6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: The Crushing Weight Of Terrible Calls: Angels 10, White Sox 5

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Saturday, September 10, 2005

The Crushing Weight Of Terrible Calls: Angels 10, White Sox 5

Some things to take from today's game:

Even a blind Steve Finley can still find an acorn once in a while. Will this be used as an excuse to get Finley more at bats? God, I hope not. For all that Finley went 2-4 with a home run, you can't expect he's going to perform like that again. Frankly, I expect that he's done hitting the longball for the season. If Mike puts him in again, I'll scream.
Anderson isn't going to hit like that, either. No matter how many at bats GA gets, it bears repeating that this was Anderson's first home run since August 2. In fact, with this game, Anderson has already exceeded his August total for extra base hits. While I applaud the results, expecting them to reappear is every bit as unreasonable as expecting Paris Hilton to stop undressing in public places.
How did Christiansen get out of that jam? and Why did Mike let him get into it in the first place? Dear God, somebody's going to have to send Mike a text message whose contents are, "Mike, they're called LOOGYs for a reason." Neither of the two batters Christiansen faced were lefties. What the...?
Dan Iassogna's head is full of lasagna. That was the worst safe call in the history of organized baseball. What the hell is up with the umpiring this week? Yesterday, it was close plays at the plate killing the Chisox, today it was a bad call on a play at the plate... I don't know which of the two Chisox fans will be more pissed at by the end of the day, the Angels or the umpires.
Esteban Yan throws fastballs even when the opposition hits them hard.
Kevin Gregg still doesn't know where his splitter is going. Yet he made his required outs.
Bartolo Colon has passed into this year's stud column. Give the big man props for pitching injured and gutting -- and yes, the big guy's middle calls for such a pun -- his way through six against his old team. With 19 wins, he edges ever closer to that magic Cy Young category. 20 wins this year could put him in that category in a big hurry, and 21 would be even better. How likely is he to get there? Assuming Mike's backed off -- for now -- his earlier comments that he's going to juggle the rotation to get Colon an extra start or two, his turns look like they'll be
```
Date        Opponent
======================
Thu. 9/15  vs. Detroit
Wed. 9/21  vs. Texas
Mon. 9/26  @ Oakland
Sat. 10/1  @ Texas
```
I'd say Colon has a good chance to get 21 wins on the year, with 22 perhaps within reach provided luck and offense hold out. He wouldn't be my personal choice for the Cy Young -- I don't think his ERA is low enough, for one thing, nor does he have Johan Santana's impressive K/9 rate -- but the voters like the wins. You could see it happening.