Game Rewind: 300 – Angels 5, Indians 4

Madness?  This is SPARTA!!!  Err, Anaheim.  I mean Los Angeles… of Anaheim.  You catch my drift.  Courtesy of a 2-for-4 night from Mike Napoli, the Angels have achieved the rarefied feat of having every single one of their regulars boasting a batting average of .300 or higher.  My inner stat geek is failing me right now, but I am fairly certain that it has been a long, long time since any team has achieved the same accomplishment so late in the season.

Ironically, the Angels actually had a bit of rough time scoring runs on this auspicious evening.  Despite thirteen base knocks, the Halos needed an Andy Marte error in the second inning to spot them two unearned runs that would ultimately prove to be the difference in the game.  In all the Angels stranded 12 runners on base, but still they managed to plate enough runs to win which is a true testament to the offensive versatility of the Angel line-up.  The Halos experienced a power total outage tonight with the sole exception of two Vladimir Guerrero doubles, but because their line-up is filled to the brim with high average hitters they were able to generate enough hits and pressure on the basepaths to get the runs they needed to win.

Good News:

• Trevor Bell definitely deserves some big time credit for picking up his first major league win, not to mention the way he extricated himself from a nasty jam in the third inning.  You have to like seeing that kind of poise in such a wet-behind-the-ears rookie.  Now, let’s try and get him to the point where he doesn’t find himself in such a fix next time out.
• Phew!  Was anyone else nervous when Brian Fuentes allowed the two-out single in the ninth.  Lest we forget that only a few weeks ago Tito blew two straight saves against the Tribe without getting anyone out.  Glad to see he got himself over that hump (for now, anyway).

Bad News:

• The whole Juan Rivera in the three-hole idea didn’t exactly go as planned did it?  Juan’s idea of taking advantage of the opportunity was to ground into a double play with two on and no outs in the first and lining out to end the second with two runners in scoring position, stranding a grand total of four runners on base for the evening.  I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Torii Hunter (who went 2-for-5 in the game) will be hitting third before you know it.
• So much for all that defensive fundamental work that Napoli has been doing.  He just plain missed a Kevin Jepsen fastball in the seventh inning and in a crucial situation no less.  I’m sure that made Mike Scioscia real happy.

Halo Hero:

• Travis Hafner

Pronk must’ve thought someone was playing a prank on him tonight when he fanned in the third inning with the bases juiced and Trevor Bell on the ropes and then rolled into an inning-ending double play in the seventh with a chance to tie the game up.  It takes a lot for the Halo Hero to go to an opponent, but Hafner more than exceeded the criteria for this dubious honor. HA!