Was Aybar's Bunt Acceptable?

Yes. But before I get into why, I'll briefly point out that the Halos did nothing at the trade deadline. This was expected, really, especially with their recent run of success. In the division, the A's traded reliver Brad Ziegler for some prospects, the M's picked up a couple of prospects for Bedard, and the Rangers added Mike Adams and Koji Uehara to their bullpen. In reality, none of the teams got that much better than they were, and therefore the Angels' inaction doesn't mean too much, in my opinion.

With the deadline coming and going quietly around the division, the big story of the day was how the long awaited duel between Jered Weaver and Justin Verlander played out. It was an exciting, intense battle, and it put the question of baseball etiquette at the forefront of our minds. In this game alone, we saw a hitter showing up a pitcher after a jack, a pitcher being tossed from throwing at the next batter following the questionable homerun celebration, and a hitter trying to break up a no hitter in the eighth with a bunt. Baseball purists are rolling over in their collective graves (or beds, if they are still living...and sleeping).

But, with a little explaining, I think I can be a Halo apologist of such quality that I will convince you that everything the Angels did was legit and everything the Tigers did broke the unwritten rules of the game. Of course, the Tigers won 3-2, so none of this really matters, but to avoid being down and complaining about the loss, let's get to exploring the issues within the game.

Carlos Guillen ripped a Weaver pitch into the seats in the seventh, turning a 2-0 Detroit lead into a 3-0 lead, and he stood at the plate and admired his bomb for way to long. His celebratory trot around the bases only rubbed it in even further, as he stared Big Baby down with his hands up, and Weaver barked at him as he went around just to show his distaste. It wasn't just the Angels who thought he was showboating, as the homeplate umpire warned both benches after the homerun not to follow it up with any funny business. That's proof that Guillen's celebration was BS, right?

Well, like any of us would, Weaver ignored the warning and fired the next pitch right at the head of Alex Avilla. After the game, Weav would say that the pitch "got away from him." We all know that's crap, but he had to say it. He could be seen jawing with the Tigers bench on the way to the clubhouse, obviously upset with the classless Guillen. 

When Verlander came out to continue his no-hit bid in the eighth, the code of baseball was just thrown right out the door. Erick Aybar came up and dropped down a bunt, trying to break up the no-no with a surprise infield single. Verlander threw wildly to first (on purpose?) and the play was ruled an error. The Tigers' starter stared Aybar down like crazy when EA was standing on second base. He would eventually come around to score, and in the bottom of that inning, Verlander could be seen yelling at Aybar from the dugout, motioning that he'd throw one at Aybar's back the next time they square off. 

For us fans, it was awesome.

Now, everyone who knows baseball, knows that you NEVER go for a bunt single late when a guy is working on a no hitter. But, with everything that happened prior to the situation, was it actually acceptable? Was Aybar breaking an unwritten rule of the game to stick up for his pitcher, who had been shown up and then ejected the previous inning? Some are saying that the bunt was allowable because the game was late and close at 0-3 in the 8th, but I disagree. The score and inning of the game had nothing to do with making it acceptable. It was an alright thing to do because he was backing up his boy by sticking it to Verlander. Plain and simple.

All of this overshadowed an impressive game from Bobby Abreu, going 0 for 1 with an impressive 3 walks in the game. It all helped to also cover up the performance of Torii "Declining Trade Value" Hunter. Big Game went 0 for 4 with 3 Ks in the 2-hole, dropping his average to .232.

The Angels are 59-50, 2 games back of Texas, and come home to face Minnie starting on Tuesday, as Ervin tries to make it two no hitters in a row.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē