little early to start getting worried about that. Despite dropping to 21-25 and 4.5 games back of Texas, there were a couple of positive to take from this losing series against the Cards:
You can keep a good Pujols down: Take that, Prince Albert (WWF reference!)! Pujols went 0 for 3 on Friday, 0 for 4 on Saturday, and 0 for 3 on Sunday. I'm sure that ifyou heard that STL scored 22 runs over the weekend against the Halos, you'd bet that AP played a huge role, but nay! Nay, I say to you. Albert was Mr. 0'fer this weekend, and it made me happy.
The Kazmanian Devil actually won: Would you believe it? Kaz pitched a great game 2, going 7 innings of run ball with 5 Ks. He's now 3-4 on the year, with a 6.09 ERA, but you have to hold out hope that this interleague win will snap him out of his funk. He earned the loss in his last 3 outings, allowing 14 runs over those 16.3 innings. So this game was a pleasant surprise.
Mike Napoli is like a Guido possessed: I know, I know. All the Napoli loving Mathis haters are ready to brow beat me like the crumb bums they are. I'll give him love for his recent play, because I'm that kind of guy. Friday, Naps went 2 for 3 with a 2 run bomb. Saturday, Mr. Linguini went 1 for 5 with another 2 run ding dong. Then yesterday, the Ravioli Kid went 3 for 4 with a 3 run jack-rabbit. Mathis who? At .259 with 6 home runs and 16 RBI, Napoli is quickly turning his season around. You were right, and I was wrong.
Hunt-Mo-Mats was workin' it: If Big Game, Bam Bam, and Godzirra are doing well, then usually the whole team is doing well. Hunter and Morales combined to go 3 for 7 (.429) with 2 runs scored in the opener, the trio combined to go 5 for 12 (.417) with 6 RBI and 4 runs scored in the lone weekend win, and Morales got his 10th jack of the year on Sunday, with Hunter scoring a run as well. Matsui, of course, is getting rested thanks to the lack of a DH, but that was a pretty nice weekend for the middle of the order.
Despite all the positives, our 3-4 road trip wasn't all that great. Now we get to travel back to beautiful Orange County to engage in a bitter LSF rivalry series, as the Boo Jays fly into town. Sadly, the Jays are 26-20 and playing some decent ball. All the Maple Leaf fun ends tonight, though, as Joe Saunders (3-5, 4.42, and inventor of the KFC "Double Down") looks to continue his magical turnaround against Brett "Beany and" Cecil (3-2, 4.98). Joey Joe Joe is 2-0 with a 0.81 ERA over his last three starts, and his outing against the Jays was the only good thing to happen to him in the month of April (8 innings pitched with zero earned runs). Meanwhile, it's Cecil's first time going against the Red Hats, and while he's backed by a potent Jay offense (they put up 23 runs over the weekend), LSF predictions have him going down hard tonight.
Game on, Do.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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