Over the years the Angels have done well by themselves by beating up on the drecks of the AL West. If they are going to emerge from their season long slumber, they'd be wise to start doing that very thing once more. Granted, it didn't work out so well against the Astros, but when all else fails, there are the Seattle Mariners.
For a minute there it looked like the Halos were going to squander their opportunity to smack around Seattle. They scored four runs early of Aaron Harang on a dozen hits, but he kept on wiggling off the hook. It would have been just another game where the Angel offense looked productive, but somehow just couldn't turn those hits and walks into runs.
And then the sixth inning rolled around and all of those concerns faded away. Singles, doubles, walks, infield hits, errors. Everything went the Angels way and they finally kicked the tails of an inferior team like they should have. One big seven-run inning erased all those concerns for one night. Let's hope they can keep it going.
Game Notes
— Nice to see that after Jason Vargas spent so many years carving up the Angels that he is now returning the favor by dominating his old mates. Granted, it isn't hard to shutdown the Mariners, but I still enjoy it.
— Josh Hamilton certainly didn't seem to mind his unexplained benching on Sunday. Banging out a single and a homer in his first two at-bats once again gives us another glimmer of hope that he can turn things around. However I am wondering if maybe he is just a guy who is going to do most of his damage against garbage pitchers like Aaron Harang. That isn't much, but the Angels should take what they can get at this point.
Halo Hero of the Game
Everyone hit tonight, but Pujols gets the HH because, dammit, I want to encourage him whenever he hits like the MVP he used to be. I could've done the same with Hamilton, but I think Pujols is the better bet.
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