Sweep: Angels 4; Royals 3

The Angels didn’t generate much at the plate, but they took advantage of some Kansas City mistakes, and got some timely fielding from Torii Hunter to sweep the Royals for their fourth win in a row.

Shane Loux left after allowing three runs on seven hits in just 3.2 innings, but Darren Oliver and Scot Shields provided 4.1 innings of scoreless relief, giving the Angels offense an opportunity to get back into the game. They got their chance in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Kendry Morales was erased on what looked like botched hit and run, Mike Napoli walked. Howie Kendrick bounced one back to Jamey Wright, who threw an easy double play into center field. Kendrick then stole second, and Jeff Mathis delivered a two run single. Howie Kendrick should have been out by 15 feet at the plate, but Miguel Olivo couldn’t handle Jose Guillen’s throw. After an Erick Aybar single, Chone Figgins squeezed home Mathis for the game winning run.

Brian Fuentes came on in the ninth for the Angels and quickly gave up a long fly ball to Miguel Olivo. Hunter tracked it down, leaped, and pulled the game tying home run back into the park for the first out. After allowing a walk and a single, Fuentes induced a game ending double play from David DeJesus.

Thoughts on the game:

• Sometime aggressive baserunning takes you out of an inning, but the Angels forced the Royals defense to make plays in the pivotal seventh inning, and the Royals were not up to the task.
• If you missed Torii Hunter’s game saving catch, don’t worry. It will be on TV all night. It was a tremendous catch.
• Bobby Abreu’s production at the plate has fallen off recently, but he today he did what the Angels hoped he’d do when they signed him. He reached base four times, all via the walk.

You've seen it everywhere by now, but here's that catch:

.500!! Angels 4; Royals 1

Matt Palmer made his second straight excellent start, and picked up his second straight win. He lasted 5.1 innings, allowed one run on two hits, walked three, and struck out five en route to his third victory. He lowered his ERA to 3.06. Darren Oliver relieved Palmer in the sixth and pitched an inning and two thirds. He allowed two hits, and matched those with two strikeouts. Jose Arredondo and Brian Fuentes pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings respectively, as the Angels finally clawed their way back to .500.

The Angels offense pounded out ten hits*, including two each from Maicer Izturis, Juan Rivera, Mike Napoli, and Howie Kendrick*. Jeff Mathis singled home Mike Napoli in the second inning, and Napoli singled home Torii Hunter in the third. In the sixth inning, with Juan Rivera on second base, Howie Kendrick hit a high fly ball down the left field line. Jose Guillen reached the ball in plenty of time to make the catch, but much to the delight of Angel fans, he misplayed the ball. The ball rolled into the right field corner. Juan Rivera scored easily, and Howie Kendrick raced around the bases for an inside the park home run*.

*Note that these numbers may change. The Kendrick fly ball was ruled an inside the park homer, but I expect that ruling to change. The ball glanced off Guillen’s glove, and should be scored an error.

Thoughts on the game:

• Darren Oliver should be congratulated for recording his 1,000th career strikeout in the seventh inning.
• The bullpen is starting to come together, though right now it appears Oliver will be filling the role we expected Scot Shields to play. Emphasis on “right now” as that could change. But Arredondo and Fuentes are pitching very well.
• Tomorrow’s matchup should be excellent. Joe Saunders brings his four wins and 3.29 ERA against Zach Grienke and his otherworldly 0.40 ERA.

Angels Sweep Rangers

Finally a bit of a return to normalcy after the way the Rangers took the Angels apart in the second half of last season. They got a decent start out of Ervin Santana on Monday, who looked like the road version of last year's model in the first inning. From there he settled down and tossed six scoreless innings before turning it over the bullpen.

Yesterday they got a less than adequate start out of Dustin Moseley, who gave up four runs in four innings, and really did himself in with five walks. It was the type of start that normal teams expect out of a fifth starter. The good news for the Angels is that Moseley is their seventh starter. The key for the April Angels is to get this team into May without a lot of damage done so that when Lackey and (God willing) Escobar return, they'll be poised for the mid-season run that puts the division away in late July/early August.

Don't look now, but over the last two days, the bullpen has provided seven innings of earned run free baseball, the only blemish coming when Erick Aybar's throwing error in the eight inning on Monday led somewhat indirectly to Frankie Rodriguez's save opportunity. Speaking of Frankie, two innings, two base runners (both walks), two strikeouts, and two scoreless saves, yesterday's being of the 1-2-3 variety. They actually looked like the real Angels bullpen this series. And don't forget Scot Shields' 1.2 IP, 0 baserunners, 2 Ks performance in the two games. It's no secret that the bullpen is going to be essential to the Angels' success this year, and if they can get the 7-8-9 inning guys going, things may turn out OK.

On the offensive side of things, Chone Figgins picked up three more hits in nine at bats, and saw his average drop 10 points. After two straight games without a free pass, he picked up number 13 in 69 plate appearances yesterday. His ability to get on base (currently a .507 clip) is probably THE reason the Angels have the top scoring offense in the league to this point, well, that and the fact that they've played as many or more games than everyone else. Mike Napoli (four homers) continues to pour on the power when he's in the lineup, and Casey "he'll top out at 20-25 homers" Kotchman also hit his fourth of the season. Maybe the experts are right, but my gut tells me he's got 35 homer power in him. Maybe not this year, but at some point.

