Aston’s Angels Report [Game 68 @ Seattle- Win]

              AAR: Aston’s Angels Report                    June 13, 2011
             Game 68: Wells Wills Win                        Vol. 1, Issue 70
                                       Win 6-3 Record: 32-36

After an abysmal performance in the three series that made up their home-stand, leaving them with a record of 2-7, the Angels had to travel to Seattle to face a team they haven’t beaten yet this season, the Mariners. In a strange turn of fate, in what is supposed to be an unbalanced season in favor of playing your division opponents more often than any other, the Angels have played the central division Royals in three long series already, and only played their western division foe Mariners in one short two-game series so far. They of course lost both games, one of which coming at the hands of Monday’s starting pitcher, Justin Vargas- another crafty lefty who earned his season high strikeout total (9) in the last game against the Halos. The Angels countered with one of their best, Dan Haren, who still has a stellar 2.41 ERA despite an average 5-4 record.


Vargas is the type of pitcher that seems to typically give the Angels offense some trouble; a little more overpowering and aggressive with inside fastballs than the Royals’ Jeff Francis, but he still doesn’t throw a pitch over 89 MPH (usually averaging 87 MPH on fastball). The Angels managed to score early in this one, as they stuck to their somewhat awkward lineup with RF Torii Hunter hitting 2^nd. He drew a one out walk, taking a 3-2 slider, after 3B Maicer Izturis popped out to shallow center. Then the DH, Bobby Abreu lined a single into right field, but Vernon Wells struck out on a low 0-2 changeup for the second out. 2B Howie Kendrick drove Hunter home with a line drive single, pulling an 0-1 curveball into left. SS Erick Aybar grounded out to the SS to end the inning, but the Angels were up 1-0.
　
That lead was short-lived as Dan Haren didn’t have his good stuff to start out the game. Ichiro Suzuki, hitting a surprisingly low .258 this season, led off with a line drive up the middle on a 1-2 pitch. It was only 86 MPH, so it was either a split finger or a slider, but it didn’t move at all and sat over the outside corner for Suzuki to punch back up the middle for a single. He stole 2^nd base easily before the #2 hitter, SS Brendan Ryan struck out on a 3-2 split finger in the dirt. 1B Justin Smoak hit a fastball deep into left field but into Wells’ glove, for the 2^nd out, but Haren threw another funky 2-2 outside floater to former Angel Adam Kennedy (probably a splitter that didn’t work properly), who pulled it into right field for an RBI double. 2B Adam Kennedy is an unlikely cleanup hitter, but he has the highest batting average on the team, and it worked out this time, so maybe it isn’t so crazy after all. Catcher Miguel Olivo struck out on a 2-2 splitter that dipped the way it supposed to, to end the inning, with a 1-1 tie after one full inning.

