Angels - 2; Twins - 1

I hate games like this. I hate when one of my fantasy pitchers goes against the Angels, which will happen again next week when they face Jeremey Bonderman. But this was a big win for the Angels, coming on the heels of losing two games that they should have won. And just to show how proficient I am at predicting these things, I would have lost money on all three games if I were a betting man. And quite frankly, this is the type of game they usually lose. They're an offense that kills bad pitching, but is usually hopeless against good pitching. They didn't bust out the big lumber, but they did enough to make a great outing from the fat man hold up.

Bartolo was getting some love from the plate umpire, and just kept nailing the corners. When the Twins did put it in play, they were banging it into the carpet for ground out after ground out. The Angels, as expected, didn't do much against Johan Santana, but they did get solo shots from Vlad and Jose Molina, with Vlad's just barely staying fair (off the foul pole/net). Shields had some issues in the 8th, as he left the bases juiced for Frankie, but K-Rod induced the double play ball off the bat of Matthew LeCroy. And a special shout-out to Erstad's glove. He scooped a number of balls today, none bigger than on that double play.

McPherson looked overmatched in one at bat, but hit a nice liner to left field in another that was right at Jacques Jones. He made a terrific defensive play in the bottom of the ninth which kept the tying run off base. It required a strong throw, and it's one that Troy Glaus would have put 15 rows into the seats.

The Angels go to Seattle to start a three game set tomorrow. The division is still very tightly packed, so it would be nice to take at least two of three. They're gonna need to reel off seven or eight straight at some point, but until then if they can keep pace, and pick up an extra game here and there, they should be fine.