An Angel win over the Rays in which the Angels worked some unnecessary overtime.
Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS
- I didn’t think I could want the Angels to sign Carl Crawford anymore, but that amazing diving catch he made on Torii Hunter some how took it to a new level. I am all for Arte not overpaying for a guy, but Crawford absolutely is the one guy the Angels should consider breaking the bank for given their need to upgrade their outfield defense as well as how perfectly his offensive skillset matches Scioscia’s philosophy.
- Oh my goodness what a home run by Mike Napoli. He should really get hit in the head more often because he stepped all over that pitch from Garza and even had some attitude in his bat flip afterwards. Even Garza was mad at what a blast it was as he started yelling at himself like a maniac and seemed to be saying either that he should have hit Napoli in the head again or that is what he gets for hitting him the first place, it was hard to tell because he looked moderately psychotic and was smacking himself in the head at the time.
- All of the sudden the Angel hitters think they are ace killers. They went and roughed up Felix Hernandez on Friday and while they didn’t annihilate Garza, they did put his second worst start of his season on him and that definitely has to count for something. Confidence has to really be starting to build in the line-up and it even seems to be rubbing off on the pitchers at the same time.
- The Angels did a great job of shutting down the Ray running game and it clearly hampered the Tampa attack. Mike Napoli still probably shouldn’t be bouncing pitchout throws in the dirt, but at least he still nabbed the basestealer, so we should just go ahead and consider that a moral victory.
- Maybe Trevor Bell can be a useful piece in the pen? I am not expecting much from him, but he did come up with a huge strikeout against Evan Longoria to end the Tampa threat in the eleventh. My concern with bell was that he didn’t miss enough bats, but that was as a starter in the minors. He looked to have some good gas tonight and could be one of those guys that translates better as a reliever where he is free to to let it go every pitch rather than try and conserve it across several innings.
Los Angeles Angels of FAIL
- Who is this Jaso kid and why is he killing the Angels? His numbers this year are great, so I guess he must be doing this to other teams, but I definitely wasn’t expecting him to be the entire Tampa offense tonight. I miss Dioner Navarro and his sub-.200 average. Then again, Jaso also pretty much handed the Angels the win by failing to block that very blockable wild pitch that allowed Morales to advance to third to score on Rivera’s sac fly.
- OK, so after Rodney’s walk the world adventure in his last outing, I was definitely curious to see how he would look in his next appearance. While he was in the zone a lot more tonight, Rodney definitely got hit hard by the opposition and the damage could have been a lot worse save for a double play he induced. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Rodney isn’t the relief savior Angel fans have made him out to be. He is prone to going into funks and I think he is headed into one as we speak.
- A strike ’em out throw ’em out of Kendry Morales at third with Rivera at the plate. There are just so many things wrong with that sentence. Again, there is a difference between being aggressive and being stupid. That was so far on the side of stupid that I can’t even try and come up with a rationalization for it.
- To think, I was about to compliment Brian Fuentes on his awesome new Conquistador mustache and then he had to go and ruin it by ruining the game for the Angels. Homers, walks, wild pitches. Tito couldn’t have been any worse had he tried. Someone really needs to explain to me why he is still the unquestioned closer of this team. On the bright side, he didn’t finish the game, so he won’t get any closer to having that albatross of a vesting option kick in.
- Let’s hope Torii Hunter is OK when he wakes up tomorrow. He landed awkwardly on that sliding catch in extra innings. The Angels can’t afford to lose him, especially with Matsui still doing nothing.
Halo Hero of the Game
Not good enough to get the win, but good enough to be tonight’s Halo Hero.
This may not be a good thing, but Joel Pineiro is clearly the second best starter in the Angel rotation right now. His ERA and WHIP are a little inflated due to his one terrible start against the Tigers, but he has been consistently good otherwise. Tonight was no exception to that rule either. He did a great job of shutting down a potent Ray offense, allowing five hits and one walk while fanning seven. It is just a crying shame that the bullpen cost him the win.
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