Game Rewind: Palmer Trumps the Knuckler – Angels 8, Red Sox 4

I don’t know how he is doing it, but I am not going to complain.  Matt Palmer won AGAIN, last night besting Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox.

Palmer displayed his now trademark early inning shakiness, before settling down and retiring 19 batters in a row to pick up the complete game.  That’s right, 19 in a row.  One of these days Palmer is going to realize that he is a pudgy, 30-year old rookie who can barely hit 90 mph, but until then…

…heck, I want to give him a high-five, too.

Good News:

• The Angels continue to own Tim Wakefield on at the Big A.  He has now lost his last six starts in Anaheim with an ERA over 9.30.
• Howie Kendrick walked two games in a row.  In a related story, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse now have season tickets to the Angels.
• I keep waiting for Mike Napoli to slip into on of his epic funks, but he just keeps mashing.  The Angels must find a way to keep in the line-up after Vlad gets back and ties up the DH slot.

Bad News:

• It just isn’t fair to replace Tim Wakefield and his 65 mph knuckleball with Daniel Bard pumping 97 mph heat.  Napoli can turn a fastball around but got smoked like a Cuban cigar by Bard.
• I didn’t know whether or not to file this under Good News or Bad News, but Gary Matthews Jr. was a late scratch from the line-up due to back stiffness.
• Did you know that Bobby Abreu doesn’t have an extra-base hit since April 28th?  Really?  You would have thought someone would have mentioned that over and over and over again.
• I get rewarding Palmer by letting him get the complete game, but you can’t tell me that part of the decision to leave him in for the ninth wasn’t at least partly due to fear of using the bullpen.

Halo Hero of the Night:

• Matt Palmer

A complete game, five hits, two walks and 8 strikeouts.  Santana and Lackey?  We don’t need no stinking Santana and Lackey.