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

As it turned out, McLaren's hand was forced by the awful performances of Horacio Ramirez, who finally earned a demotion to the bullpen. Ramirez, hired to be a League Average Innings Muncher (LAIM), has been just lame, 8-7 with a 7.16 ERA, managing to post a 4.41 ERA in April and 6+ numbers every month thereafter. The M's are thinking about moving Aussie Ryan Rowland-Smith into the rotation next year after a stint in winter ball, which should tell you how crazed they are for starting pitching up there. It can't be a good idea, because he hasn't made a single start at AAA in his career, and has only 44 starts in the minors.

The Feierabend experiment actually went pretty well for a couple of innings, though, as Reggie Willits got on by a leadoff single in the first — and promptly erased himself when he got caught leaning. The Angels finally got around to skinning the M's rookie pitcher in the third when Willits redeemed himself with a one-out double that launched a five-run frame, giving the Angels a lead they would not relinquish. It was a good thing, too, because it was an immediate reply to the two runs Jered Weaver gave up in the top of the frame.

Weaver wobbled and threw too many pitches through five innings, and for a time in the fifth, it looked like he might not even make it through enough to qualify for the win. His fastball was once again a little slow, mostly clocking in at 88-89 with an occaisional 90 MPH later in the game. The M's took advantage, and worked him out of the game in the fifth; it says something that he made his last out on the basepaths, picking Jose Guillen off first.

The M's brought in Jorge Campillo to replace Feierabend in the fourth. It seemed like the Mariners were pitching inside to the Angels all night, Vlad especially, and Campillo was no exception. Campillo let one fly at Vlad's head (actually behind him), and on the very next pitch Vlad went yard for his 26th homer of the year. It happened again in the sixth with Vlad facing Campillo; after getting knocked down, Vlad slowly walked toward the mound, the dugouts and bullpens cleared, but nothing came of it save for ejection of both Campillo and manager McLaren.

The Angels' rally continued with Cha-Seung Baek on the mound. With the at-bat stuck at 1-0, Vlad drew a walk and Garret Anderson knocked home Cabrera on an RBI single, but then Maicer Izturis grounded out back to the box to end the frame. That ended the Angels' scoring for the game, as Baek only allowed a single from then on.

Scot Shields defended that lead with two of the most efficient innings we've seen from him lately if not this year. It followed up a one-inning appearance by Darren Oliver where Oliver worked around a couple hits, so it was good to see. Shields started things off very well by getting Ichiro to strike out on a check swing call that had Ichiro so unusually agitated that he came close to bumping home plate umpire Dana Demuth.

Such was the Mariners' day. So close to contending a month ago (only two games out on August 20), their subsequent collapse was just startling. Ichiro redeemed himself later in the game by getting a run off Justin Speier, but it only served to extend a personal hitting streak to 13 games, and not the team's chances.

Later today, we'll be at the ballpark with my parents and their friends. Through sheer happenstance (I told them to buy Friday night tickets because of the fireworks, but who knew?), it may well be that we get to see the Angels clinch their third division title in four years, and their fourth postseason appearance in five. What great times these are.

Update: Incidentally, this game marked Mike Scioscia's 700th managerial win.

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Labels: angels, mariners, recaps

// posted by Rob @ 9:05 AM link  //  2 comments