6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Frankie Steals Hokie Joe's Win: Angels 6, Orioles 5

Proceeds from the ads below will be donated to the Bob Wuesthoff scholarship fund.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Frankie Steals Hokie Joe's Win: Angels 6, Orioles 5

I hate, hate, hate the scoring rules for determining the winning pitcher, which is why I detested this outcome. Francisco Rodriguez not only allowed both his inherited baserunners to score but gave up two more on his own, prompting me to take the bad dog for a long walk to get the obscenities out of my system. He had a chance to get a fairly easy save and utterly blew it; instead, he got Joe Saunders' win as a consolation prize thanks to Chone Figgins' two-out, bases-loaded walk off Baltimore closer George Sherrill.

It really looked like they were reading Frankie's changeup well, especially pinch-hitter Alex Cintron. He might want to take a look at the video to see if he's tipping.

Hokie Joe wasn't great, twice allowing men to reach third and loading the bases once, but he survived and should have gotten the win. The Angels led continuously from the first through the top of the ninth. Thanks to a horrifically long fourth inning, in which the Angels scored two runs on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch on Torii Hunter and Garret Anderson's infield single, Joe Saunders seemed to come back with command problems, hitting Luke Scott to lead off the top of the fifth, and eventually giving up a run on a scoring groundout. But that was all he gave up, and a good thing.

Anyway, a good thing they won, too, because Texas beat the Yankees in Arlington 9-5 on Marlon Byrd's walkoff grand slam off Damaso Marte. The Angels' win keeps the Rangers 11.5 games back. First to 70 wins, but don't get cocky, guys.

Yahoo box • MLB.com recap

Labels: angels, orioles, recaps