Angels 4; Red Sox 2

Typical scratching out of enough runs to win, so I'm not going to talk about the offense. No, what I'm going to talk about today is a comment made by a certain regular poster and fellow blogger, who just happens to be a Sox fan. Here's one of his gems from about a week ago:

You're tied for first with 47 to play and you wanna see if a 22-yo can pitch? You're nuts. You don't have the luxury of experimenting right now, Sietz.

Intentional misspelling of my name notwithstanding, let's take a look at his line today against the vaunted Red Sox offense:

7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 k, W

Consider the experiment a success. I'm certainly not the genius that the Fatman is, but it looks to me like the kid can pitch a little bit. In case he's still not convinced, Santana's got a 4.62 ERA, which includes an eye-popping 2.89 since the all-star break. Not bad for a fifth starter. Guess how many starters the Red Sox have with numbers that good since the break. Or even, try and guess how many they have with ERA's below 4.00 since the break. If you guess a big fat (no pun intended) ZERO, you'd be right (not including Papplewhateverhisnameis, who has two starts in that time).

Then again, we are talking about the guy who thinks that being third in the AL in strike outs isn't good enough to be considered a strike out pitcher.

So to sum up, send Escobar to the pen where he's most needed. If Byrd or Washburn go down, he's ready to start. It's really a no-brainer at this point.

Shirking my resonsibility

No recap last night, for numerous reasons. Let me mark them off:

• Game ended late
• Missed the first five innings because I was at the Yankees/White Sox game
• I had to get up early to play Cog Hill today (shot 79, thank you very much)
• Didn't want to post at 1:00 am on a Friday night/Saturday morning and look like a loser who's at home, awake, alone at 1:00 am on a Friday night/Saturday morning
  

There's a nugget of truth in all of those, so feel free to go with the one that you like best. I'm listening to the game today (at work, of course), and it sounds like Santana is dealin'.

Wow, that was kind of out of nowhere

I was at work until about 10:00, so I had to catch the Kotchman home run on the computer, but I was home in time for the first big inning. The first homer by Rivera asbsolutely crushed.

Fell asleep on the couch again right about the time that Bartolo was giving up singles to pretty much everyone in a Sox jersey, so I missed the late fireworks, but thanks to DVR technology, I was able to rewind and catch Rivera's second home run. Bartolo looked pretty sharp until the one inning where they caught up to him, but by that time, the game wasn't in a lot of doubt. Can't really comment on the relievers, because, ya know, sleep, but from the play by play, it looked like Donnelly did OK, and other than the homer to Mueller, Jones did alright.

Enjoy this one, folks, because it's the rare win with Finley in the lineup. This was a big one to get. Of course, they're all big now, but this is the last night without an A's win for awhile. Worst case scenario, the Angels go through a tough stretch, the A's go through an easy stretch, and they come out the other end more or less tied. Best case scenario, the A's get humiliated by the Royals, they all quit in shame, and the franchise disbands. Hey, a guy can dream.

Sorry

First, there wasn't really much to recap. Second, I fell asleep in about the fifth inning and didn't wake up until the bottom of the ninth. Then fell asleep again, and woke up on the couch at about 3:00 am.

I hate my job.

This is getting ridiculous

Well, it's probably too late, but something has to be done about this bullpen. I've alread brought it up once, but now I'm will to say forget just moving Escobar to the bullpen. They need to not only send him there, but they need to make him the closer while they're at it. Nine blown saves by the bullpen in the last 18 games. This bullpen really sucks right now. Frankie needs to be DL'd or something. Just shut him down for a week. Make up a dead relative so they can put him on bereavement leave.

Hey, what a shocker, but Finley fucked up in a tight spot again.

Ugh. Like I've said, if and when they miss the playoffs, they'll remember this one. How many great efforts can they get from rookies, only to have the pen screw it up?

Speaking of the LA Times

This is just about the cruelest headline I've ever seen.

Finley Gets Released; Lakers Weigh Options.

It really isn't fair to Angels fans to tease us with such a tantalizing first three words, only to leave us crushed when we realize the headline is referring to Michael Finley. Just think how bad this would have been in the days before the internet and sportscenter.

