Aston’s Angels Report July 30, 2011
Obviously I have been on somewhat of a hiatus, or maybe it isn’t so obvious to anyone but myself and like two other people. I spent far too much time watching games, taking copious notes, and writing those daily reports, and I’m taking a different route this time. I’m not going into detail about each game, at least not the ones that happened weeks ago, because that would just be stupid (or more so than it was to do so in the first place, anyway).
I left off just before the All-Star break and the games vs. the Mariners, and what turned out to be contribution to the worst losing streak by one team this season. The Angels swept the Mariners, the team who just recently ended a losing streak of 17 or 18 games, and have fallen way back in the division race, after staying close to the point they were ahead of the Angels just a week or so earlier. On July 7th, the Angels won the first game, 5-1, behind another complete game by Jared Weaver, who held the young Mariners offense to just six hits, two of which came in the 3rd inning when the M’s scored their lone run.
The Angels called up their top prospect Mike Trout, to fill in for Peter Bourjos in centerfield, because of a pulled hamstring suffered in game 1. They won game 2, 4-3 with a rare display of power, hitting four solo homeruns to account for each of their runs to back up Ervin Santana who allowed 3 runs and saw his team down 2-3 after the 5th, before Hank Conger hit a homerun (which would have given them the lead if Trumbo hadn’t been thrown out trying the steal during the at-bat). The Angels actually started and finished the game with a homerun, as Erick Aybar led of the Angels’ 1st inning with a homerun, and Mark Trumbo ended the game in the bottom of the 9th with a no-doubter walk-off blast to the deepest part of the park, in center field, into the trees and shrubbery out there.
They were riding high after that victory and faced Seattle’s rookie Michael Pineda for the first time this season, and forced him into his worst outing of the year. He was 8-5 with a 2.58 ERA and leading most people’s ballets for Rookie of the Year, and he looked unhittable in the first two innings, striking out 5 of the first 6 hitters. The Angels were apparently playing possum, as they erupted for four runs in the 3rd, thanks to a big 3-run homer from Torii Hunter. Joel Peneiro had trouble on the mound, and let the Mariners back into the game after his early 4-0 lead, letting the M’s score in the 4th and 5th to shrink the lead to 4-3. The Angels then scored three more in the bottom of the 5th, after another Hunter homer, then added a couple more later in the game, en route to a 9-3 win.
The Angels completed the sweep on July 10th, but it was yet another tough match-up for the Angels’ Dan Haren, who had to go up against another opponent’s ace, Felix Hernandez (last years Cy Young Award winner), after he had back-to-back 1-0 victories in his previous two starts. He allowed two runs in the top of the 1st, on a one-arm reach of a swing by Adam Kennedy to knock in two runs with two outs, so he was going to definitely need a little more support than he had been accustomed to. Haren settled back down into his dominant self to stabilize the defensive side, and Mark Trumbo came through with another big hit, launching a 2-run homer off of Hernandez in the bottom of the 4th , to tie the game. The game remained 2-2 with a series of 1-2-3 innings for both pitchers, until the bottom of the 8th, when the Mariners changed pitchers, bringing in David Pauley, to the Angels’ delight, I’m sure. Hunter led off with a single and Howie Kendrick walked, before Alberto Callaspo came through with a big two-out hit, doubling them both in to give his team the 4-2 lead, going into the 9th. Haren remained in the game and allowed a lead off double to Dustin Ackley (another top prospect I got to see for the first time), but struck out Smoak and got Kennedy to pop out for the 2nd out. Manager Mike Scioscia decided to pull Haren, one out away from the complete game, and even the fans at Angels stadium booed. It seemed like a questionable move, since he only had thrown 113 pitches to that point, and it was the last game before the all-star break so he would get a longer rest than usual anyway, and Jordan Walden has a propensity for blowing saves, but it worked out as Walden struck out the last hitter to seal the victory. This completed am impressive 11-2 home-stand, pushing them to 8 games over .500, and more importantly helped them keep pace with the streaking Texas Rangers, who won 7 in a row leading up to the all-star break.
