Haren Can't Get 6 Runs Of Support.

Excuse me if this Halo post rambles, but it's going to be hard to stay focused on recapping last night's baseball game after Kevin Bieksa's double overtime goal that sent my beloved Canucks into the Stanley Cup Finals. I'm saving that post for the afternoon, so let's try and turn our thoughts to baseball.

How many times before yesterday's Angels-A's game did you hear about how great Dan Haren has been this season? How The Chessmaster deserves to have a much better record, but he just can't get the run support that he needs to get the wins. Sure, even I pointed that out in my post yesterday, so it must be true. However, if Haren gave up 5 runs, you certainly wouldn't blame the lack of run support for his loss, right? Wrong! That's exactly what happened last night. 

Danny Boy went 7 innings of 5 run ball, despite 6 Ks and just 1 walk. He gave up 2 jacks, though, and that was enough to make it his worst start of the year. So, he had his worst start of the year, let's not blame anyone, and just move on, right? That's what I would think. But no, according to the "real" media, this was the offense's fault yet again. Headline after headline on the internet today, we read, "Angels Bats Quiet As Haren Has Off Night." Really? Why would you lead the headline with the fact that the bats weren't there for Dan, when the real story is that he had the worst start of the season? Give the bats a break!

David DeJesus was the Haren killer, blasting two homeruns against The Chessmaster, and that was enough to take care of us. Trevor Bell didn't help in his relief effort, allowing a run in his 2 innings to follow Haren, but it didn't really matter at that point.

Instead of hating on our offense, how about giving a pat on the back to Guillermo Moscoso. The AAA hurler went 6 innings of shutout ball despite walking 3 and allowing 3 hits. He pitched well enough to win, and you can't ask for much more from a callup. The Angels left 7 on base and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Even though they probably wouldn't have won due to Haren crapping the bed against a crappy A's offense, it would have been nice to see the bats put a little more effort out, I'll admit.

Not a single guy had a multi-hit game, Mark Trumbo went 0 for 4 with 3 Ks, and Conger and Amarista combined to go 0 for 7. Izturis and Aybar had the only extra base hits, Izzy and Bourjos picked up stolen bases, and Torii Hunter got the lone RBI as he singled Aybar in during the eighth inning. It was over well before that happened, though. David DeJesus, who had already blasted the aforementioned two yard shots, cancelled out Hunter's RBI with a one-run double in the 9th. We were flat out dominated.

Nobody effs with DeJesus.

The loss to the A's makes the AL West that much tighter:

Rangers: 25-24, 0 GB
Angels: 25-25, 0.5 GB
Mariners: 23-25, 1.5 GB
A's: 23-26, 2 GB

It's a fun division, let's be honest.

The four game series with the hated A's continues tonight as Ervin "Young Gun" Santana (2-4, 4.18) looks to pitch like he did against Timmy Hudson and the Braves as he faces Trevor Cahill (6-1, 1.79). Cahill is far and away the Oakland ace this season, and they look to him to keep this injured rotation somewhat on track. Meanwhile, Ervin looks to show that his complete game shutout against the Braves last weekend wasn't a fluke. I don't know about that, but I sure hope he can put a nice start together against the A's.

Let's get this series lead.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē