Aston’s Angels Report [Game 69 @ Seattle, Win]

                  AAR: Aston’s Angels Report                           June 14, 2011
                  Game 69: Weaver + Run Support= Win          Vol. 1, Issue 71
                                    Win 4-0 Record: 33-36

The Angels offense gave Dan Haren some much needed run support to turn his possible loss into a win, with a late-inning comeback, in Monday’s game, and Jared Weaver was hoping they had any more runs left in them. He has been given 4 runs of offensive support in his previous 5 games pitched, which is atrocious, and several good starts have been spoiled because the offense couldn’t scrape together a couple of runs. Doug Fister was the opposing pitcher, and like Monday’s starter Justin Vargas, has pitched well against the Angels in the past and did so earlier this season.
　
Luckily for Jared Weaver, the offense was able to take advantage of Fister’s control issues in the first inning, and finally scored some runs early for Weaver to work with. The leadoff man, SS Erick Aybar went with an outside fastball and hit a line drive double into left center, to get the team off to a good start. Torii Hunter followed with a line drive single to left field, to score Aybar, for an instant 1-0 lead. The 3B, Chone Figgins cut off the throw coming in from left and tried to get Hunter out, but the 1B Justin Smoak made a long throw to 2^nd, allowing Hunter to get back to 1^st because of the poor run-down procedure by the Mariners. The DH, Bobby Abreu, worked one of his trademark walks, putting two on, but LF Vernon Wells hit a grounder to 3^rd, where Figgins threw to 2^nd for the force out but they couldn’t turn the double play. With runners on 1^st and 3^rd, Howie Kendrick had a 2-2 count, and hit another high fastball from Fister, for another line drive single, into right field, for a 2-0 lead. Fister was throwing a lot of high pitches, and the Angels were taking full advantage, with solid line drives into the outfield to score some runs. Russell Branyan got the start at 1B today, and he continued the offensive onslaught, pulling a high curveball into right field, for another RBI single, making it 3-0. Hank Conger had a good at-bat, but hit a fly out into left center for the second out. Peter Bourjos came through with a two-out hit, pulling one down the left field line, that actually landed right on the line, for an RBI double. Rookie Andrew Romine was playing 3^rd base, with Alberto Callaspo still out with his leg injury, and he flied out to left to end the inning. The Angels batted around, scored the most runs in the 1^st inning this season, and I’m sure Weaver probably thought he was dreaming in the dugout, after getting exactly zero runs from his offense in his last two road starts.


Weaver took the ball, and didn’t relinquish it, setting the Mariners down in order in the first two innings. In fact, after the first half-inning, the pitchers basically dominated the rest of the game, and faced the minimum in all but 5 [half] innings. Fister tossed 1-2-3 innings in the 2^nd and 3^rd to match Weaver, and those first inning mistakes would be his one and only blemish, but that was all Weaver needed. Both teams would get two runners on base in their next time at-bat, but that was the only time Weaver would allow more than one runner on base. The Mariners got a leadoff single by the LF Mike Carp, who hit a 1-2 outside fastball right back up the middle for their first hit of the game. The CF was rookie Greg Halman, instead of Gutierrez, and he struck out swinging at a high 0-2 fastball. Figgins hit a foul fly ball to Wells in LF, but Ichiro lined a 2-2 changeup up the middle past the diving attempt of Kendrick into CF. With runners at 1^st and 3^rd, SS Brendan Ryan struck out for the 2^nd time, on a 2-2 changeup….In the top of the 4^th, catcher Hank Conger hit a leadoff single into center, and after Bourjos struck out, Romine hit a grounder through the right side for another hit. Aybar hit a fly ball to right, that Ichiro Suzuki ran down near the line, and Hunter ended the inning striking out on a 3-2 slider.