Next came the all-star game, which had a large number of substitutes to replace pitchers who couldn’t play in the game because they had pitched for their teams on Sunday, or players who were injured, or just didn’t want to go. The National League won, probably because they had most of their original all-star selection pitchers available to shut down the American League sluggers. It just further proved how ridiculous the idea the commissioner Bud Selig had to make the outcome of this silly game name the home team of the World Series, and I hope that stupid rule is taken away soon. Even if the actual players who were originally selected to play did get on the field, I would still say it is a dumb idea, since it is just a popularity contest, every team has to be represented (which is good for the fans but not so good if you want the best of the best players), and it is an EXHIBITION game by nature, so the results shouldn’t affect anything, let alone who gets home field advantage in the biggest series of the season… On the plus side, Jordan Walden made one of the plays of the game, fielding a grounder with his bare hand to throw out a runner at home, so that gave the Angels some notoriety at least.
They started the “2nd half” of the season, on the road in Oakland, which proved once again to be something of a kryptonite for the Angels, only winning one game of the four game series, despite the A's very poor record and awful offense. On July 15th, in game one, Haren allowed a big homerun to Josh Willingham which proved to be the winning runs for the A‘s, whose pitching staff continued its stellar performance, holding down the Angels offense for most of the series. On the 16th, they played a rare scheduled double-header, like in the old days where each team had at least one double header scheduled every year. They won the first game, 4-2, behind another great outing by Jared Weaver, who continues to be the best pitcher in baseball, no matter what others (in Detroit and New York, particularly) say. They lost the night cap, 4-3 in extra innings, despite homeruns from Trumbo for the lead and later by Wells to get back into the game. Angels reliever Rich Thompson walked the lead off batter in the 10th, and he later came around to score the winning run on a Scott Sizemore single. The last game of the series was a laugher, as Joel Peneiro was shelled early and removed before he completed two innings, and Gio Gonzalez shut down the Angels offense in a 9-0, series clinching victory. It marked the first time the Angels had lost a series in a long time, and it started to look like the Angels were falling too far behind the AL West leading Rangers who still hadn’t lost a game in two weeks.
The Angels came home for their next series, one of the biggest of the year, against their division rival Rangers. The series started off poorly for the Angels, as they were shut out by the Rangers in the first game (July 19th), as Tyler Chatwood was once again given no runs in support. The Rangers’ lead in the AL West increased again, as they improved their winning streak to 12 straight, so the Angels were in a bad position going into game 2, needing to win to have a chance to salvage the series and keep close in the division race. Dan Haren started game two of the series, but his recent troubles continued as he allowed 7 runs in just over 4 innings, in a very atypical performance, and the Rangers had a 8-3 lead after scoring 5 runs in the 5th. The bottom of the 6th inning may well represent the turning point in the Angels’ season, as they came back and scored 6 runs as part of a much needed offensive outburst, to take a 9-8 lead. Equally as impressive was the fact that the Angels bullpen managed to shut down the Rangers’ potent offense for the rest of the game, and held on to win it 9-8. They ended the Rangers’ winning streak, and had a chance to win a huge series, with Jared Weaver on the mound for game 3. The Angels scored one run when the Rangers centerfielder dropped an easy line drive that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed the runner to score from 2nd, and that was enough to push them to victory. Weaver shut out the Rangers over 7 innings, then Downs and Walden finished off the 1-0 win, and CJ Wilson took the hard luck loss, despite not allowing any earned runs in a complete game. This may be the season-changing series, and gave them a chance to stay in the division race, and proved to both teams that they can play with last years American League champions…
Next, they traveled to Baltimore to face the Orioles, and won the first game of that series, as Ervin Santana allowed just 3 hits in almost 8 innings, and just one run late in the game. He carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning, but his teammates didn’t give him any run support until the 7th when they went up 2-0. Takahashi came into the game to relieve Santana with two outs in the 8th, and then Vernon Wells hit a grand slam off of the Orioles’ closer Kevin Gregg to boost the lead to 6-1, so Takahashi came back out in the 9th and got credit for the save, since the game was close when he originally came in. They got off to a faster start in game 2 of the series, scoring two runs in the first inning, on a two-run homerun by Wells, who homered in his two consecutive at-bats. The rest of the game was the problem, as the offense did nothing for the rest of the game against the O’s starter Brad Bergeson, and Joel Pineiro allowed a bunch of hits (11) and three runs in his 5 innings of work, and the Angels lost 3-2. Game 3 was another tight one, as the Angels were up 3-2 in the 8th inning, as Chatwood pitched well in his 7 innings, allowing just the two runs. The other notable stat was no walks allowed by Chatwood, which can perhaps serve as a lesson for Chatwood who tends to walk too many batters unnecessarily, and gives up runs because of them more often than not. Mike Trout was playing in front of about a hundred friends and family members, because he grew up less than 100 miles from the ballpark in Baltimore, and he hit his first big league homerun, clobbering a line drive deep into the seats in left field for a 3-run homer to help break the game open. It was much more impressive than his first big league hit, which was an infield hit when he beat out a bunt when the pitcher took too long making the throw to 1st and threw the ball away. Hunter followed with a two-run homer to boost the lead to 8-3 and they won the game 9-3, to clinch another series win.