Next up will be a contrast in styles as the Angels head home to take on the surprising Royals, who aren't plating many runners (3.5 per game), but are allowing even fewer to cross (just over 3 per). Fortunately they miss Brian Bannister and Zack Grienke, but Gil Meche is better than his ERA shows to this point (though Brett Tomko likely isn't). The Angels counter with Jered Weaver and Jon Garland, who could use a game against a low scoring opponent just about now. Just a quick two game set before another showcase series with Seattle this weekend. It would be nice to see them keep the momentum going.

Thank God for the AL West

The Angels may win the division only because every team sucks a little more than them. Then again, if they can't beat the Royals, and apparently they can't consistently, they'll find themselves in the cellar before too long.

Two hits. That's what they mustered today. Two goddamned hits. They've managed three runs in their last two games. Against the Royals.

These guys fucking suck.

Angels 1; Royals 3

Two things:

1. Don't make the first or third out of the inning at third base. Especially the first out when Vlad is on deck.
2. A pitcher shouldn't have 107 pitches through fewer than seven innings when he's pitching a shutout.

Also, with the way the Royals crowd the plate and get hit by pitches that are practically in the strike zone, someone needs to come out and just drill about six or seven of them in one game.

Angels 7; Royals 5

We need to keep this one in perspective. Despite starting his season with two solid starts, Bart has basically started three games in the last year. He's not going to be in mid-season form. And that was the case tonight, as he blew a five run lead, and would have if his offense hadn't picked him up in the fourth inning. But he battled on a night where he really didn't have it, got through five innings, and turned the ball over to a suddenly effective bullpen to hold the lead.

It looked to me like Bart was getting squeezed a bit in the second inning, and then again in the third when he walked Pena. As a result, he threw some pitches that got too much of the plate as he was just trying to throw strikes. These may the Royals, but they're still professionals, and they have some excellent young hitters. They made Bart pay, the long ball coming off the bat of Mark Teahen to pull the Royals to within one.

Bart had the big lead because the offense was stout early. After three straight singles to start the game, Zach Greinke got behind Vlad 3-1, and Vlad took it out on him by hitting the next pitch about 460 feet for a grand slam and four run lead. They added another in the second on a Matthews triple and Cabrera double. A Kotchman sac fly in the 4th pushed the lead to two, which was promptly cut back to one in the bottom of the 4th, before a Reggie Willits RBI single in the 8th provided the winning margin.

The Angels pounded out 13 hits: Two each for Aybar and Cabrera, three for Willits, and four for HGHMJ. It's not easy to figure out who the best young player has been to this point. Willits is seemingly always on base, now hitting .382 while getting on base at a .447 clip. Honestly, other than deference to the veteran, I don't know how you put Garret Anderson back in the lineup unless you make him DH and put Hillenbrand on the bench.

Then there's Erick Aybar. Forget the two stupid caught stealings in the first two weeks. He's now hitting .320, while playing outstanding defense at second base. He's clearly bench bound upon the return of Kendrick, but if I were Orlando Cabrera, I might be polishing my resume. They're going to need to have this kind in the infield every day in the next year or two. Yeah, I know he's not slugging, but he'll hit for just as much pop as Cabrera, with a better average, comparable defense, for about $7MM less.

And if you thought those were the only two fighting it out, you've clearly forgotten about Dustin Moseley. He bridged the 6th and 7th innings tonight, turning the ball over the Scot Shakyields. All he's done is toss 17.1 innings, allowing less than a base runner per inning, with an ERA barely over one. He doesn't strike a lot of guys out, but he doesn't walk many either, and he's keeping the ball in the yard this season. Oh, and opposing hitters are hitting only .186 against him. He and Joe Saunders are making Ervin Santana look very tradeable. I hear there's a team in a big market on the East Coast that's really struggling on the mound right now.

Same time and teams tomorrow night, with the aforementioned Ervin taking on Jorge De La Rosa. Can Ervin get it done on the road? We'll see.

Angels 3; Royals 1

I'm not sure there's a lot to say about this one. They still aren't scoring many runs on the road. And as good as the pitching was, it's hard to get excited about holding the Royals to one run.

Still, Lackey overcame some early Lackey-itis and started to work through some efficient middle innings, which allowed him to get into the seventh, where Speier shut the door. Shields walked a guy with no power who he had down 1-2 before breezing through the rest of the inning, and Frankie gave up a lead off double before striking out the side for his ninth save. And boy is he going to have a lot of saves this season if he stays healthy. Because they aren't going to be winning a lot of blowouts. If they have a lead in the ninth, there's a really good chance it will be within three runs.

Figgins looked pretty solid in his 2007 debut, poking an RBI double to left field, which could have been good for two RBIs if the runners hadn't been forced to hold, waiting to see if the ball was caught. He also started an excellent, yet dubious double play, which featured a terrific turn by Erick Aybar, though it was pretty clear that Estaban German beat the throw to first. They're going to need to make room for Aybar somewhere next year. That guy is a lot of fun to watch in the field.

HGHMJ made a nice second inning peg to nail Ryan Shealy at the plate and keep the lead at 2-1. He's really starting to deliver. Speaking of runners being thrown out, note to Vlad: Please stop getting thrown out at third. It's starting to get a little ridiculous.

Big Bart tomorrow against Zach Greinke in what should be another low scoring affair.