Despite some impressive hitting frm Vlad, it was his timely ninth inning strikeout that Angel fans will remember from last night's 6-5 win over the division leading Texas Rangers. The Impaler went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI, including a nerve wracking home run in the 7th, but looked foolish when Brian Fuentes K'd him up en route to his 14th save and the big Halo win to start the season. While Vlad may get all the headlines and highlights for his efforts (and failings), I'm ready to touch on a couple of other talking points after watching last night's big test.
+ J-Balls Piñata sure was able to get into jams and escape those jams with minimal damage, but it was frustrating to watch. He finished with 6 innings of 3 run ball, allowing 8 hits and 2 walks. Somehow he got the Rangers to leave 9 on base, saving himself from a tragic effort and turning it into his career high fifth win in the month of June. We're talking about bases loaded with no outs, and getting out with just 1 run tagged on. It was a precarious start, much like the other four he's won this month, but it worked.
+ Jepsen gave up the 2 run job to Vlad, and that's big news, but cut him some slack. While his ERA is 4.94 and his BAA is .252 (showing he's slightly overrated by Angel fans, including me), his K/9 is 11 (showing he's underrated by everyone else), and that makes him fun to watch.
+ Watch Brian Fuentes not get any press in the real media for getting the clean sheet in his perfect 9th to earn one of the biggest saves of the season so far. He punched out two, including a red hot Kinsler and a red hot Vlad, and ended by getting Mr. RBI Josh Hamiton out as well. If only he would have blown the save, his name would have been all over the place come press time!
+ Have the players completely given up on Dino Ebel as their third base coach? Should they? Aybar ran through a stop sign in the first inning and scored. Then, later in the game, Ebel waved Abreu home and he was out by a mile after a terrible slide. If you start to lose faith in your third base coach, all kinds of trouble comes up. Does Roenicke get back out there at some point?
+ Mike Napoli hit another home run (14), to increase his team lead to +2 on Torii Hunter, but I still wouldn't consider him in the Top 5 offensive talents on the squad so far this year. I'm sure Nap fans will be up in arms on this one, but he ranks 7th in RBI and 5th in OPS. Think about it.
+ Bobby "El Comedulce" Abreu (A-bray-ooh) still doesn't get the respect he deserves. He made a believer out of me last year with his ability to get on base, take pitches, and ome through with the big hit. He did it again last night with a 3 run double to break open the 3-3 tie. It was a pretty thrilling moment in a brilliant two out rally. The best part is that he produces no matter where he's fit in the Angels lineup. Big Bobby should be an All Star.
At 44-35, the Angels collected a game on the Rangers last night, and now trail by just 3.5. Thoughts of a sweep and a minimal 1.5 game deficit heading into a weekend series with the Royals are starting to dance around in my mind. Tonight is the final game in a more than stellar month for the Angels (18-8), and it's a tough one to call. The Halos send Scott "The Big Question Mark" Kazmir (7-6, 5.42) to the mound against Omar Beltre and his Major League debut. Beltre, whose name sounds like one of the old fake video game players who has two names combined from actual players, went 0-2 in AAA so far this year, but held an anorexic 1.25 ERA. The Rangers and their fan base seem to think he's the truth, and you know how debut guys often do well because their stuff hasn't been seen yet. He won't get memorable competition in his first outing as Mr. Shit At Home, Scott Kazmir again tries to turn around his misfortunes. Kaz is 0-3 with an 8.36 ERA in his last 3 home starts, but looks to bring his solid road work to the stadium (4-0, 2.35 in his last 4 roadies) tonight. Can we just blindfold him, fly him around in a plane for a couple of hours, and hand out Rangers t-shirt jerseys at the gate to make him feel he's on the road?
Another problem solved by this lovely blog.
Got get 'em boys!
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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