6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Mike Napoli's Very Good Day: Angels 4, Orioles 3

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

Mike Napoli's Very Good Day: Angels 4, Orioles 3

All things considered, the chances of it ending like that were about zero; the radio team warned us that K-Rod has had problems this year when asked to get more than three outs per game:

On April 24, he entered a game with the Angels ahead 7-5 at home in the 8th; Scot Shields had bequeathed him runners on first and second, and Frankie walked two to drive in a run. In the ninth, he gave up a two-run homer to Gary Sheffield, but his offense got him off the hook in the bottom of the frame when Todd Jones uncorked a scoring wild pitch, and Erick Aybar drove in the winning run in the 10th on a scoring groundout.
Another bad outing happened on May 6, in which he was called on for two innings. He faced the minimum in the ninth, but gave up the game-winning RBI single in the 10th to A.J. Pierzynski.

With that in mind, his getting Kevin Millar to end the eighth wasn't as scary as the ninth was. Aubrey Huff grounded out on an early-count pitch, but then Frankie allowed a ground-rule double to Melvin Mora. Taking advantage of Frankie's notoriously poor fielding position, Jay Payton reached on a bunt single. When Brian Roberts got a flyball out to shallow right, Vlad caught it, and, already on the run, fired a bullet just north of home plate, where a waiting Mike Napoli planted himself ahead of Mora, who was dashing to the plate.

Judging by the amount by which Mora was out, that was just a risk, and maybe a dumb one, interim O's manager Dave Trembley was willing to take. From one angle, Mora appeared to be safe; but later, in a lower camera angle, it looked like he had his foot elevated as it passed over the plate, and would have been out anyway. Regardless, home plate umpire Gerry Davis was in a terrible position to make the call, the ball had arrived about a half-hour before Mora (thus increasing the chances of the out call), and the Angels may well have caught a break.

A break, of course, being very nearly what Napoli got, as the hard collision at the plate resulted in an ankle sprain, and he had to be helped off the field on crutches. (X-rays after the game fortunately turned up negative.) It's almost certain he'll miss time, at least a couple of starts. Get well soon, Mike.

So we can add this to the plus side of K-Rod's extra-inning ledger; what the announcers failed to mention was Frankie's four-out save on April 29 in which he got all four batters out cleanly. Lackey pitched an excellent game, his only mistakes coming in the second, giving up a two-run jack to Jay Payton. Scot Shields, called on to relieve him in the eighth with one out and two men on, allowed a Ramon Hernandez single that drove in Baltimore's last run, but fortunately the rally ended there.

Offensively, it was good to see Casey Kotchman go yard yet again, and Mike Napoli for that matter. Both had been in long slumps, and Napoli hadn't homered since June 4. The collision was a long-time fantasy of his:

"I had to do what I had to do," he said. "Final play at home plate to end the game -- it runs through my mind all the time. That's like getting a walk-off home run."

Yeah. Breakfast of champions, and all that.

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