An Angel loss to the Rangers in which the Angels came up short but at least saw some nice progress.
Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS
- Hey, I get to be nice to Kazmir for a change. Let’s see how that works out. So, Kaz did take the loss again, but he did make some real positive strides. He was much more efficient with his pitches, getting through seven innings for the first time all year and needing just 102 pitches to do it. His velocity still wasn’t anything special, but his command was excellent as he only walked one batter all night. But the most encouraging sign that his mechanical adjustment is going to help is that he, by my count, threw 20 sliders. It didn’t quite appear to be his devastating slider of old, but it was certainly an effective pitch and he obviously trusted it because I don’t think he has thrown 20 sliders total in his previous three starts.
- Napoli is really starting to heat up. With his two-run blast tonight, he now has a four-game hitting streak going with extra-base hits in each of those games. I know Scioscia wants some line-up stability, but since Naps is going strong and guys like Matsui and Rivera aren’t so much, a bump up a few spots for Napoli seems like a good idea, at least until he cools off.
- It looks like Erick Aybar is at least trying to get back to being a more aggressive hitter, seeing just 10 pitches in his four plate appearances. The way I see it, he has just a few more games to get it going otherwise he could end up batting ninth again when Maicer Izturis returns from the disabled list this weekend.
Angels of FAIL
- Ouch. It was not a good night for Angel fans as they had to watch Vladimir Guerrero slug a big double in the fourth inning as well as collect another hit. Then they had to watch Darren Oliver shutdown the Halos for two innings and thwart their comeback effort completely once again proving that hell hath no fury like an aging middle reliever scorned.
- Great work by the Ranger stadium crew. That mini-flash flood that the Angels had in their locker room before the game was really classy. I know that your owner is eyeballs deep in debt and trying to sell the team off because of it, but I am pretty sure you can pony up for a few sandbags.
Angel A-Hole of the Game
Howie can hit again, but fielding… eh, not so much.
Nobody was particularly egregious tonight, but Howie Kendrick is going to get the blame tonight. He had an error in the Rangers’ big fourth inning that helped to open the floodgates and then he went and popped up to prematurely end the Angel rally in the fifth. But the foul out didn’t bother me all that much (not nearly as much as Mike Napoli striking out looking in the sixth), it is his fielding that is becoming a real problem. Last season, Howie checked in as an above average second baseman, but this year he has pretty much been a trainwreck. He came into the game with a -7.1 UZR and then he went and picked up a throwing error and misplayed another ball in this game. I don’t know what is going on with him right now, but it is like his 2009 season all over again only with his glove instead of his bat.
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