Thursday, June 14, 2007 |
Colonoscopy, Dead Reds: Angels 9, Reds 7
Colon later suggested his improved performance was due to changed pitching mechanics:
"I wasn't bending down enough," he said, through a translator. "I was able to bend a little more and finish my pitches."It was, despite the end, an encouraging game for Colon. Meantime, the Halos had scored three times going into the frame, thanks mostly to the kids, with Howie Kendrick driving in one (uncredited thanks to a Josh Hamilton fielding error), a Reggie Willits RBI, and Vlad's RBI single. The Angels got back at starter and presumptive phenom Homer Bailey soon enough in the seventh, starting with two consecutive walks by Willits and pinch-hitter Erick Aybar. Gary Majewski came in and allowed a single to Cabrera to load the bases, and followed that pratfall with a humiliating RBI walk from Cabrera. Vlad came up roses with a two-run single.
Mike Stanton came in but only prolonged the bleeding, as Gary Matthews, Jr. got a scoring sac fly, Casey Kotchman singled to drive in another run. Jose Molina plated him from second, and even stole the base himself. It was just one of those innings, and the Reds have had a lot of them this year, especially at the tail end of games. The Reds' bullpen is responsible for 14 of the team's 41 losses (shockingly, tied with San Diego for that number), good for second worst in the league.
The fusillade was all the Angels got or needed. I asked Bob Timmerman about the oddity of a pinch-hitter appearing twice in the same frame without first taking the field, and he recalled what he believes to be the last such instance, a September 6, 2006 Pirates/Cubs contest at Wrigley Field in which Angel Pagan batted twice in the same inning, leading off the eighth and getting two singles.
Despite leaking a couple of runs away in the seventh (thank you Darren Oliver and Scot Shields) and ninth (ditto, Frankie), the game was never really in doubt after the big seventh, and that ended that. It's the sort of thing that will keep the encomiums from ESPN and Sports Illustrated coming, but that's not so hard to do when you're the only team in the majors with 42 wins.
Coming up, the Angels get to face the Dodgers, which looks on paper to be a pretty even match, given that the Dodgers are heating up of late while the Angels aren't exactly sweeping their relatively cold National League opponents. While Jon might think a sweep is possible, I'm not so sanguine. Stealing my own notes left over from Wednesday's game thread:
Friday: Santana vs. Lowe: Lowe was a tough-luck loser in his last start but he hasn't been truly bad elsewhere; the Angels got to him in his last start with a fusillade of seeing-eye singles. Santana's road problems are well-documented, and despite his most recent success, he's never been able to string together consistent road starts, so this one ought to be an automatic Dodger win barring another meltdown (or Santana magically righting his usual road woes).
Saturday: Weaver vs. Schmidt: Two pitchers battling injury and trying to avoid the DL. Jered Weaver claims to be fine after seeing the chiropractor following back stiffness experienced last Sunday; he got yanked in a game marked by a drizzly afternoon rain that exacerbated his pre-existing problem. Jason Schmidt's decline in velocity might prove equally problematic, and so we have the possibility of both starters getting the hook early.
Sunday: Escobar vs. Wolf: I give the Angels a slight edge here in that Wolf has started to resemble his old inconsistent self, but Escobar often tries too hard to strike out everybody and in the process leaves a few up. He looked good in his last three starts, but Wolf hasn't, giving up three or more earned runs in his last three.
Labels: angels, dodgers, recaps, reds
Newer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.