AAR: Aston’s Angels Report June 28, 2011
Game 81: Late Inning Blowout Vol. 1, Issue 83
Win 11-5 Record: 41-40
Tuesday’s game against the Nationals marked the half-way point to the regular season and with the victory, coming in with an equal number of wins and losses. Luckily, they came into the game trailing Texas for first place in their division by only 1 ½ games (and both teams won their games.) Even though they ended up with the high margin of victory outcome, the Angels actually trailed 5-3 going into the bottom of the 6th after a defensive error allowed the two go-ahead runs in the top half of the inning. Joel Pineiro pitched into the 6th inning, but was on the hook for the loss after surrendering four runs (three earned) as the bullpen (and defense) failed to secure the one-run lead he had when he left the mound . Meanwhile, the Nationals starter Jason Marquis wriggled out of two-runner jams in each of the first five innings, and the only reason that he allowed more than one run, was a costly two-run error by his shortstop that should have been an inning ending double play.
Torii Hunter made his return to the starting lineup, after resting the bruised ribs he suffered when he crashed into the fence to catch a fly ball in Florida, to solidify the outfield. I suppose I may be spoiled by the potential gold-glove trio that typically man the outfield, with Wells, Bourjos and Hunter, so when they go to an alternate outfield it seems like a huge downgrade. Howie Kendrick was back at his normal position of 2nd base, and Callaspo got the bid at 3rd, so Izturis was out of the lineup, with Bobby Abreu assuming his customary DH role. The Nationals didn’t change their lineup at all; for some reason both teams choose to use their struggling power hitting right fielders, Hunter and Jayson Werth, in the 2nd spot in their lineup, but I guess there must be a reason behind it (I just can’t figure out what it is.)
The Nationals gave Marquis a one-run lead early, but they had the chance to score even more against Pineiro in the first inning. CF Roger Bernadina grounded out to the Kendrick to start the game, and Pineiro made a good 1-2 pitch to Werth but he lunged over and lobbed the slider just over the infield into shallow right field. Hunter was playing deep in right, and the play was right in front of Werth so he turned it into a double rather easily. Werth went to 3rd on a wild pitch in the dirt by Pineiro, before 3B Ryan Zimmerman, singled back up the middle to drive home the first run of the game. LF Laynce Nix had a great offensive day, made a living by pulling the outside pitches all night long, starting in the 1st when he hit one off the wall in right field that turned into a long single. Hunter acted like he was going to catch the flyball, but he was just trying to make sure the runner didn’t know it was over his head, and then he fielded the ball rebounding off of the wall and got the ball into the infield quickly. This proved to be a huge play, not because it possibly saved a run from scoring, but because it kept the double play in order for the next hitter, [with a groundball pitcher on the mound]. The giant 1B, Michael Morse stepped in with runners at 1st and 3rd, and hit a groundball to 3rd for a tailor-made double play, to end the inning and save any more runs from scoring.
Marquis came into the game with a very good record of 7-2, and a 3.53 ERA, and has proven to be a reliable veteran major league starter, for a while now. Erick Aybar became the leadoff hitter with Izturis getting the day off, but his swinging bunt attempt failed, and Marquis showed off his athletic fielding ability, getting off the mound quickly to make the play. Hunter walked, after taking a 3-2 slider that looked like a strike to everyone but the umpire, I think. Abreu hit a line drive out to left but it was right to Nix for the 2nd out. Vernon Wells was ahead in the count, 3-1 but he swung at a slider away and tapped it off the end of the bat towards 2B Danny Espinosa, but he missed it off the tip of his glove, as Hunter ran in front of him as the ball was coming, which may have distracted him. This error didn’t burn them, as the umpire called Howie Kendrick on a strikeout, even though he foul tipped the pitch and it bounced before the catcher caught it. For some reason there was no appeal even though the Angels coaches and players complained, since the tip was definitely audible and the short hop catch was pretty obvious, again to everyone but the umpire somehow.
In the 2nd, Espinosa hit one hard into right center and Torii Hunter showed exactly how healthy he is as he sprinted over to run it down and prevent a leadoff triple probably. The catcher Wilson Ramos walked after a 3-2 fastball was low apparently, according to one person anyway. DH Matt Stairs was down 1-2 but he hit an curveball up the middle into right center, out of the reach of Kendrick who was playing him farther over to pull and couldn’t get to the grounder. With runners at 1st and 2nd, Ian Desmond was jammed by a 1-1 fastball and hit a grounder to Aybar who shoveled to Kendrick at 2nd to turn the inning ending double play for the second inning in a row…. After Callaspo hit a fly out to center and 1B Mark Trumbo grounded out to 3rd to start the bottom of the 2nd, Hank Conger walked on five pitches. Peter Bourjos had four hits on Monday and none of them were hit very well, and he continued that fortunate hitting streak with another broken bat single the flared into center, on the first pitch fastball. Erick Aybar couldn’t come through with two runners on and grounded to 2nd for the last out.
