Monday, June 04, 2007 |
Cafe Boof: Angels 16, Twins 3
The Angels really busted the game open in the sixth thanks in part to homers from Casey Kotchman (a solo shot) and Mike Napoli (a two-run bomb). Napoli's bomb marked the end of Boof Bonser's night, and so the Twinks brought in former Angel Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz proved as valuable against the Angels as he was with the Angels in 2002. He gave up a single to Chone Figgins, but then struck out Reggie Willits; yet with two outs accomplished, Orlando Cabrera ripped a single that drove in Chone Figgins, who had stolen second earlier, and advanced OCab to second on the throw. After giving Vlad the intentional pass, Gary Matthews, Jr. made him pay with an RBI single.
That pay-for-the-pass trick worked again in the eighth. After Ortiz amazingly retired the Angels in order in the seventh, Ron Gardenhire sent up relatively untested Jason Miller, who gave the Angels eight runs while retiring only one batter, Casey Kotchman. Vlad got the intentional pass, this time with the bases loaded, and GMJ welted one over the fence for his third career grand slam. Back-to-back doubles from Willits and Figgins drove in four more, and that ended Miller's night.
Weirdly, I was yelling at the TV in the ninth thanks to some sloppy defense on the right side. After Chris Bootcheck's sparkling eighth, it seemed grossly unfair that his defense let him down not once, but twice, and both times thanks to Howie Kendrick. Lew Ford's pop to shallow right center should have been catchable by either of Kendrick or newly installed right fielder Nathan Haynes, but neither of them did. Kendrick cost Bootcheck another run when he flubbed a double play ball that got into center field to load the bases; Bootcheck gave up an RBI single to Luis Rodriguez, but on the third try, Kendrick finally made the double play he should have earlier to end the game. Whew.
Incidentalia:
- The game's 23 hits marked a season high for the Halos. It is the most the team has scored since May 10, 2002, when they whipped the Chisox 19-0.
- Every Angel hitter scored at least one run and had one hit, including Garret Anderson, whose solo shot in the eighth was his first since coming off the DL, and only his second this year.
- The Angels are 37-22, their best start in franchise history. They end the day 15 games over .500, now tied with the Red Sox (who lost 5-4 to Oakland tonight on a walkoff solo shot by Eric Chavez in the 11th) for the most wins in the majors. They are a major-league-best 23-8 at home. At their current pace, they would be a 102-win team.
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