Wednesday, July 25, 2007 |
BS, W-Rod: Angels 7, A's 6
Lackey's string of embarrassments also included a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the top of the third to Marco Scutaro, but really, giving up three runs to the reigning worst offensive club in the American League ranks as a first-rate shame; there's just no justification for this kind of awful pitching. Justin Speier and Scot Shields settled down from recent hiccups to post a pair of zero frames, but just when it looked like the Angels were going to escape without any trouble, up came Francisco Rodriguez.
Yes, friends, that would be the same Francisco Rodriguez who last worked on July 19. The Angels' sucktitude has been keeping him out of games, and his rust showed pretty clearly, as he had almost nothing against the top of the A's lineup, giving up a leadoff double to Travis Buck. Eventually he blew the whole shooting match, allowing seven men to come to the plate, and giving up a run on a bases-loaded walk.
Joe Blanton found himself owned by the Angels again, though in his defense he was quite effective through the first three innings. He gave up one in the fourth on a Casey Kotchman double, but really blew up in the fifth, giving up three runs on five hits, one of them a Chone Figgins RBI double.
Figgins drove in another in the bottom of the 8th, and that proved critical thanks to Frankie's implosion just one inning later. With so much of the A's pitching injured — Justin Duchscherer is still on the DL, and Huston Street only just came back — it fell on Joe Kennedy to close things out. Fortunately for the Angels, they had two guys who could string together a couple of hits for a run. They were aided by a Kurt Suzuki passed ball, reversing a Jeff Mathis passed ball that helped the A's score in the second. It was a sloppy game, and the Angels would do well to remember that the object is to win more than they lose. One victory per series isn't enough.
Update: Looks like it's amateur night for closers, as J.J. Putz gave up a two-run homer to second baseman Ramon Vazquez, who had a career-high four this year prior to the game. Seattle loses 7-6, and falls to three games back of the Angels with the road sweep in Texas.
Labels: angels, athletics, recaps
I didn't follow the recent series or the A's all that closely but i noted Kotsay and Swisher are back as is Piazza. Kendall is gone too. Not to say that they have a line-up loaded with lumber now, but it's better than what was ran out there a month or so ago.
Why that's not an outright error, I have no idea. I guess his "gold-glove-caliber" mythic mantle buys him all the breaks.
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