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Monday, May 03, 2010 |
Not In Franchise Record Territory Yet: Red Sox 17, Angels 8
To be perfectly frank, I wrote this game off after the Sawx got the score to 5-0 in the third; the Angels offense has been iffy lately. Helen then texted me with condolences about the Angels, which I took to mean things had really gotten out of hand, and sure enough: four homers, including a three-run jack by Dustin Pedroia, and neither of Matt Palmer nor Brian Stokes were any better than starter Joe Saunders.
For those wondering whether we're treading on historic territory, it's coming close; the greatest margin of victory by an Angels opponent was 16 runs, done twice, and both 18-2 beatdowns:
- June 17, 1993: Close to the nadir of the franchise, this team was shockingly only two games out of first despite finishing the day only one game over .500 (32-31); the team finished 71-91. This was the fifth year of the astonishing Kenny Rogers' career (to that point, all with the Rangers), while the Angels were trying to make do with junkpile retreads like Scott Sanderson, who signed as a free agent in the offseason for the princely sum of $1.05M; the Angels eventually released him on August 3. Bonus points: Chili Davis got to toe the rubber for two scoreless innings!
- June 27, 1996: Against the A's Doug Johns, who was having an atypically good game; the 28-year-old sophomore Johns would be out of Oakland with a 5.98 ERA, and out of baseball two years later, but on this day he threw a complete game on eight hits. One of the early Erstad/Salmon/Anderson squads, this team lacked starting pitching but had a shockingly good bullpen (only Chuck Finley and an expiring Mark Langston had an ERA+ over 100, but the Troy Percival-led bullpen was virtually airtight in its major pieces). Angels starter Scott Sanderson was in his second year of service to the Angels, which would prove his final year in the majors.
The lesson we learn from this is that the Angels can't continue to allow Saunders to hide an injury. But with no reserves available in the minors, it's not clear, even if he could be put on the DL for nothing worse than an inflamed ERA, what the options are.
Clarification: The above was written when the score was 17-4, going into the top of the ninth. The subsequent rally that trimmed the Angels' deficit, while pleasant, was only a diversion.
Labels: angels, history, recaps, red sox
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