So much for the undefeated season. Matt Palmer got totally rocked tonight (get it? Rockies? Rocked? I am sure I will be the only to think of that. I’m awesome).
Psst. I can’t get anyone out, don’t tell anybody.
Two forces of nature met in Angels Stadium tonight, the red hot Rockies and undefeated rookie phenom Matt Palmer. Palmer never stood a chance, nor did the Halo hitters who have gone completely and totally ice cold again.
For Palmer the problem was control as he walked a season-high five batters in 4.2 innings. While Palmer has made a name for himself by avoiding big innings and getting out of jams, he simply made too much of his own mess via free passes for his bulldog mentality to prevail. To be honest though, Palmer was due for a night like this. No pitcher can walk the tightrope with such frequency without falling off every once in awhile. The real question will be how Palmer bounces back his next time out now that he has a blemish in his record.
The sad story of the Angel offense was much different. Despite the roster turnover the last several years their aggressive approach continues to be exploited by sinkerball pitchers like Aaron Cook. Guys like Cook succeed by pounding the strike zone and pitching to contact, trying to induce this batter to swing at a less than perfect pitch and hammer it into the ground. Tonight, as usual, the Angels were more than happy to oblige to the tune of 13 groundball outs.
Good News:
- A walk for Vlad! Oopah! That’s two this month, you better watch out Bobby Abreu. Guerrero is coming for you.
- Ummm, Sean Rodriguez got some time in the outfield. Hooray for positional flexibility. Now S-Rod has two positions that Scioscia can not play him at.
Bad News:
- It is never a good sign when Jason Bulger is used in mop-up duty and then subsequently gets banged up. Keep on looking for that new set-up guy, Sosh.
- Letting the Rockies keep winning is not exactly the best strategy when it comes to convincing them to raise the white flag on their season and trade you Huston Street. Let’s try and get this right tomorrow.
- First place will have to wait for another day.
It’s All Your Fault:
- Mickey Hatcher
When a line-up goes silent as a whole, you can’t blame just one player. So Mick gets the blame for this loss for failing to provide a sound plan of attack against Cook or implementing the necessary changes midway through the game once it was obvious the original approach at the plate wasn’t working.