Game Rewind: Yankees 7, Angels 4 – Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Bullpen

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bullpen.

Duh-dun.

Duh-DUN!

DUH-DUN!!!!

Stupid Shields.  Stupid Speier.  Stupid Yankees.  Stupid killer sharks.

The trusty bullpen once again failed the Angels on Thursday night.  It had finally seemed like the relievers had all gotten their act together, especially Justin Speier, but it turns out they were just lulling us all into a false sense of security.

Scot Shields nearly got himself into trouble in the seventh before Mark Teixeira grounded into a double play, apparently out of residual guilt for boning the Angels in free agency this summer.  Hmmm, maybe Shieldsy isn’t quite right yet.  But that wasn’t the last of the bullpen woes this night.

Justin Speier, heretofore a hero in the bullpen, found the gas can he was pitching with last year and brought it out for old times’ sake.  I get giving up a hit to Robinson Cano.  I get giving up a double to Jorge Posada.  What I don’t get is giving up a single to Melky Cabrera.  What I REALLY don’t get is giving up a double to Ramiro Pena.  I don’t even know who that guy is.  If you are going to get beaten by the Yankees, at least get beaten by one of the guys making more then the gross domestic product of Canada, not the guy making the league minimum.

Ugh.

The Good:

• Running like rabbits on Jorge Posada.  The Angels might actually be able to scare the Yanks into benching or DHing Posada for a game or two this series which would weaken their line-up and give the Halos an edge.
• Anthony Ortega wasn’t really that bad.  He wasn’t great, but he gave the Angels a chance to win the game.  A chance that the bullpen crapped on.
• Howie Kendrick with another multi-hit game, his third in the last seven games.  That mental day off is paying big dividends.  The Angels are a much more dangerous team when he is swinging the stick well.

The Bad:

• Mike Napoli trying to steal.  Scioscia was just getting greedy there.  You’d think if anybody knew that pudgy, Italian-American catchers shouldn’t be trying to rip off bags, it would be Mike Scioscia.
• Another error.  This time it was Abreu with his second of the season.  Abreu hasn’t been a quality defender for years and has little business playing the field every day, Scioscia needs to start mixing him into the DH slot a lot more frequently.

Halo Hero of the Night:

• Howie Kendrick

Two hits, two steals, one run scored and even a walk!  He might find himself back in the two-hole before long, freeing up the DH slot to be used by… wait for it… wait for it… Brandon Wood!