6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

The bad throw ended up costing the Angels, for while Lackey was able to get Jermaine Dye to strike out in the next at bat, Paul Konerko singled home Ozuna. Immediately, my fears about a real White Sox uprising started to percolate, because they haven't been nearly as bad an offensive team as they've been lately. Lackey struck out A.J. Pierzynski to end the inning, but the sense of dread never really left.

In part that was because Reggie Willits, again in the leadoff spot, struck out. Even though his whiff was the only one Jon Garland got against the Angels, it set the tone for the game, as Garland faced the minimum through the first three innings. That's a bad thing, because Garland typically gives up the most runs in the first and second innings, cruising through later frames.

Lackey, meantime, continued to struggle in the top of the second, allowing a leadoff double to Tad Iguchi. Joe Crede popped out to Casey Kotchman, but then Alex Cintron busted a horrible slump by ripping a double to deep center, plating Iguchi. Lackey seemed rattled at that point, because he tried to pick Cintron off second — with nobody covering. The ball wheeled into center after ricocheting off Iguchi's back, and second baseman scampered easily to third. It eventually brought out Mike Scioscia, who had what appeared to be emphatic words with Lackey.

Whatever he said didn't help, because Erstad singled Iguchi home. Lackey finally fanned Ozuna for the last out of the inning, but for a moment, it recalled some of his early, bad outings in which he would allow multiple runs in two-out rallies.

Lack faced the minimum in the third, helped by a very nice play from Erick Aybar to collar Pierzynski's hot smash. Spinning and almost rolling over to make the catch, he wheeled and from his knees fired a bullet to Casey Kotchman for the final out. In the Angels' half of the frame, Figgins once again decided to try to bunt for a hit with two out, again on a first pitch. I was about ready to throw something at him, because with that failed bunt (he grounded out to Garland), he had seen five pitches total in his last five at bats, simply inexcusable.

The Chisox went 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the frame, the Angels picked up a pair of runs thanks to three consecutive base hits from Willits, Cabrera (who doubled), and Matthews, Jr., and Vlad's sac fly.

Figgins somewhat atoned for his bad bunt in the third by neatly nabbing a liner from Erstad to make the second out of the fifth — but then he let Ozuna reach when a ball hit straight to him rolled right under his glove. Lackey pitched around it, getting Jermaine Dye to strike out yet again.

Shea Hillenbrand, now batting seventh, actually doubled to lead off the Angels' half of the fifth, the hardest-hit ball we've seen off Hillenbrand all season. Figgins cashed him in with his own one-out double, but that was it as Garland retired the next two batters.

Konerko struck out to lead off the sixth, but then Pierzynski doubled down the line, the ball bouncing inches fair before curling away from Reggie Willits. Willits bobbled the ball after he picked it up; even though it wasn't counted an error, it allowed the White Sox catcher to reach second standing up. He scored on Joe Crede's RBI single, with Crede caught stealing during Cintron's at bat to end the frame.

The Angels' sloppy play continued in the seventh, when Jose Molina tried to catch Erstad stealing second. He would have been out, too, except that neither Cabrera nor Aybar were covering the bag, allowing Erstad to reach third on the Angels' third error of the game, though it proved harmless as Lackey got Ozuna to ground out to the box with two out.

The Angels got nothing harder hit than a single for the balance of the game, while the White Sox staged a demoralizing ninth-inning rally off Darren Oliver and Hector Carrasco. Oliver faced four batters and allowed hard-hit balls to two of them, though in fairness Cintron's was — again — right at Figgins, who let another ball hit right to him get past him. Incredibly, the scorer ruled it a hit. In Sweeney's at bat, yet another ball in Figgins' area code just whizzed past without so much as a wave goodbye. Oliver finally managed to mangle Darin Erstad's tapper to the box, earning the Angels' fourth error of the game (and really, what should have been their fifth).

That proved to be Oliver's last stand in the game. Scioscia then brought in Hector Carrasco to calm things down with still only one out and the speedy Rob Mackowiak pinch hitting. Mackowiak ripped a hard grounder to Kotchman, who was fielding him deep and about ten feet off the line. But rather than trying for an out at first — admittedly difficult since the Carrasco broke late from the mound and Mackowiak was already halfway to first — Kotchman tried vainly for the out at the plate. The second run of the frame scored, and Mackowiak reached safely.

Bobby Jenks got the six, seven, and eight batters in order, with Tommy Murphy called in to pinch-hit for Jose Molina. In all, a wretched game for the Angels, who don't need to add defensive woes to their already badly-depleted offensive problems. Lackey wasn't bad, but he didn't get much help, and he didn't help himself much, either.

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Labels: angels, recaps, white sox

// posted by Rob @ 5:43 PM link  //  5 comments