Sunday, September 11, 2005

Angels 6; White Sox 1

Watched the good parts of this one on the DVR after I got home from another mediocre round of golf. Not much to say, really, other than it's really awesome to listen to Hawk call a game where the White Sox just get hammered.

It's gonna take more than two decent games to get me to stop hating Finley, but he had a couple more hits to today. Garret is starting to get a bit of a power stroke back, which is going to be very important down the stretch. Going down the list, of the guys who have been regulars all season, only three are showing the power at either the level of expectation or better. Vlad, Figgins, and Molina. But what's happened to this point is water under the bridge. What matters now is what happens down the stretch. And if they can play a little long ball for the next three weeks, they'll be tough to catch.

Lackey was excellent again, as he continues to grow into an ace. It may be that growth, even more than the emergence of Santana, that makes Washburn expendable after the season. They would have three front of the rotation starters, and really Wash would be number four in next year's rotation (maybe #5 if Santana improves over the off-season). What he will command on the market is a lot to pay for a fourth or fifth starter, but it's less a reflection on him, and more a indication of the strength of this pitching staff. I realize that those roles are strictly definitional, and nothing says you can't have five number one starters. But at this point, I'll take Byrd for another year over Wash at a big number for four or five more.

Three more up the coast before the team returns home. Honestly, they've already won one more game on this trip than I expected. Hopefully they'll get three more.

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