6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Angels 8, Cubs 3

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Saturday, March 12, 2005

Angels 8, Cubs 3

A couple weekends ago, I went to Blair Field and watched the Dirtbags beat Tony Gwynn's Aztecs in a surprisingly close game, 2-1 the final score. Long Beach didn't have much of an offense last year; they were the Big West's answer to the 2003 Dodgers. This year's edition kept most of the same players, sans Jered "Money Shot" Weaver, so a sizeable regression was in the cards. For their part, CSUSD, so I have heard, was intentionally seeking out tougher opponents in out-of-conference play. That's not hard when your in-conference opponents are New Mexico State, Air Force, Brigham Young, U. Utah, and UNLV, none of which are especially highly regarded.

You play for a title. Higher levels of competition are the only way to get there. But watching the results can sometimes be brutal.

So with spring training: you don't watch those games for their excellence. In today's split-squad game, Eddie Oropesa, whose last name is the Spanish for "run donor", came in and successively walked the leadoff man, gave up an out on a fielding error he committed, followed by a single, setting the stage for Orange, CA native David Matranga, whose last name is Spanish for "won't make the team in April", and his bases-clearing triple. Nick Gorneault, whose last name is French for "needs to improve his plate discipline and make his swing more repeatable, but won't learn those skills in the Angels' system", contributed with an RBI single against the hapless Mr. Oropesa.

In the Real Players Section, Vlad got aboard on a bleeder, and Garret Anderson wailed a homer to right center. Washburn gave up a run on four hits against something that looked startlingly like the Cubs' everyday roster in the regular season. Cubs fans, beware: when organizational filler like Corey Lee manages to actually look good against your upper-tier minor leaguers seriously trying out for a bench spot, that's a sign that maybe the offense isn't all that.

Recap

// posted by Rob @ 10:22 PM link // 0 comments