Astros 4; Angels 8

Congratulations to Terry Evans on his first major league home run in his first major league start. For a guy who was a non-prospect 23 year old in AAA as recently as last year, he's come a long way, and he was the Angels' only offense until a wild seventh inning. He scored twice, drove in two, and the guy who struck out 60 times against 10 walks in Salt Lake this season drew a big walk in the seventh, and didn't strike out once.

They wouldn't have had a chance in that inning if not for what actually wasn't all that bad of a start from Ervin Santana, despite the poor line in the box score. Other than the first inning home run from Hunter Pence, he actually made a lot of good pitches. Give credit to the Astros for putting the bat on the ball and getting some hits when they needed to in the early innings. Santana kept the game from getting away in the fifth, sixth, and part of the seventh, helping to set up the comeback.

And for the second time in three nights, what a comeback. Error, walk, walk, walk......walk, sac fly. Oh, and a three run homer from Vlad. Just like that, a two run deficit became a four run lead. Four of the Angels' five walks came in that stretch. The walks to Napoli and Evans weren't surprising. The walks to Evans and Figgins were. And while Borkowski clearly struggled with his control, the Angels earned those walks, fighting off some pitches, extending at bats, and punching their own tickets to first base. And just as the Angels had taken the lead, Vlad decided to remove any doubt with a bomb to left center.

Another series win. Another game the Angels probably shouldn't have won. But once again, the message to their opponent was "if you come in to Anaheim on a roll, prepare to get rolled while you're in town". They're taking 2 of 3 consistently from good teams, bad teams, teams on a run, etc. Three more on tap versus the Bucs as the season rolls on.