The didn’t start the 2^nd off well, as the first two struck out, swinging and missing 88 MPH fastballs. Jeff Mathis hit a grounder to another former Angel, 3B Chone Figgins, who missed the ball with his glove, then kicked it up in the air, for an error, which was met by some boos from his home fans, who have grown tired of his shoddy defense (8 errors) and ugly offense (.189 average) so far this season. Izturis broke his bat swinging at a 3-1 inside fastball and hit a fly out to left, for the last out.
　
The Mariners took advantage of some bad Angels defense and a wild pitch to take the lead in the bottom of the 2^nd. LF Carlos Peguero hit a grounder towards 1B Mark Trumbo, but the ball went past him into right field, on what was ruled a double, even though the ball should have at least been stopped by Trumbo. Haren made matters worse throwing a low splitter, that scooted past the catcher Mathis, to send the runner to 3^rd. CF Franklin Gutierrez hit a grounder to Aybar deep at SS, but he couldn’t make the throw on target, and it was ruled an infield hit, but more importantly the score was now 2-1. The DH, youngster Mike Carp hit a grounder to Aybar after breaking his bat on a 1-1 inside slider, and it was turned into a double play. That was the first time I saw Haren throw that inside slider to a left-handed batter- a pitch that has been effective for him often this season- and it resulted in two outs on one pitch. He threw another one down and in to Figgins, who popped it up to the catcher in foul ground, to end the inning.
　
The Angels came right back to tie the score in the top of the 3^rd, with a two out solo homerun by LF Vernon Wells, on a hanging curveball, clobbered into deep left field. Howie Kendrick followed that with a ball that may have been hit even harder, but it was a low line drive that hit the middle of the center field wall, and left a dent out there because it was hit so hard, but it was just a double. Erick Aybar ended the inning taking strike three on an 0-2 inside fastball, a common pitch from Vargas to right-handed batters throughout the game.
　
The score remained 2-2 for the next couple of innings, as both pitchers settled down somewhat and found their respective release points. Haren caused some awful swings from Suzuki, as he struck him out to lead off the 3^rd. He threw three straight perfect sliders (over the outside corner to a right-handed batter) to Ryan, and after missing the first two, he managed to tap one up the middle past Haren for an infield single. Haren retired the next two batters in the 3^rd and the side in order in the 4^th, primarily with his good slider into the same location. The Angels saw a similar fate in their 4^th and 5^th inning at bats, going down in order in the 4^th, and getting just one base runner in the 5^th on a two-out walk by Abreu.
　
Haren faced trouble in the bottom of the 5^th, after striking out Mike Carp, looking at a perfectly placed 2-2 fastball right over the outside corner. Chone Figgins took advantage of another attempted inside slider that was left high and not so inside, hitting a line drive over Hunter’s head in right field for a double. Suzuki saw that Izturis at 3B was not playing in, so he dropped a bunt down that way for an easy infield single, moving Figgins over to 3^rd, still with one out. Haren threw another mistake high slider to Brendan Ryan, who hit a sacrifice fly to right, to drive home Figgins and break the tie, 3-2. Hunter was driven back so there was no chance to get Figgins at home, but it was still embarrassing how he came trotting in after the catch thinking there were three outs. Luckily Suzuki didn’t take 2^nd and nothing came of it, because Justin Smoak struck out on a 3-2 low slider, after fouling off a few pitches in a long at-bat, for the last out.

The Angels did virtually nothing in the top of the 6^th, getting one base runner, on what was ruled an error, but was just another example of biased scoring by a home team official scorer. With one out, Aybar hit a grounder up the middle, that 2B Kennedy got to it and rushed the throw to 1^st that was offline. It looked like he didn’t have a chance to get him even with a good throw, but the official scorer ruled it an error instead of a hit- a decision that I bet will be changed like so many other questionable calls, later in the week. Vargas didn’t let that play get to him, and struck out the next two hitters Mark Trumbo and Peter Bourjos, to keep the lead on his side. Haren kept the Mariners at bay, retiring the side in order, on two weak grounders by Kennedy and Olivo, then a strike out of Peguero, who swung and missed a 2-2 fastball to send the game into the 7^th.


Haren was in line for a loss at this point, unless the offense could finally come through while he was still the pitcher of record. Jeff Mathis got the 7^th inning off to a good start, whacking a hanging 0-1 curveball into left field for a leadoff double. Maicer Izturis tried to bunt the first pitch, but it went foul, then hit the next pitch on the ground to 1^st, for a different kind of a sacrifice (that counts as an out), moving the runner to 3^rd. Hunter hit a grounder to Figgins at 3^rd, who threw it to the catcher and made a good throw, but the ball came out of Olivo’s glove after he had tagged him out, as Mathis slid in and maybe hit him just enough to knock the ball out, but that should have been an error on the catcher, of anything. It was a huge play, as it went from two outs and no run, to a 3-3 game, with just one out and a runner on base. Abreu hit a fly out to center for the 2^nd out, but Vernon Wells got his chance to hit because of the extra out in the inning, and launched another homerun into left field, as it looked like Vargas tried one too many of those inside fastballs and Wells was waiting for it on the 2-1 pitch. The big fly gave the Agnels a 5-3 lead, after it was looking bleak again, and put Dan Haren in line for the victory. Kendrick ended the inning with a fly out to center, but damage was done.
　
Rich Thompson came in for the Angels in the top of the 7^th, and dominated the Mariners for a shut down 1-2-3 inning, that was very much needed after grabbing that 2-run lead. The highlight was his big slow curveball to strike out Mike Carp looking, to cap off an excellent three-pitch sequence. He used his breaking balls and 93 MPH fastball with confidence to out-duel each hitter. The same could be said for the Mariners relief pitcher in the top of the 8^th, David Pauley, who came in with a 0.96 ERA in over 37 innings this season, which is beyond impressive. He retired the side in order, finishing off with a curveball to Bourjos taken for the strikeout.