Players were running rampant around the bases throughout this one, as the Nationals got two more of their own on base in the 3rd. Bernadina tried to bunt his way on, but Pineiro made the play for the first out. Werth hit a grounder to Callaspo at 3rd , but he was unable to glove it cleanly, giving Werth the base on the 8th error of the year for Callaspo. Zimmerman lined out to right on a high 0-2 87 MPH fastball that Pineiro was lucky to get away with, but Nix pulled another outside sinker into right field for a line drive single. Werth stayed at 2nd on the play, so Morse had two runners on, but he became Pineiro’s first strikeout victim, swinging and missing a 2-2 inside fastball to end the frame.
The Angels threatened again in the 3rd against Marquis, because after he struck out Hunter on an 0-2 slider away for the first out, Abreu started a rally with a line drive single to left center. Wells hit a high chopper to 3rd base, and Zimmerman made a terrible attempt to field it, crouching down and trying to backhand the ball down the line, when he had plenty of time to get in front of it and at least stopping it, and the ball hopped right over him and into left field. It was ruled a double, which was probably too lenient (it wasn’t a guaranteed out even if he fielded it cleanly, but I think it should have been a single since he probably only went to 2nd because the throw from left went towards 3rd). During the at-bat to Howie Kendrick, their catcher Ramos was fortunate to stop one in the dirt, even though he didn’t even try and block it , opting instead for the lazy backhand try as the ball happened to bounce into his glove. Kendrick eventually walked on a low 3-2 pitch, to load the bases with one out. Callaspo stepped up, and before I could get the words “anything but a groundball” out of my mouth, Callaspo swung at the first pitch and hit a grounder to the 2nd baseman, who turned it into a double play, and send the game into the 4th as the Angels failed with the bases loaded once again.
Pineiro finally settled down and got his offense back up to hit in no time. He struck out Espinosa, swinging at a 3-2 fastball over the outside corner, then retired the next two hitters on the first pitch, getting Ramos to ground out and Stairs to fly out to center to end the 4th quickly…. Mark Trumbo hit a grounder back up the middle that went for an infield single, because Espinosa got to it, but had no play at 1st. Conger laid down a good sacrifice bunt to move Trumbo to 2nd, but Bourjos couldn’t do anything, as he ended up striking out after he had the count in his favor 3-0. Aybar went after the first pitch, and nailed the cutter over the inner edge, right down the 1st base line, for an RBI double, to finally push that tying run across the plate. Hunter grounded out to 3rd for the last out, but the game was now 1-1 heading into the 5th.
Pineiro continued his streak of consecutive outs in the 5th, inducing Desmond and Bernadino into groundouts, and then getting Werth on a foul pop out to Trumbo, to make it seven in a row retired by Pineiro…. The Angels offense went back out there and continued its damage against Marquis, with a little assistance from the Nationals’ young defense. Abreu started the inning by striking out, swinging at a slider that darted into the dirt. Wells hit a grounder into the hole between SS and 3rd, and beat out the throw to 1st by Desmond, who made it closer than expected with a great throw, but Wells touched 1st just as the ball went in the glove. Kendrick pulled an outside slider, hitting it off the end of the bat into shallow left for another single. Callaspo had a good at-bat, working the count full after getting behind 0-2, laying off of Marquis’ enticing pitches and fouling a few off, before taking an inside fastball for a walk. That loaded the bases for Mark Trumbo with one out, and he worked a 3-0 count, so this seemed like the obvious time to take a pitch, since Marquis was obviously struggling to throw strikes and a walk would lead to a run. For whatever reason, Scioscia didn’t give him the take sign, so Trumbo swung at the 3-0 fastball, and hit a grounder to the SS. Desmond took a couple steps to his left to field the grounder and looked like he was preparing to flip it to 2nd before he actually had it, so the ball hit off his glove and ricocheted a few feet away so he got nothing. Instead of a double play to get out of the inning with no runs allowed, the error allowed two runs to score, as Kendrick was sent home too on an aggressive move, to give the Angels a 3-1 lead. Hank Conger struck out looking on a 0-2 fastball that crossed over the inner edge, and Bourjos hit a grounder to Desmond that looked very similar to the one that he flubbed off the bat of Trumbo, but he made the play for the forceout at 2nd to finally end the inning. Technically only one of the runs was unearned, because the scorers can’t assume a double play (which is also silly) on a grounder like that, and since one run would have still scored if they only got one out, the other run was earned, even though it was obvious that the ball would have ended the inning since it was hit fairly hard.
