Monday, May 01, 2006 |
Mighty Casey Has Struck Out: A's 1, Angels 0
In a sense, tonight's game provided the worst possible outcomes for two of the team's bad players. For starters, Carrasco seems all but assured of getting another "emergency" start, which can't be good because he can't be good, not unless they move the fences at Angel Stadium back about 20 feet or so. For another, Edgardo Alfonzo finally got a hit, his first since April 23. He is done, but he's at the point where even a 1-4 night will improve his average. The guys running the audio knew the score, though: Alfonzo didn't get his own music when he came to bat. Heh!
The situation at catcher continues to be bad offensively; both Halo backstops are hitting poorly, and so for Molina, another 0-3 night. In the case of Molina, it shouldn't come as a surprise, although this much and this long maybe. But with Mathis, well, it may take another year of this struggle to get things right.
That isn't to say that the Angels didn't have their moments, and their openings. Howie Kendrick collected his first major league hit, to much applause. But maybe the best part of his appearance was the increase in the number of pitches it took to get him out in the second inning: six, before he flied out to center. In his first appearance, he seemed overeager at every chance, and did the pitcher's work for him. I'll take it for what it is.
I said the Angels had their chances, and they really squandered four (and a half). First, when Figgins got on in the first; Vlad walked and Salmon struck out. Figgins blew one when he made the last out of the fifth on a caught stealing. In the eighth, Figgins managed to get to third, but nothing came of it as Vlad failed to get a critical hit at a good time. And finally, an uncharacteristic single from Edgardo Alfonzo in the ninth got followed up by a flyout to center by pinch hitter Adam Kennedy insufficiently deep to move Alfonzo to second, although given his speed. The half opportunity was Tim Salmon's screaming warning track flyball; on a day game, that ball would have been bouncing around the rocks in centerfield. Can't be the hero every day.
Justin Duchscherer (I can almost spell that one without looking now) took care of getting Alfonzo in scoring position with a wild pitch to pinch hitter Casey Kotchman. It must have taken some nerve to bring Kotchman up with the game on the line like that; but, hey, nobody else was hitting, either. What's more, he had a decent at bat. The important thing to take away from it is that he looked more patient than I've seen him in a while, which ought to be a positive. So is the fact that Figgins got a pair of singles.
And at last, a word to the loud, obnoxious A's fans sitting behind me: see you in September, eh?
Oh, we'll see 'em alright. But they'll look real small considering they'll be miles ahead.
also, i believe the duchscherer pitch was a passed ball by kendall. it was very catchable.
He is also a ground-ball pitcher (career 1.38 G/F), so the distance to the fences would seem to affect him less than some other members of the staff.
Newer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.