Monday, June 21, 2004 |
An A-List Lackey: Angels 10, A's 3
Dukey really choked. Let's not kid ourselves here: Duchscherer was frequently feet off the plate tonight. The Oakland pen has reached red alert status, but what I was wondering -- and Rory Markus touched on this briefly during the broadcast -- is why they don't go to a four-man rotation with Harden as a closer. They need a guy who can get that last out a lot more than they need a guy who can go the long innings right about now, now that they have more blown saves than saves. Gagné and Smoltz point the way for this, and it's not like the A's don't have a machine for turning out starters. Whatever, I'm not going to start getting into the business of trying to help our competition. But. I'm just saying.
Of course, the other way to look at this is that our guys have come out of their offensive slump, and YAY! My heart sang watching Vladi hit one onto that green thing in center. (Did anyone else catch that big smile he loosed after hitting the double?) And to top it off, Guillen having a 2-RBI night -- aw, the power part of the lineup doing that kind of work against the A's after stumbling against the fargin' Pirates was a thing of beauty. I just can't tell you how happy that made me. Lots of guys doing their jobs tonight: Eck (1-4, 2 RBI), Vlad (4-5, 4 RBI!!), Anderson (1-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI), Guillen (2-5, 2 RBI), B-Mo (2-4), AK (1-3, 1 BB). Fan-tastic, especially against the A's. And of course -- Lackey's brilliant 2-run game, which should have been a shutout except for the Bermuda Triangle play in shallow center. You'll get those in this game, but Lack didn't let it faze him, and he went back and dominated through eight.
Tomorrow's gonna be tough, especially against Hudson; with Colón on the mound for us, batting practice is always a possibility. Though recent improvement might mean we could be in for a close game, I wouldn't bet on it, and the boys need to remember their bats and try to force an early exit for Hudson.
I feel bad for Salmon, and not just because he's a fan favorite. I think he can legitimately still contribute, like an 800 ops or so..
anyways AWESOME game, 0.5gb.
mattkew
: 6/21/2004 10:47:00 PM
I know the Angels have been struggling, because I read the papers. But you always look so good against us. I wonder how we're still ahead.
Don't be silly about a four-man rotation. In fact, don't be silly about Harden as a reliever, unless it's the postseason. Nobody knows if Harden has the mental makeup to be a closer; he's really young. I'll concede that his frequent fifth inning struggles do make me consider the idea. Trouble is, we don't have another starter ready yet anyway.
I'm not sure if Lackey was so good or our offense is continuing its slump. Aside from our explosion against Cinci and Pittsburgh, our offense scares nobody. It's official: We miss Chavez. Your #3 hitter: Vlad. Ours: Mark Kotsay. 'Nuff said.
We continue to wait for the big trade, or trades, and count on Huddy and Mulder to keep us afloat.
bear88
: 6/22/2004 12:34:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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