6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Gazpacho, And Other Dishes Best Served Cold: Angels 11, Twins 5

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Gazpacho, And Other Dishes Best Served Cold: Angels 11, Twins 5

Is there any pitcher whose major league career started as thoroughly blessed as Matt Palmer's? Granted, he's not exactly terrible, but good grief, 8-1 and an ERA now approaching 4.50, that magic land of exact quality starts where people talk about how that's pretty good from a fifth stater. Palmer only went five on Saturday, and while it wasn't his most impressive outing (so far, that's his May 2 game in the Bronx), it's certainly better than some of his other recent starts.

Nick Blackburn, the Twins' only really good starter, cruised through three perfect innings and game unglued in the fourth, giving up a leadoff homer to Chone Figgins, and then four straight hits until Erick Aybar bounced into an odd 3-2 double play. No matter, as that was only the start of the Angels' offensive fireworks; it took Minnesota another eight batters to finally find the final out, most of those with knuckleballing reliever R.A. Dickey on the mound. And, yes, in case you were wondering, Dickey did actually give up a wild pitch — a harmless one to Kendry Morales, with Bobby Abreu moving to second — but was far more injured by a three-run jack to Maicer Izturis.

So, yeah, not a good game for the Twins.

The Twins got three more against Shane Loux, who hadn't pitched in quite some time, but the Angels tacked a couple more on in the eighth. The ninth featured the major league debut of Bobby Mosebach, who surrendered a couple singles but nothing else.

Special mention: Howie Kendrick in the DH role, 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Good news.

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