The Nationals took that defensive miscue personally and took it out on the Angels pitchers in the top of the 6th, with a little more help from the Angels [lack of] defense, despite a bad call from an umpire that cost them a base runner and possibly another run. Zimmerman led off the inning, with a grounder to Aybar, but he bobbled it before throwing on to 1st for the out. It was another blown call, as he was obviously safe, just like Vernon Wells was safe earlier in the game on a similar play, but that same umpire called him out. It actually looked like he was on his way past the base when the throw arrived, and the Davey Johnson got his chance to go out there and argue, but as usual it was to no avail, since there is no replay (arrggh!) That missed call became even bigger when the next hitter, Laynce Nix pulled another outside sinker deep into right center, and over the tall wall out there this time for a solo homerun, The score was 3-2, but it very well could have been tied if not for that terrible call by the umpire, and I’m sure the Nationals dugout was saying the same thing. Morse immediately followed with a solid line drive over Pineiro’s head , sizzling into center, on the first pitch fastball. Espinosa made the 2nd out, with a fly ball into left field, but Ramos hit a line drive back up the middle on a 2-2 sinker that missed the intended target once again. The Angels manager, Mike Scioscia had seen enough, and removed Pineiro with two runners on and two outs, with the chance for a victory still. Hisanori Takahashi came in to try and get that last out, but he surrendered a base hit by Stairs, who stayed in to face the lefty, which was a bit of a surprise to start with. Aybar was playing close to 2nd, to hold the runner and because Stairs is more of a pull hitter, but Stairs took the outside fastball the other way, grounding it through the normal SS spot, and the ball rolled into left, just beyond Aybar’s diving attempt. It’s after the fact obviously, but Aybar probably should have moved a little to his right, when he saw the catcher calling for an outside pitch, knowing the Stairs was more likely to hit it in that direction, but maybe that is just nitpicking. That single tied the score 3-3, and then Takahashi walked the 9th place hitter, to load the bases and get himself into a precarious position. He got ahead of Bernadina with a 1-2 count but couldn’t put him away and the count went to 3-2 and he hit a grounder to Mark Trumbo, and he returned the favor to the Nationals making a two-run error of his own, misplaying the ball so it hit off the heel of his glove and bounced over towards 2nd. Matt Stairs made it home from 2nd because he was running on the 3-2 pitch. The score was now 5-3 because of that error, and Pineiro was now in line for the loss all of a sudden. Werth struck out with an awkard swing at a 3-2 fastball, as the Angels finally got that last out of the inning, but it was a few hitters too late.
The scoring barrage continued in the bottom of the 6th, with the Angels taking their turn at putting up a crooked number on the scoreboard. Aybar led off, worked a full count, and saw a pitch much like the one he pulled down the line for an RBI double, and this time got it up in the air and it went just barely crept over the short fence in right field for a solo homerun. The deficit was immediately cut in half, but the Angels weren’t done yet, as the Nationals brought in a new pitcher, rookie Collin Balester to pitch. He made a mistake after getting ahead of Hunter 0-2 (after he swung at a slider near the dirt), throwing a fastball right down the middle, and Hunter hit it right back up the middle for a clean single. Abreu swung at a slider in the dirt to strike out for the first out, but Vernon Wells bombed a homerun to left field into the bullpens, after patiently taking two balls to get the count in his favor so the fastball was imminent. It was rare for the Angels to hit any homeruns in their home stadium this year, let alone hitting two in the same inning, and the surprise power surge gave them a 6-5 lead now. Kendrick hit a grounder to 3rd, and Zimmerman made another suspect play, this time on the throw as he short-armed the ball to 1st like a shot-put hurler, and his error pulled Morse off of 1st allowing Kendrick to reach. It looked like it was starting to fall apart for the Nationals after that blunder, and then Balester compounded the problem, uncorking a wild pitch so Kendrick went to 2nd, and then during the same at-bat, tried to pick him off of 2nd and threw it wildly into centerfield, so Kendrick eased into 3rd base, still with just one out, after a parade of errors. Callaspo was still up, and he drew a walk to put two men on, so the Washington manager, Davey Johnson came out to replace his pitcher and try to find a way to put out the fire. The 6’4”, 240 lb., red-headed giant, Todd Coffey sprinted in from the bullpen, in his customarily comedic entrance, but he took the smiles off the Angels’ faces soon enough. He struck out Mark Trumbo, swinging at a slider in the dirt, and then Conger hit a fly out to right, to end the inning, so Coffey put a stop to the Angels’ rally just in time.
