Angels 1; Jays 4

This, in my opinion, was a game the Angels could afford to lose. They were throwing their #6 starter against a former Cy Young award winner, and one of the five best starters in the AL. Throw in the house of horrors that Skydome has been, and the odds were not in their favor.

Halladay overcame a first inning run to basically dominate the Angels over the final eight innings, throwing an extremely efficient 99 pitches, 71 of which were strikes.

On the other side of the diamond, the Jays picked up four runs of their own in the first, three of which were earned, and only two of which, maybe even only one of which ever should have crossed the plate. While Saunders got knocked around by the first couple of hitters, the defense really did him in. Erick Aybar booted a double play ball which saddled Saunders (who had already given up a run) with a bases loaded - none out situation as opposed to a runner on third with two out. A sac fly made it 2-1 Jays. A double made the score 3-1 and put runners on first and third when Greg Zaun hit a grounder to Figgins. Figgins came home to nail Vernon Wells, but Jeff Mathis dropped the ball, loading the bases once again. After a second sac fly made the score 4-1, Joe Saunders settled in and didn't allow a run over the next six innings.

Saunders gave the Angels exactly what they need out of the fourth spot in the rotation, and tonight the bats and the gloves let him down. Erick Aybar in particular struggled tonight, and I can only assume Scioscia wanted to give Cabrera two consecutive days off to let him recharge going into this stretch of 17 games in 16 days. Plus, he's a switch hitter against a tough right hander. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have OC in there, but I can't fault Scioscia.

So they put this one behind them, and hope to come out and do a little better tomorrow. An Eastern trip at this point of the season has notoriously been a killer for the Angels, but they can regain some momentum with a win tomorrow night