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

As emotional a game as you'll find this season, the Angels just barely won it despite multiple chances to put it away in regulation, stranding men in scoring position in the fifth, eighth, and ninth, which should tell you something about the quality of the Tribe's bullpen. Garret Anderson picked up his 12th consecutive game with an RBI, plating Chone Figgins with a single in the first inning. Kendry Morales then grounded into a double play against Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook, who really set the tone with that inning; Kendry in fact went on to ground out three times in the game, twice into double plays, and both of them inning-enders.

The Angels scratched out another run in the sixth (one of the two Kendry-abbreviated rallies, this time first-pitch swinging, no less). Where Cleveland had pecked away at Lackey fruitlessly (for the most part) in the game's first seven frames, Justin Speier came in to the eighth defending a one-run lead, and after Asdrubal Cabrera's leadoff single, it briefly looked like a dubious outing by Speier was in the works. But no; Mathis picked off Cabrera at first, Speier settled down to whiff the next two batters, and Lackey's first win since his August 27 complete game shutout of Seattle looked like a real strong probability.

And then I remembered that Frankie sucks on two days of rest, with a 4.15 ERA and four no-decisions in four small-sample-sized games. Worse, Frankie had a 4.26 ERA in the not-so-small sample called the second half going into yesterday's game, so when he gave up a leadoff shot to Ryan Garko (and I had managed to calm down my Tourette's fit that clearly disconcerted the little boy and girl sitting directly in front of me), I realized it wasn't that much of a surprise.

But what was shocking was to see Mike Scioscia yank Frankie in the ninth with the game tied and the bases loaded (thanks in part to Chone Figgins' fielding error) — and install Scot Shields. Shields was slower than we're used to seeing, tossing mostly high-80's fastballs but nonetheless very effective, striking out three over an inning and a third through the 2-4-5-6 batters.

The Angels botched another comeback attempt in the ninth when Rafael Perez — the first of two Cleveland relievers with sub-2.00 ERAs to enter the game — allowed Maicer Izturis to get a one-out single and walked Gary Matthews, Jr., but Rafael Betancourt (what is it with these Rafael guys?) whiffed Jeff Mathis. Calling up Howie Kendrick to pinch hit for Reggie Willits, Scioscia called for and got a double steal, and our hopes fluttered for a long time as Kendrick fouled off pitch after pitch, but he ultimately grounded out to second and sent the game to extras.

That opened the door for another inning of Shields — 1-2-3 through Hafner, Martinez, and Garko — and Chone Figgins' heroics at the plate. Figgy came right back from his recent time off as though he'd never left, going 3-for-4, one of those a crucial leadoff double in the tenth. Cabrera's lineout to deep right field advanced Figgy to third, but Betancourt thought better of giving Anderson anything to hit, and so he intentionally walked him, the first time in his career that Anderson has been awarded first base on purpose three times in one game. (He was intentionally walked two times in one game two other times: June 6, 1998 in Kansas City, and more recently on August 28 in Seattle.) The plan backfired as Kendry Morales hit a screaming grounder down the right field line to end the game, maybe the best 1-for-5 game he's had in his life.

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Incidentalia: something big was going on at the Honda Center, something so big they were draining traffic off eastbound Katella for it and onto northbound State College. Unfortunately, the traffic cops working the intersection hadn't a clue how to do this job effectively, and so there was a good bit of stalling and waiting as some people turned left and others went straight, screwing up our usual route to parking. It was a nasty beginning to the game, but the win sure made up for it.

In the game records department, John Lackey fanned Cabrera in the first for his 900th strikeout. With the win, the Angels are 12-0 in Friday home games. Finally, in a game with implications for both teams, Seattle lost 6-1 to Detroit, meaning the Tigers are five games back of the Indians in the AL Central, and the Angels are nine games up on the M's. With the Yankees' 3-2 win over Kansas City, the M's are now four games out of the Wild Card, and dropping like a stone. The Angels' magic number is 14.

Update: During the broadcast, one of the radio announcers — I want to say it was Terry Smith — asked rhetorically whether Scioscia had ever pulled Frankie from the ninth before in his career. The answer, as it occurred to me at the time, was that he had, on August 16, 2005, in a blown save against the Blue Jays, semi-ironically, on a rally started by a Shea Hillenbrand single.

Update 2: Something to keep an eye on that I missed during the game: Rafael Betancourt limped off the mound after he retired Howie Kendrick in the bottom of the ninth.

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