6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: A Stellar Outing For Ervin And Frankie: Angels 1, Yankees 0

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Friday, August 01, 2008

A Stellar Outing For Ervin And Frankie: Angels 1, Yankees 0

Ervin Santana had a career 9.64 ERA in two starts at Yankee Stadium prior to this one. But if anything, this year has been about proving he's ditched old Nervous Ervin and has replaced him with Unnerving Ervin. The former got himself into jams, lost his cool, and gave up longballs (three home runs). This one rarely gets into jams, escapes unscathed when he does, keeps his cool, and keeps his team in the game. That Ervin Santana showed up in today's game through eight strong, scoreless innings; the Yanks only reached third once, in the fourth when Santana gave up a wild pitch moving Bobby Abreu with two outs.

The Angels had their chances against Sidney Ponson, most notably in the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out, but failed to score when Chone Figgins popped out and Maicer Izturis flied out hard to deep left. In general, when the Angels weren't hitting the ball to the infielders, they were stinging it, but right at a glove, or at least they were making the outfield make tough catches.

The Angels finally broke through in the ninth against Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera, when Mark Teixeira (I'm still a little giddy just writing that name) coaxed a walk. Replaced by pinch-runner Reggie Willits, Vlad singled off Rivera to put men on the corners, setting up Torii Hunter's RBI single for the only tally of the game. Frankie Rodriguez nailed the save, his 46th (and yes, still leading baseball), by getting A-Rod to strike out looking, and Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano on flyball outs, preserving a win for Ervin Santana, who now goes 12-5. The Angels have now won five straight, and are 69-40.

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Labels: angels, recaps, yankees