Angels 11; Exponats 1

I'm reminded of a song by one of my favorite bands:

Bottle yours
when the rain starts falling
bottle yours
in my heart
bottle yours

Hey, I love a good blow out as much as the next guy. I just don't want to see them turn around and end up with about three hits tomorrow. But who am I to complain?

This one was fun to watch, even if you had to watch some of it on TiVo and missed the first three innings (I'll get to that later). Missed the first few runs, but man o man did Dallas crush that pitch. Not too many balls make it up on to that hitters' backdrop, and he flirted with it earlier this season. Nice to see him pop one up there early in his career.

I'm no doctor, but my Bill Frist "Diagnosis by Video for Dummies" training tells me that Vlad is OK. But seriously, don't take my word for it. Check the box score. The only really surprising thing about his day at the plate was the ball he hit out didn't get out by very much. But hey, horseshoes and hand grenades, right?

How bad was this one for the Nationals staff? A Figgins triple, homers by Vlad, D-Mac, and Juan Rivera, and a double by Davanon? That stuff's gonna happen. But you really know you're going bad when you let Kotchman hit one to the outfield.

I can't say I approve of the negative response to the introduction of Guillen. Sure, he's a headcase, but I really think the guy gave it his all on the field for the Angels last year. He played hurt at times, and I think deep down, he just wanted to win, and I don't think the Angels would have won the West without him. However, he also went ballistic over one of the most obvious pinch run situations in the history of baseball, and the way he had swung it over the previous month+, I don't think the Angels would have won the West with him in the lineup over the last week+. I've documented it somewhere else (probably Primer), and I'll see if I can find it again, or maybe I'll redo it this week, but his replacements didn't exactly fall on their faces. And one of them provided a HUGE double (Curtis Pride) that tied the game in the ninth at Texas, a game ultimately won on a Troy Glaus homer.

Lost in the offensive explosion were excellent performances from Paul Byrd, and Steve Yan. Byrd has a tendency to give up runs after he gets them from his offense, so it was nice to see him hold them down while the offense could take off. Steve was unhittable. Great stuff from him. Wouldn't it be great if he could do it when it mattered?

Hey, is it just me, of was Figgins playing WAY too shallow on that double by Wilkerson? The guy has 25 doubles this season. Who the hell was positioning him?

Missed the beginning because I was at the Sox game for seven innings. It was really over after Contreras got knocked all over the yard in the second. Good game to go to if you, like me, don't really care all that much about either team. The heavyweights showed up, with homers by Sean Green, Luis Gonzales, Troy Glaus (about the fifth or sixth I've seen him hit at Commiskey), Frank Thomas, and............Chris Snyder (one of these things is not like the others). He really didn't get hit that hard at first, a few singles just squeaking through, and Jermaine Dye pulling a Garret Anderson on a ball that dropped in shallow right. But before too long, he was getting absolutely pounded. Give him credit, though. He hung in for six innings and saved the bullpen. Weird night for Dye. He loafed on the blooper, got easily doubled up on a ball that Royce Clayton bobbled, but also made a diving catch and a nice catch at the wall.

Date night, as the new girl I'm seeing came out with yours truly, a buddy, and his fiancee to the game. She doesn't mind going to baseball games, so that's a major point in her favor. Although, somewhat inexplicably, she doesn't mind hanging out with me, so I'm gonna have to figure that one out. Next step is to she if can handle a concert.