I had a sneaking suspicion that Bart would not be able to go tonight. I mean, how many guys say "I won't be ready Sunday, but I should be fine on Monday"? And for whatever reason, be it back, shoulder, whatever, he gave all he could, but couldn't get out of the second inning. In stepped the kid. As I said over at the Rev's site, this is what legends are made of. And while his performance wasn't quite legendary, it was damn close. Five and a third, three runs on five hits. He escaped big trouble in the fifth, getting two pop ups, followed by a strike out and a friendly call from Joe West. Mea Culpa, I expected every close call to go against the Angels tonight, and I was partially wrong (the strike zone for the kid in the early innings was ridiculously small).
The bullpen, much maligned in August and last night, got the job done tonight. Kelvim was excellent, and Frankie got the big ground balls when he needed them. The pitching, the most important ingredient all year, gave this team no fewer than four more games.
One of the strenghts of the Mike Scioscia Angels has been their baserunning. It didn't show up in the stolen base numbers in this series, but it showed up tonight. Cabrera made a great read on a Vlad single, and later scored from third on a sac fly. Vlad got a great read, and won a huge gamble, going from first to third on a Bengie single, and later scored after getting a tremendous jump on a weak grounder by Erstad.
There's not much else I can say. It was a great game. I was nervous as hell all day, but this is why we all plug in. It's why we all watch. Why we all pick teams to root for instead of being detached observes (except for maybe Repoz). Keep coming back, because for the next week or so, you'll be reading one of the most unpopular people in Chicago. I can't wait to go to work tomorrow.
*update*: Welcome Sploid readers. Thanks for the link, fat.
*update 2*: Welcome South Side Sox readers. I count many friends among your ranks.
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4 comments:
The "We want Eckstein back" sentiment is officially dead in Anaheim.
The Angels continue to own the Yankees. Read some of the blogs and message boards from around the Yankee nation. Nobody giving props to the Angels, comparing them to the Devil Rays. What a bunch of sore-loser assholes those guys can be.
Those would be the same D-Rays that kicked the crap out of the Yankees this year?
Nobody ever beats the Yankees. They instead "beat themselves." They miss out on the basic point that if you cannot play defense, you will not be able to win baseball games.
Think of the MLB like the old Baseball Stars video games. You get certain amounts of points to build your team and the smart money is on pitching and defense. You will barely have enough to beat the "Lovely Ladies" but you will win out in the long run.
The Yankees always go for the hitters, neglecting the defense. Then they are surprised when they can't make plays at the plate, boot grounders, or man hug out on the outfield wall.
It is stupid, really.
I used to always take that "Ghastly Monsters" team when we'd play that in the dorms. I could beat almost anyone because they were all punch and judy guys, but they were fast.
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