Angels 8; Rangers 6

Mike Scioscia is a dumbass. And so is any other manager who brings the closer into the game in a non-save situation.* There was absolutely no reason to remove Shields after the way he tore through the 8th inning. I'd love to see numbers on what Percival's ERA was in non-save situations compared to save situations. There's just a concentration issue or something. They amost lost this game when Scioscia made that move, and while Frankie didn't pitch well, this loss would have been completely on Scioscia's shoulders.

This one should have been out of hand after the first inning. Great job of picking up four runs with two outs after a Vlad rocket got to the wall too fast to allow Erstad to fo first to third. That kept the double play in order, and GA hit one right off the Rangers menu. They recovered, though, and picked up four more in the next inning, sending Chan Ho to an early shower. Hey, look on the bright side, Chan Ho. It's not like you gave up two grand slams to the same guy in the same inning or anything.

Bartolo was a little off. I'm not sure if it was Merriweather's strike zone or what (computer tonight - no extra innings because of the KCAL broadcast), but he wasn't getting strikes in bunches of quite the same size as he has been lately, which led to a lot of baserunners in the early innings. But he pitched well enough to win, and he pitched to the score, to the extent that's possible, and reasonable people can and do disagree.

Couple more hits for Dallas, as he is hopefully coming out of his slump. That's three hits in the last two games. Erstad remains red hot, with three hits. He's not hitting for power, but he's racking up base hits by the ton, and he's even walking.

Jeff Davanon could use a trip to the brain specialist. Guy comes in with the bases juiced, throws six straight balls, and what does Davanon do? Swings away and pops up. Honestly, make the dude throw you a strike in that situation. Please. If only for my sanity.

Had a tooth pulled tonight. First time I've ever done that. It was a wisdom tooth that was pretty much all the way in, but had a pretty big cavity, so the doc just yanked it. The novacaine has worn off, and it doesn't even hurt. I'll be throwing back a vicodin all the same, ya know, just in case. After the pain I went through a week and half ago, any discomfort this procedure may cause can't be anything more than child's play.

*Disclaimer - as the Idiot points out in the comments, there are exceptions, the most obvious being at some point late in a tie game. I should have been clearer. I was referring generally to games where the lead is too big to earn a save, like last night's game.