6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Santana's Second Texas Win: Angels 7, Rangers 4

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Monday, April 14, 2008

Santana's Second Texas Win: Angels 7, Rangers 4

I had managed to convince myself that Ervin Santana had never had a victory at Arlington before, but it turns out that I forgot his October 2, 2005 victory, coincidentally also a 7-4 win, with Donnelly, Shields, and K-Rod nailing down the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings respectively. Of course, it helped a lot that that game was number 162, and the team had clinched the previous Thursday on the road against Oakland. It was, at the time, a controversial game, since the Rangers' loss meant the Yankees lost home field advantage. Then-manager Buck Showalter, in his penultimate season with Texas, yanked starters Michael Young, Mark Teixeira, and Hank Blalock early in the game, thus throwing things for the Angels' young right-hander and inviting much Torrean whining about codes of honor and other hooey that nobody really cared about at that point, as though the rest of the league were supposed to do everything they could to preserve New York advantages in the postseason.

This one, however, was much different, and better from the future value of Ervin Santana standpoint. Santana got himself all tangled up in the first, as he often does, and surrendered three runs, but that was pretty much it for the balance of the game. The closest the Rangers saw of the plate was Frank Catalanatto reaching third with two out, but that was the extent of the threats. This may yet become the year Santana becomes a real pitcher; if, as with John Lackey, the growing pains are behind us, the future looks bright indeed.

As for the offense, the suddenly Earl Weaverian Angels continue their freakshow, with Mike Napoli homering, and Maicer Izturis almost getting credit for a triple and a pair of RBIs. (These were later reversed to an error and a single or some such, but the Yahoo box score is still slightly screwed up.)

Update 4/15: Baseball-Reference has the corrected game log, and Izzy's play reads

Single to RF (Line Drive); Guerrero Scores; Kotchman Scores/Adv on E9/unER/No RBI; Izturis to 3B

It wouldn't be a 2008 Angels victory without a bullpen implosion of some sort, and Justin Speier provided that; pretty soon, we'll start seeing Darren O'Day come in with a lead, something he's only been allowed to do once, and that with an eight-run lead at the end of the Angels' April 10 9-1 blowout against the Twins. Speier, I hope and trust, will eventually recover, but the roles are changing quickly around here, and though Scot Shields made a fine performance today, he, too, has looked rather flaky in recent seasons. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Yahoo box • Recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps