AAR: Aston’s Angels Report June 17, 2011
Game 71: Mets Defense Helps Angels Vol. 1, Issue 73
Win 4-3 Record: 34-37
Apparently the Angels don‘t like sleeping in their beds and home cooking as much as one would expect, because they have played much better on the road this season. They also came into the game with the major league’s best record in interleague play, and both trends continued in this one. After about a half-hour rain delay, the game in the relatively new Citi Field in New York, got underway as the Mets took the field. They lined up behind the veteran pitcher Chris Capuano, and the Angels countered with Joel Pineiro, still looking for his 100th career win.
The Angels came out with a more familiar lineup, as Maicer Izturis was back in there at 3rd base, and RF Torii Hunter was finally moved back down to the 3rd spot, but Bobby Abreu didn’t play, vs. the left hander and with no DH spot in the National League park. The Mets have some young players in their lineup, and a similar scenario to the Angels in the outfield, as Carlos Beltran has been moved out of his familiar CF spot into RF, making room for Angel Pagan, who had a break out season in 2010, in CF.
Both teams went down in order in the 1st inning, including a high light play when Erick Aybar dove to catch the line drive from their 3B Justin Turner, for the 2nd out. Over the next two innings both teams exchanged runs, so as soon as the Angels took a one-run lead the Mets came back to tie it in their next at-bat, and it repeated again in the 3rd. Howie Kendrick smashed a one-out double into right center with his familiar opposite field swing, and moved to 3rd on a fly out to center by 1B Mark Trumbo. CF Peter Bourjos reached for a low 1-2 changeup and hit one on the ground Turner at 3rd, but he took his time slightly before realizing that Bourjos always burns down the line and threw it over Daniel Murphy’s head, for a run-scoring error. Bourjos went to 2nd on the error, and because Joel Pineiro had to hit 9th, the Mets intentionally walked the light hitting catcher Jeff Mathis to pitch to Pineiro with two men on. It worked out as expected with a groundout to the SS, by the pitcher, to end the inning.
The Mets wasted no time at all, getting that run right back in the bottom of the 2nd, as cleanup hitter, Daniel Murphy led off by clobbering a predictable 2-0 fastball into right center for a triple. Pineiro threw all outside fastballs to Pagan and he hit one back up the middle on the 2-1 count, to score the tying run almost instantaneously. Jason Bay hit what should have been a double play groundball to Aybar at SS, but the throw to 1st by Kendrick was in the dirt and Trumbo couldn’t scoop it. It turned into an error on Kendrick, because Bay went to 2nd on the play, and catcher Ronny Paulino made it easy, swinging at the first pitch and tapping it back to Pineiro. Manager Mike Scioscia employed the same strategy that the Mets did, and walked the Mets’ 8th place hitter, 2B Ruben Tejada, to get their pitcher the plate. Capuano struck out on the 0-2 splitter in the dirt to end the inning, as the plan worked for both teams, in a 1-1 game.
Izturis led off the 3rd with a grounder through the left side, on a high changeup on a full count, and moved to 2nd on a good bunt by Aybar (ruled a sacrifice bunt but it was an attempt for a hit). Capuano jammed Hunter with a good inside fastball on 0-2, but he blooped a single into right, because he didn’t try to pull it which he has a tendency to do. With runners at 1st and 3rd, and one out, Vernon Wells hit a hard grounder towards Reyes, but it was too hot to handle and zoomed past him into left field for an RBI single, and a 2-1 lead. They had a chance to score more, with the same scenario and Howie Kendrick up, but he hit into an inning ending double play, right to the SS who touched 2nd and threw to 1st, to end that threat.
After Reyes grounded out to start the bottom of the 3rd, Turner drew a 5-pitch walk. Beltran lined the first pitch right up the middle, and off the leg of Pineiro, that redirected towards the 3rd base line, and became a painful infield single. After the coaches and trainer checked on Pineiro’s health, he continued and induced a fly out by Murphy for the 2nd out. Pagan drove in another run, pulling a first-pitch curveball into right for an RBI single, tying it once again, at 2-2. LF Jason Bay lined out to right, to send the game into the 4th inning.
After a leadoff walk by Trumbo, Bourjos turned that into a double play, with a hard one-hopper to the 2B Tejada, who quickly flipped it to Reyes for the return throw to get the rabbit Bourjos. Mathis ended the inning striking out swinging at an inside fastball, pushing Pineiro back out to the mound hastily. The bottom of the 4th didn’t start out well for Pineiro, who allowed a lead off double by Paulino, who lined a full count sinker into the left field corner, then he hit the #8 hitter, Tejada with a bad inside sinker that got away. Scioscia came out to talk about the strategy with the pitcher coming up to try and but. Capuano didn’t look very comfortable up there trying to bunt and missed the first two outside fastballs, then after a ball, he was still trying to bunt, and went for a curveball in the dirt and struck out. An out was expected, but not moving the runners up was the important part of, and Pineiro was able to take advantage. Reyes swung at the first pitch, which was a rare curveball, and hit his third groundball to the 2B, for the out at 2nd, as the runner moved to 3rd and Reyes was too fast for a double play. Turner struck out on a curveball in the dirt, to end the inning, as Pineiro squirmed out of a big jam, to keep the score tied.
The Angels did little in the top of the 5th, as Pineiro led off with a strikeout, Izturis flew out to left, and Aybar lined the first pitch he saw to left for another quick inning. After Beltran and Murphy grounded out in the bottom half, Pineiro issued a four-pitch walk to Pagan, who promptly stole 2nd base. Jason Bay couldn’t knock him in, as he was fooled by the 1-2 curveball and grounded it to the SS Aybar for an easy out.