They traveled to Cleveland to play the Indians on July 25th, and each game of the series was a pitching duel. Dan Haren was back to his usual self, and held the Indians to just one run. Bobby Abreu hit a rare homerun in the 8th inning and the Angels took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th, but Jordan Walden couldn’t save the game. The leadoff man singled, stole second, and scored on a double by the giant Travis Hafner to tie the score quickly. Eventually the bases were loaded and Scioscia took out Walden and brought in Takashashi, and brought in Hunter from right field to play as another infielder on the right side. Hunter got a groundball and threw out the runner at home for the 2nd out, so he went back out to right field for the next hitter. Jason Kipnis picked this time to get his first major league hit, pulling a high fastball through the hole on the right side of the infield but Hunter wasn’t there this time, and it rolled to him in right, for the game-winning hit.
Jared Weaver pitched another brilliant game in the middle of the series, once again lowering his already miniscule ERA, allowing just one run in 7 innings, on a solo homerun in the bottom of the 7th to Matt LaPorta. Just before that, the Angels scored the first runs of the game, when Mark Trumbo hit a clutch 2-run double after they intentionally walked Kendrick to get to him. Walden came in to close the game out, but it looked like he was on the verge of another blown save, as Hafner led off with a groundball that hit the lip of the grass near home plate and bounced way over Trumbo’s head, turning a groundout into a single, and eventually the bases were loaded with no outs. He had to throw a couple full count pitches to LaPorta and eventually got a weak grounder towards 2nd, so Kendrick charged it and threw for the out at home, and Mathis threw to 1st for the unconventional double play, to complete the biggest play of the game. Walden blew away the hero of game 1, Kipnis, striking him out on a high fastball finish off the save he earned the hard way.
Game 3 of the series may be the most memorable game of the season for the Angels, highlighted for the sparkling performance by Ervin Santana, who threw a NO-HITTER, and, ironically, earn the first win of his career against the Indians. It was the first complete game no-hitter by an Angel starter in about 27 years, and the first for the franchise since Langston and Witt combined for one back in the 90’s. Strangely enough, he was actually losing for most of the game, because the very first hitter he faced reached base on an error by Aybar, and eventually scored on a wild pitch that catcher Bobby Wilson couldn’t contain. The Angels didn’t score until the 5th on a sacrifice fly by Trout, then they took the lead in the 6th, when Hunter scored on a passed ball, and then they watched as Santana was getting ahead of hitters with his fastball and blowing them away with his slider, as he struck out ten hitters, including 5 of the last 8 batters he faced. When he wasn’t striking them out, he was getting a lot of weak ground outs, and the Indians really only had a chance at getting a hit in the 6th, on a grounder up the middle by Mr. Kipnis, where Kendrick had to dive to make the stop and got up quickly to throw him out. The Angels scored one more in the 9th for the 3-1 lead, but the story was Santana, who was overpowering from start to finish. I thought that an Angels pitcher would get one this year, but I figured it would be Haren or Weaver, but Santana proved he belongs in the class of top tier pitchers in baseball, after that performance, cementing his place in the record books.
The Angels took a very enthusiastic plane ride to Detroit where they faced the Tigers, starting on July 28th, which I’ll get into later. They have managed to keep up with the surging Rangers, despite their 12-game winning streak, and even put an end to the streak when they came back from that 5 run deficit, eventually taking the series, to remain close in the race. They came into Detroit just 2 games back in the American League West standings, and now have the lowest team ERA in the American League. Pitching and defense have kept them close to the division lead all season, making up for the overall lack of offense (mainly hitting with runners on base) and poor individual seasons for players like Abreu, Hunter and Wells, which have plagued them for most of the season. Time will tell if they can continue their pursuit of 1st place and claim a spot in the playoffs, and it certainly would also be nice if they added another hitter or relief pitcher before the trade deadline, but that seems unlikely, with that time coming up in less than a day now. Injuries and poor offensive production seem to be the major obstacles ahead, and the Rangers are hitting and pitching well so far this season, so it won't be easy to keep up, but it's still pretty impressive that they have so far...
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