Scott Downs pitched the bottom of the 8^th, and allowed someone to reach base which has been a trend for him, but like most of those other times, he still fought his way through a scoreless inning. He got Suzuki to pull a slider sweeping away from him, for an easy groundout to the 2^nd baseman. Brendan Ryan hit a hard grounder to Izturis that bounced off his body, allowing him to reach base, despite a valiant attempt by Aybar who picked the ricochet and fired the ball to 1^st , a little late for the out. It was ruled an error, which was a little surprising, taking away a hit from their hitter, but it was the right call, for once. That wasn’t Downs’ fault, but his 0-2 pitch to Justin Smoak was- a fastball that was too good of a pitch with two strikes, perhaps trying to out-think the hitter and surprise him with a fastball in a breaking ball count, but whatever the reason, the fastball was smacked back up the middle, past the diving Aybar, for a single. Downs faced another lefty thankfully, and got Kennedy on a groundball to Trumbo at 1^st who threw to 2^nd for the out. Downs knows Olivo is an aggressive hitter (and powerful-10 HRs already) so he kept throwing curveballs once he was ahead 0-1, and Olivo fouled off a few, before striking out, missing a low 0-2 curve to end the inning.
　
Chris Ray came into pitch the top of the 9^th, and the Angels got one more run, to increase their lead to a more comfortable 6-3 advantage. After Mathis made the first out on a pop out to the catcher, Izturis hit the first pitch he saw into left center for a one-out single. Hunter popped out, but Ray was called for a balk during Abreu’s at bat, moving Izturis to 2^nd. Abreu knocked in that man in scoring position, with a clean single to center on a 3-2 slider, and then was caught stealing 2^nd before Wells had a chance to hit.

Jordan Walden came into close the game out, and it looks like he has finally figured out that hitters have trouble hitting pitches that constantly come in at 98-100 MPH. He stuck to his fastball again, learning from past experiences where his slider gave the hitters a chance to make contact. He got ahead of Peguero 0-2 then it three fastballs too far outside took it to a full count , then a few more fastballs were fouled off, but he kept with it and threw a perfect 99 MPH fastball over the inside corner, taken for strike three. Gutierrez grounded out on the 2^nd pitch he saw, and Mike Carp struck out on a perfectly unhittable 1-2 high fastball to end the game.
　
Dan Haren didn’t pitch his best, but gave his team the chance to win still, by keeping it close. He went 6 innings, which is short for him, allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs, but he struck out 7 and didn’t walk any (probably most important). He earned his 6^th win and Walden picked up their 15^th save, and the Angels have a chance to win a series for the first time in a while. Vernon Wells was the offensive story, as he hit twice as many homeruns as the Angels’ team had in June, coming into the game. Obviously the offense hasn’t been providing much power lately, so if Wells can get hot and put that dreadful start to the season behind him, he may turn out to be the offensive juggernaut the Angels are paying $20 million a year for (that is not a typo). It was a good all around game, and a little luck helped too, but the Angels have been victimized by bad luck enough that it feels more like karma for the Angels, rather than bad luck for the Mariners.