Wednesday, April 11, 2007 |
That's Colonel Saunders To You: Angels 4, Indians 1
But he somehow refound his control in the fourth with a 1-2-3 inning, an effort he duplicated in the fifth, striking out one batter in each frame. In the top of the sixth, Casey Kotchman got aboard on a hit-by-pitch, and the struggling Mike Napoli went the other way with a hard hit ball down the right field line for his first major league triple, plating a huffing and puffing Kotchman. (Frankly, I was surprised they didn't rule it a double with third on the throw, but that's just me.) Jake Westbrook uncorked a wild pitch, and Napoli managed to score, giving Saunders a three-run cushion.
It survived into the seventh, when Jhonny Peralta belted a solo homer just past Vlad's outstretched glove in right. That was the end of the Tribe's scoring, and very close to the end of Saunders' night. He got pulled after walking Kelly Shoppach, but it was a fine job, more reminiscent of his good outings last year than his wobbly start earlier. Getting into the seventh with the bullpen starting to look a little threadbare this early in the season will be remembered.
The Angels managed one more in the top of the ninth thanks to a stolen base by Gary Matthews, Jr. that Orlando Cabrera cashed in on an RBI single; Frankie came in and sealed the deal with his fourth save of the year. He's almost getting to the point that you have faith in him even when he doesn't have his A stuff.
Labels: angels, indians, recaps
if you don't know where it was played at, well, you shouldn't be reading this column and really don't neeed to know.
This is a concern to me, because it's clear that Angels management suffers from groupthink on the aggressive baserunning thing.
I'm not sure where people got this idea that small ball wins championships. The Angels in 2002 and the White Sox in 2005 won in large part because they smacked a decent number of home runs and extra base hits.
Watching the 2002 World Series Game 6 and 7 on MLB TV I couldn't help but notice how intelligent the Angels were when it came to baserunning--especially compared to the years that have followed.
I don't have numbers to back this up, but I get the distinct feeling that aggressive baserunning seems to benefit the opposition more often than not.
Thoughts?
- Chris
: 4/12/2007 10:35:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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