Well at least we have the return of the dominant version of Jered Weaver to celebrate. Too bad the offense decided to take the day off in a major way. ONE FLIPPIN HIT!?!? That’s all the could put together against a guy who didn’t top 92 all night. I guess I should have seen it coming because heaven forbid they put together a winning streak.
You got the sense early on that this was going to be a low scoring game since Jered was dealing and Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak was doing nothing but throwing strikes. By the fifth inning, I was very concerned that a no-hitter was a realistic option. By the 8th, I didn’t care anymore if the Angels won, perferring to root for a hit to relieve the drama of the no-hit bid. In the end, the Angels didn’t really deserve to win this one and, thanks to Kevin Jepsen, they return to the comforts of the .500 mark.
I don’t want to rant too much about the Fox Baseball coverage but Kenny Albert is absolutely atrocious as a play by play man. When he wasn’t ball washing Bert Blyleven (who deserves recognition but come on…) was was butchering players names. I know that national play by play guys don’t know much more about the teams than what their producer hands them, but at least get the everyday guys names right. Alberto Callaspo’s name is not pronounced “Ca-Yap-So” you moron.
Game Notes
— How good was Jered Weaver? So good that he kept his team in the game and gave them every opportunity to steal this one. I think he took one look at the swings the offense was taking and realized he was going to have to be almost perfect just to be in the conversation for a win. He just kept going out there and throwing up zeroes, which is what as Ace is supposed to do. Too bad he got nothing for his efforts because he pitched an absolute gem.
— Man was the offense putrid tonight. They couldn’t even muster a solid out against Swarzak let alone a hit for most of the game. It was just a bunch of weak grounders and pop ups. It’s not like I can single out one or two players since this was a collective effort of futility.
— This makes 12 extra inning games this season. If you play that out over 182 games, that’s 45 extra inning games. If you figure an average of 1 inning per game that’s an additional 5 extra games the Angels will play this season. You can’t tell me that won’t have some kind of impact late on in the year. If nothing else it’s extra work on my heart and raises my blood pressure at least 20 additional points. That is not what I need…
Halo A Hole
Why does Kevin get the award on a night when the offense only got one hit? Because in the span of about 10 minutes he allowed the Twins to double their hit total and win the game. It takes a special performance to top the pathetic offensive display, but Kevin was clearly up to the task.