Only a year and a half too late

The L.A. Times is reporting that with Anderson's injury, Finley sucking, and Kotchman not quite sucking as badly as Finley, Erstad might be returned to centerfield. FINALLY!

Oh, and Joe Saunders makes his debut tonight. I'm hoping for the best, but I think it goes without saying that starting rookies back to back, one making his major league debut, in the middle of a penant race isn't exactly ideal. Go get 'em, Joe.

Angels 5; Blue Jays 4

This is getting ridiculous. Three straight extra innings games against this team. The next two games better not go this late. Some of us have to get up and go to work in the morning, and these games that go until 1:00 am are tough. One more reason to move back to the West Coast.

Vlad got Venturaed in the second inning, but a timely error, a theme of the evening, was enough to get him home. Maicer unleased a Glaus in the fifth, and Orlando Hudson would bring the run home with a double to tie the game. A third error, this time by starter Chacin, would later lead to another Angel run. Scioscia finally made the move that probably would have garnered a couple more wins over the last couple of weeks by running the starter out there for the seventh (which I admit I was hoping for), and they promptly gave the lead away. A nice relay from the OC was all that kept the deficit at one. Figgins speed was enough to get the tying run in, as he was able to beat out a double play on a weak grounder to short with Ztu on third. Some anxious moments from the bullpen (surprise, I know), got the Angels into the 11th, where Erstad pre-empted the inevitable walk to Vlad by driving home OC with a walk off single before Guerrero had a chance to bat.

With the A's loss, the Angels now lead by two. It's important to win these next couple before taking on the Red Sox, at which time the A's will be slaughtering the Royals. And with that, I need to get some sleep.

Congrats to the mighty Mick on winning his second major. Too bad for I forgot to set the DVR to record it.

Simply awesome

This is just about the greatest thing I've ever read. Do yourself a favor and go read it if you already haven't. If you have, read it again.

Angels 7; Mariners 6

Didn't see most of it, except for rolling through the version on my DVR where I pretty much just watched the homers and the important plays. It was a nice, cool day here for a change, so I hit the links again.

Kotch absolutely hammered one, but it was really an awful pitch, so it deserved to be hammered. Ditto for Vlad's homer. And Bengie didn't cheat on his, as he hit it to one of the deepest parts of the park. I don't know what the hell happened to Donnelly. At least Bengie had an excuse, as he had just been hit in the hand, but Donnelly seemed to catch the Sax/Sasser disease there on the throw to first base. I was just surprised to see that it was scored an error. That's a really tough play for a major leaguer to make, ya know. Fortunately Erstad came through, and Frankie had one of his sharper appearances of late. With Oakland losing, the one game lead is back for now, but this figures to be a pretty tough week for the Angels. At least they've picked up some momentum, and while they can't make up for the debacle against Seattle in the last series, they did as much as they could.

As for the golf, not great, but encouraging. 83 from the black tees at Pine Meadow (7100+ yards). Didn't putt all that well, but hit the irons a little better, and I'm still hammering the new driver. I joined a couple on the seventh hole. Husband and wife, probably late 30s or so. She was pretty cute, but he was kind of a dick at first. He wasn't that good, but acted like he was a lot better, getting pissed off when he inevitably hit really bad shots. Now, I don't really care what type of people I play with. I don't care if they're good or not. If I did, I would never play with Ty (and I know he's reading this). But seriously, if you're not good, don't act like you are and you're just having a bad day. I've seen enough golfers out there that I can tell. Around 15 or 16, he started to mellow out a bit. Dude could really use some lessons. He's not old, and he's a big enough guy that he should be hitting the ball relatively far, but he'd tee off 40 yards in front of me, and I'd still be 50 yards by him in the fairway, and I'm not a really long hitter. I'm not short, but I'm not a monster. Anyway, the point is, I learned about 15 years ago that getting really pissed off on the golf course doesn't do anybody any good. No use crying over spilt milk. That's my free advice to all of you.

Next week, Cog Hill again, and maybe Kemper Lakes on Sunday if I can work out the timing. Expensive weekend.