Game Recap 6/4/11 — The lost art of the timely hit — Angels 2 Yankees 3

I didn’t get to write a preview but if I had I would have surely said something about the need to get to CC Sabathia early in the game or the Angels would be screwed. Hey look, I’m clairevoyant. The Angels decided to return to their usual pattern of getting men in scoring position and leaving them there and CC stemrolled his way through an out shy of a complete game. Meanwhile, Ervin Santana tried his darndest to stay in the fight and except for two mistake pitches that ended up in the seats, he threw a really good game. But alas, great pitching will beat medicroe hitting every time.

Angels 2 Yankees 3

So far these two games have been representative of what baseball will look like in the coming decade. With steroids and PED’s out of baseball (sort of), pitching and timely hitting will rule the day. Strangely, the Yankees have been one of the few teams to continue to hit homers in droves while the Angels try to gut out runs by bunching singles and doubles together. But in a game like tonight’s, collecting multiple hits in an inning is damn near impossible. Sabathia almost seemed bored by the whole thing; every time they cut to him in the dugout he was yawning. Is that how he feels about the perceived threat of Angels hitters? Is the whole endeavor of pitching versus the punch and judy show that is the Halo line-up almost put him to sleep? Or does he need to get more sugar into his diet now that he gave up all that cereal in the offseason?

Game Notes

— Ervin Santana was actually pretty good tonight. The Cano homer was a mistake and even then was almost caught. The only real error he made on the mound was the Rodriguez homer that ended up being the difference. By the way, am I the only one who finds it odd that the cousin who supplied A-Roid with the PED’s is now traveling with the team again? Just asking…
— Another good thing to take away from tonight’s game was the play of Rich Thompson. He pitched two solid innings of relief and the hope is that he will cement hsi spot at the eventual seventh inning guy.
— Seriously how do the Angels expect to get anywhere when the go 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and leave 12 men on base. I fear that at some point the pitching staff will just say screw it and start throwing at their own guys.
— Glad to see that Mark and Victor didn’t miss the opportunity to go completly overboard in their interview of Dean Chance. Chance threw out the ceremonial first pitch and has long been a staple of the Guby trivia answer circuity. Oh wait, they did go overboard complete Mark wearing a bib for the meet and greet. If you Dean, who by all accounts is a man of class, aren’t you a bit embarrassed by it all.
— Memo to Howie; you’ve been gone for awhile we get it, but the new pornstache has got to go.

Halo A Hole

O-4, left 4 on base and now sporting a robust .235 batting average. I never thought I would see the day I turned on Torii because he is one of the class guys in baseball, but his work in the batter’s box is simply terrible. Things had better turn fast or fans are going to start to get really angry. Then no smile, no matter how wide, will save him then.