Rich Thompson came in to pitch the 7th, but he didn’t look very comfortable, or at least not very accurate out there in this one. He walked the leadoff hitter, the cardinal sin for any pitcher, especially late in the game. Nix followed with hit 4th hit of the game, lining a single up the middle on a high outside fastball, and he was replaced by pinch runner Jerry Hairston. Morse hit a deep fly out that was similar to the one that ended up going for a homer in Monday’s game, but it didn’t carry as much and Bourjos caught it on the warning track in the deepest part of the park, to record a loud and scary first out, and Zimmerman went over to 3rd after tagging up. Scioscia brought in a new pitcher since Thompson wasn’t fooling anyone out there, calling upon a different right-hander, Bobby Cassevah to stop the pending Washington rally. He threw a few fastballs that drifted low and outside to Espinosa, then one of them ended up in the dirt for a wild pitch, moving the runner over to 2nd, so they just intentionally walked him to load the bases and try again. It worked out for the Angels, as Ramos hit a groundball to 3rd that the Angels turned into a double play, as Kendrick was taken out by the runner barreling into 2nd, and Trumbo had to come off of 1st to catch the off-target throw, then swiped the tag on Ramos, to complete the double play, save a run and end the inning. Now both sides had a 2-run error and a double play with the bases loaded and one out, so it only made sense that the score would be very close too, as the Angels carried a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the 7th
After the 7th inning stretch, Todd Coffey barely gave the fans a chance to get back in their seats, making short work of the Angels offense again, retiring Bourjos, Aybar and Hunter in order with relative ease, to get his team right back up to the plate....Cassevah stayed in for the Angels and followed Coffey‘s example, continuing what he started in the previous inning, and retiring the side in order too. He struck out Stairs looking on a 3-2 fastball over the outer edge, then jammed Desmond with a fastball to get a weak fly out to center, and struck out of Bernadina, who swung at a 1-2 curveball put an end to another quick half inning.
The Angels refused to let Coffey continue his dominance in the 8th, and punished he and anyone else who dares to follow him on the mound, in what turned out to be one of their biggest innings of the year. Abreu started the inning off harmlessly with a ground out to SS, but Wells started the massive attack with a line drive single into left, and Kendrick hit the first pitch he saw the other way into right, and Wells ran over to 3rd easily. Callaspo punched an outside fastball into left field and the soft line drive scored Wells to give them a 7-5 lead. Ryan Mattheus was called upon to relieve Coffey, who probably shouldn’t be expected to pitch as more than two innings of work anyway, but it was too late. Mattheus continued his scoreless streak to start his brief 7 inning major league career in the first game of the series, but his ERA wouldn’t stay blank after this outing. Trumbo came up with two runners on, and whacked a line drive deep into left center, over Bernadina’s head and off the wall, for a 2-run double and a 9-5 lead. Conger clobbered a 2-0 high fastball, for mammoth 2-run homerun over the tall wall in deep right field, and it was 11-5, just like that. Bourjos hit a groundball to Desmond, but he hesitated and waited for the ball, then couldn’t make the play, for his second error of the game. Aybar hit a fly out to left and Hunter grounded out to 2nd to end the inning, so the error didn’t contribute to any more runs, but the game was all but over anyway.
The Angels picked a good time to get five straight hits and put up five more runs, heading into the last inning of the game. Michael Kohn came in to finish it off for the Angels, and retired Werth on a fly out and struck out Zimmerman on a good slider low and away. He walked Hariston, and surrendered a line drive single to Morse to allw the game to continue a little more, but Espinosa ended the game with a fly out to right.
Even though they left a lot of runners on base throughout the game, especially when they were trailing early on, their late offensive outburst helped seal the win and secure their fifth straight series win, They are close to another possible series sweep (like what should have happened in Dodger Stadium over the weekend), and Dan Haren is taking the mound in Wednesday’s afternoon game, which gives them a great chance. I should be talking about a 6-game winning streak but they were robbed of a win on Sunday, so they have taken 5 of 6, and 10 of their last 14. They are putting themselves in position to win in nearly every game lately, and starting to pose a significant threat in their division, especially if their offense starts to hit well at home, which hasn‘t been the case so far this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment