Game Recap 5/15/12: Turning the tables – Angels 4, Athletics 0

After getting shutout for the eighth time last night, the Angels responded the only way they knew how, pitching a shutout of their own.  That would be the fifth time that they have been on the good end of a shutout, meaning in 13 of their 34 games this season, one team has not scored.  Feel the excitement!

But seriously, this was actually a very encouraging effort from the Angels in that they didn’t simply rollover after getting blanked by the A’s on Monday.  Granted, it wasn’t like they lit the world on fire, but a win is a win and this squad at least showed they still have some life in them.  Now they just need a spark to really get them going.  Maybe the post-game firing of Mickey Hatcher will do just that.

Angels 4, Athletics 0

Game Notes

• What a monstrous game Mike Trout had.  He put on display every single one of his tools.  He smashed a homer, stole a base, scored from first on a double and ran down several flyballs in the gap.  We all knew how good Trout would be someday, but even the most optimistic amongst us can’t have imagined he’d be this good so quickly.
• Hooray!  Albert Pujols had three hits and two RBIs.  Whatever you do, don’t look at how softly he hit those balls for his three hits, it would detract from this very artificial feelgood moment.
• I love the way Scioscia used Scott Downs and Ernesto Frieri tonight.  It wasn’t quite a save situation, but it may as well have been.  I doubt Scioscia is forward thinking enough to officially declare those two co-closers who will be interchanged based on matchups like they were tonight, but if that is how he effectively uses them, I am all for it.

Halo Hero

The good Santana is back!  This is the great thing about having four pitchers who can throw like an ace.  The best cure for a bad offense is having an ace pitcher step up to shutdown the opposition and thus take the pressure off the lineup to perform.  Considering the torturous five-start stretch in which the Halos didn’t score any runs for him, it was rather magnanimous of Santana to help them out like he did tonight.