Over the next three full innings, the pitchers faced the minimum, as both starter seemed to get stronger as the game went along. The Mariners went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 4^th as did the Angels in the top of the 5^th. The Mariners got a runner on when Carp duplicated his last at bat with a single up the middle on a similar pitch, but he was erased on a double play grounder by Halman, on a good grab by Romine, and an even better quick turn by Kendrick to end the inning. The Angels did nothing in the 6^th, going down in order, once again. Chone Figgins led off the bottom of the 6^th with a line drive single on a high fastball, but Suzuki hit a fly out to left, and Ryan swung at the first pitch (probably to avoid another strikeout) and hit an easy double play grounder to SS. The Angels got their first hitter on board in the 7th, but without any contact. Romine actually struck out on a changeup over the outer half, but the catcher Miguel Olivo totally flubbed it, so the ball went to the backstop, allowing Romine to reach first on the dropped third strike (a passed ball). Erick Aybar pulled a 1-1 changeup on the ground and it was turned into a double play to erase that runner, as the Mariners returned the favor. Hunter flied out to left on the first pitch to end that inning quickly.
　
The Mariners finally sent up more than three batters in an inning, in the bottom of the 7^th, but only because Weaver issued a two-out walk to DH Jack Cust on a 3-2 high changeup, after getting the first two to ground out. If he had walked him in between the groundouts, the last one would have been another double play, but as it ended up Olivo hit a fly out to center to end the inning. The Angels had a chance to add more runs, in the top of the 8^th, probably because the Mariners changed pitchers, and brought in left-hander Aaron Laffey to start the inning. Bobby Abreu saw a 2-2 slider that didn’t slide far enough away, and lined a single into left. Vernon Wells hit a fly out to left, and Kendrick tried to slice one into right field, but Ichiro Suzuki made another good play, running and jumping up to snag the fly ball for the second out. Mark Trumbo pinch-hit for Branyan (and played 1B later) because of the lefty on the mound, and he smoked a line drive into left field, that Mike Carp dove for but he couldn’t catch it as it hit off his arm instead, allowing Trumbo to get a double, moving the Abreu to 3^rd. Hank Conger drew a four-pitch walk, to load the bases, with two outs, for Peter Bourjos, who seems to find himself in a lot of these situations, where he tends not to do so well. He was down 0-2 and swung at inside fastball, which jammed him so he hit a weak grounder to 2^nd for the last out.
　
It didn’t really matter if the Angels scored any more or not, because Weaver wasn’t going to allow them to touch home plate. He retired the side in order again, in the 8^th, striking out Carp on a brilliant 2-2 changeup, and then Halman swung and missed a high fastball for the second out. Figgins was behind 1-2 and took a defensive swing at an outside fastball, tapping it back to Weaver for an easy out, to cap off Weaver’s best inning of the game. The Angels went down in order in the 9^th, seemingly just trying to get Weaver back out there as soon as possible to end the game. Weaver came back out there, as there really was no doubt that he would after his strong 8^th inning, despite his 115 pitch count. Suzuki walloped a 1-1 outside fastball deep into right center for a leadoff double, to put some pressure on Weaver (as the closer Jordan Walden warmed up in the bullpen just in case). Weaver didn’t give in, retiring the next three hitter at the top of the M’s lineup in order to end the game. He got Ryan to swing at a shoulder high 1-2 fastball and he popped up to Kendrick in shallow left field, then Smoak couldn’t handle the 2-1 slow curveball and hit a weak fly ball to center. Adam Kennedy ended it after swinging at a high fastball, and lifting a harmless pop out to the 3^rd baseman, Romine, in foul territory.
　
It was Jared Weaver’s 4^th career shutout, and he only allowed 5 hits, plus one walk, while striking out 6. He kept the Mariners hitters off balance all game with pitches that ranged from 67 to 93 MPH, superb control over all his pitches, and an outstanding changeup that the hitters could never tell was coming. Luckily for him, the Angels managed to get to the Mariners’ starter Doug Fister, before he settled in and actually pitched well from the 2^nd inning on. He gave them some hittable pitches, the Angels hitters took advantage getting on the board, and gave their ace starter some a much-needed early lead, and he ran with it. Now the Angels are guaranteed to finally win a series, and are edging their way back into the AL West race, thanks to a recent slump by the division leading Rangers, allowing everyone to stay close.