Sunday, April 22, 2007

Got To Punch, Right On Target

I wasn't quite expecting to see the lows and highs of the season in the span of about a week and a half, but shortly after looking like a Low A team for six straight games, the Angels bats woke up and tore apart the Mariners in a three game sweep.

The bats struck early and often, taking multi-run leads in the early innings of all three games, while the starters held down the Mariners until the bullpen, "led" be Carrasco and Shields, did it's best to blow up games 1 and 2. Speier and Mosely looked fine in game three. The victories coincided (though it surely wasn't a coincidence) with the return of Vlad, who hit monster home runs in games 1 and 2 to help create those early leads. And whether he had anything to do with it or not, HGHMJ, Casey Kotchman, and Garret Anderson started pitching in as well. HGHMJ also finally started playing some defense again.

Still, and I don't mean to be a downer, but we certainly aren't past concern territory. Don't get me wrong, this was the right series at the right time, but we can't ignore the fact that this was still just the Mariners. On top of that, there were a lot of hard hit balls that ended up in Angels gloves, and there were multiple line drive double plays. This was a series that can be a momentum builder, but I wouldn't take it as evidence that all is well in Halo-land.

On the positive side, Bartolo Colon looked excellent in his first start of the season. And with Jered Weaver back in the rotation, the Angels optioned a guy who would be no worse than a third starter for probably 15-20 major league teams to AAA. That's serious depth. And while he's been up, Dustin Mosely is starting to get the scent of trade bait.

But the best news of the weekend? After series number 1, Angels - 3, Cocksucker Guillen - 0. Don't worry though, M's fans, Jose went 4-12, and that's all that's really important. Team success is secondary for Guillen. What's good for Jose is good for......Jose.

Bonus points for getting the reference in the title. Minus points for using Google.

No comments: