Series Rewind: Staying Alive – Angels and Yankees Split Short Series

An Angel series split with the Yankees in which the Angels couldn’t pull of a comeback but still remain alive in the playoff hunt.

Game 1 – Angels 10, Yankees 2

Game 2 – Yankees 10, Angels 6

Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS

• The Angels failed to gain ground on the Rangers in this series, but splitting with the Yankees is a good start to this crucial stretch.  They were able to beat up on the talented Phil Hughes and very nearly pulled off an impressive comeback to end the series but for a poor bullpen decision.  A sweep would have been nice but the Angels definitely did enough these last two days to give themselves a small dose of extra confidence as they ready themselves for their crucial showdown in Arlington.  At a minimum, they know that they are still alive in the playoff race and now have their post-season fate in their own hands.
• Could it be?  Is Hideki Matsui finally turning his season around?  It is so hard to tell.  He did club a two-run dinger in each game this series, but those were also his only two hits in those two games.  I am going to opt for the positive thinking route hear and say that this is the start of something good for Godzilla, and just in time for the Rangers series too.  Better late than never I guess.
• Gee, you think Maicer Izturis wanted to make sure everyone remembered why he has been so missed the last few weeks?  No knock on Kevin Frandsen or anything, but it took Maicer a matter of innings to prove that he is just plain clutch and a major addition to the Angels’ offensive depth.  The Halos are right to ease him back into things, but the more Maicer the Angels get the better.
• Mike Napoli continues his torrid start to the second half with a big three-hit, 4-RBI game on Tuesday and even though he took the collar on Wednesday, his strong recent play is making things complicated for the Angels.  He is hitting well enough for LAA to want to keep him at first where he can play almost everyday, but at the same time, the Angels aren’t getting much out of the catcher spot (Bobby Wilson’s homer today not withstanding).  Do they move him back to catcher and risk the grind of catching sapping him of his offensive firepower or do they leave him at first and look to add offense somewhere else in the lineup?  I don’t know at this point, I just don’t.
• Add Juan Rivera to the growing list of Angels on a hot streak.  He knocked out five hits in these two games and is now a scorching 11-for-24 since the break.  We all know Juan has a history of big second halves, so this shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but that doesn’t make it any less important for the Angels because it looks like their often punchless bottom half of the order is finally starting to catch fire.

Los Angeles Angels of FAIL

• I suppose the Joel Pineiro hot streak had to come to an end eventually.  It is too bad it was today’s game though because I think everyone had assumed that his start was the one game the Angels were going to win and a sweep would have just been so tantalizing as it could have put them in position to tie the Rangers atop the AL West if they managed to pull off a sweep in Texas.
• It was too good to be true when the Angels finally held Robinson Cano hitless in the first game of the series after having him use the Halos as his personal batting practice in their previous encounters this year.  Cano finally broke through with a homer on Wednesday and now the Angels have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to get that guy out.  Let’s just hope they get another shot at him though because if that happens, it will be in the playoffs.
• Can we please stop with the Scot Shields now?  I swear,  Mike Scioscia just refuses to give up on the guy and it comes back to bite the Angels in the ass every time.  Somehow Sosh thinks it is a good idea to have Shields not pitch in over a week and then use him on back-to-back nights.  Scot narrowly avoided giving up a run in the Angel blowout win Tuesday night and then came back to pitch less than 24 hours later and turned a one-run deficit into a five-run deficit in about 12 elapsed seconds, spoiling what could have been a great Angel comeback victory.  Just get rid of him already.  His career is done and nostalgia is no reason to keep him around when all he is good for is doing mop-up work.

Halo Hero of the Series

Oh me, oh my did Sean O’Sullivan come up big to the Halos in his start.  They desperately needed him to turn in so much as an average performance just to give the Angels a chance of starting this big road trip off on the right foot and he went above and beyond the call of duty.  He showed some major league huevos by overcoming an early home run and two-run first inning against the ever-intimidating Yankees.  He bounced back from that inning to allow just one more baserunner the rest of his start and that was more than enough for the Angel bats to get him the win.  If he keeps this up, we are going to be saying “Scott Kazmir who?” before long.