The Angels offense was helped out again by the Mets defense, even though it doesn’t necessarily reflect that in the box score, no thanks to yet another biased ‘official scorer.’ Torii Hunter hit a 1-0 changeup through the left side for a leadoff single, but Vernon Wells struck out on a high fastball. With Kendrick up to hit,
Hunter was thrown out trying steal 2nd on a great throw from his knees by Ronny Paulino, reminiscent of Benito Santiago. Of course, Kendrick followed with a line drive single into left, so that caught stealing was magnified even more. Trumbo hit a slow grounder towards Reyes, who charged it and had time to throw to 1st but he couldn’t handle the hop and bobbled it, allowing Trumbo to reach on what was ruled an infield hit. Everyone who saw the play knows it was an error, but someone in that press box [or wherever the official scorer for the Mets sits] didn’t want to assess Reyes his 10th error of the season, apparently. Peter Bourjos made them pay for the extra out, whacking the first pitch fastball down the 3rd base line, into the corner, for an RBI double, moving Trumbo to 3rd. The Mets pulled the maneuver again, walking Mathis intentionally, this time to load the bases for Pineiro, and he struck out to leave the bases loaded, and show how much easier it is to pitch in the National League.
The Angels defense wasn’t perfect in this game, but there was a couple of great plays by the outfield that helped keep their lead in tact. The best play of the game came in the bottom of the 6th, when Paulino swung at the first pitch and clobbered another ball, this time into deep left center, but Peter Bourjos raced over to chase it down, and made the catch as he jumped into the fence with all fours extended out, like spider man (and reminded me of Ken Griffey Jr). That saved a leadoff double for sure, if not a triple, and maybe saved the game, as Pineiro worked his way through the inning to move it along into the 7th.
Hard throwing reliever, Bobby Parnell came in to pitch the top of the 7th for the Mets, and was greeted rudely by the Angels leadoff man. Izturis pulled a 90 MPH slider into the right field corner for a double, and he moved to 3rd on a chopper to the SS by Aybar. Hunter fell behind 0-2, but once again tried to hit one the other way, and was rewarded once again, as he guided a high 98 MPH fastball through the right side for an RBI single, to make it 4-2. With a runner at 1st and one out, I have come to expect a double play grounder, and Vernon Wells obliged hitting one to the SS for an easy double play, to end the inning.
Pineiro faced one more hitter, retiring Justin Turner leading off the bottom of the 7th, before making way for lefty Hisanori Takahashi, who has been pitching very well lately. Pineiro went his usual 6+ innings, but he strayed from his trend of allowing 4+ runs, limiting the Mets to just 2 on 6 hits, to put himself in line for that elusive 100th career victory. Beltran switched over to hit right-handed and hit a pop fly into shallow left, that Vernon Wells made a great shoe top snow cone catch, as he sprinted in- the other great play by an Angels outfielder. Murphy popped out to Izturis in foul ground to send the game into the 8th after a long 1-2-3 inning with the pitching change. The Angels went down in order in the 8th, as it looked like it was going to be another nail biter. Scott Downs came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th, and got Pagan to ground out to 3rd on the first pitch, for the all important first out and eliminating the speedy runner from the bases. Bay hit a groundball to Aybar at SS, who charged it and made a running throw to 1st, but it was kind of low and it looked like Trumbo just missed it. Of course it was ruled a hit, and an error on the throw that allowed Bay to go to 2nd, but that was an error all the way, because the throw to 1st beat Bay to the base, pure and simple. Paulino swung at the first pitch again- a fastball down the middle, and clobbered another one, this time into right center for an RBI double, making it 4-3. Tejada grounded out to Trumbo, who fell down trying to lead over and stay in front of the ball to ensure the out, for the second out. Scott Hairston was called upon to pinch hit, but he struck out on a good slow curve from Downs to preserve the lead going into the final inning, despite the run allowed (which should be unearned but isn‘t because of another biased official scorer).
Manny Acosta came in and retired the Angels in order in the top of the 9th, setting the stage for the last at bat in a one- run game. The closer Jordan Walden came in to shut them down, but he had trouble locating his fastball early in the inning and got himself into some major trouble. He walked the last person you want to allow to reach base, Jose Reyes, to lead off the inning, who of course stole 2nd base with Turner up. Walden fell behind him 3-1 even though he was trying to bunt until it went to a full count, and then took a 100 MPH fastball outside for another walk. With two men on and the dangerous Carlos Beltran up, Walden tried a different approach, throwing a first pitch slider , for a swinging strike, then another taken for strike two. He fired a fastball for a ball, but the 1-2 pitch was a perfect slider that ended up in the dirt after starting out on the same plane as that previous fastball and Beltran swung and missed for a big strikeout. He threw a good 1-1 slider to Murphy for a called strike to get ahead in the count, and did the same thing he did to Beltran with a fastball for a ball, then a sharp slider that looked good causing him to swing at a ball that ended up in the dirt for strike three. Now with two outs, Angel Pagan stood in the way of a win for the Angels, and Walden used his fastball to get ahead 1-2, then threw a slider that ended up in the strike zone, and Pagan took a feeble swing to try and foul it off, but stood no chance and made the final out.
Walden made it interesting, and once he realized his normally reliable fastball wasn’t going where he wanted it to early in the inning, he figured out another way to win. He had a sharp slider that was very hard for the hitters to pick up out of his hand, in this one, and it got him out of a huge jam, that could have cost them the game. Instead, it was his 16th save of the season, Joel Pineiro’s 100th win of his career, and the team continued their strong showing on the road and kept up with the division leading Rangers, who also won their game against an NL-East team, the Braves.
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