An Angel series loss to the Indians in the series that seemed like it would never end.
Game 1 – Indians 3, Angels 2
Game 2 – Indians 6, Angels 1
Game 3 – Angels 4, Indians 3
Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS
- I’m not sure if this is a compliment to Reggie Willits or an insult to the rest of the roster, but Li’l Reggie is making a strong case to be the best leadoff hitter on the roster right now. He is working counts, taking pitches, putting the ball in play and getting on base. You can’t say that about pretty much any of the other guys Scioscia has been rotating through the top spot of late.
- The long struggle is over everyone. The Kazmir Embargo has been lifted! Yes, that’s right, I will finally allow myself to watch Kazmir starts again after his solid performance Wednesday. And I won’t be reluctantly lifting the ban either, there is actually some real hope of him turning it around now. Scott still isn’t throwing enough strikes, but his six Ks were the most he has had in game since May 1st and he has now allowed just two hits in each of his last two starts. That tells me that while his command is still lacking, his pure stuff is starting to regain its old form (or he is getting lucky, but I am trying to remain positive here).
- I can’t begin to describe how glad I am that the Angels managed to pull out the victory in the extra-innings game. It would have been depressing enough to get swept by the Indians, but to have lost that excruciatingly painful 16-inning contest would have been downright suicidal.
Los Angeles Angels of FAIL
- Dear Lord, I thought that extra-innings game would never end. Normally those kind of games are tense and exciting, but with the Angels barely able to get a hit and finding fresh new ways to screw up their opportunities to win the game (nice bunt attempt, Mathis), it was more like Chinese water torture. Is it really too much to ask for the Angels to try and just settle everything in nine innings so we can all just get this season over with as quickly as possible? At least the game started at 4:05 for some weird reason so that I didn’t have to stay up too late.
- If you didn’t see Torii Hunter’s reaction to Juan Rivera’s would-be walk-off homer, then you missed a moment that pretty much summarized the entire Angel season. Hunter shook his head and covered his eyes in a combination of disbelief and depression. It was almost like he said “I can’t believe that just happened. Wait, yes I can, because that is the kind of BS that has been happening to this team all season long.”
- OK, so my prediction about the Angels scoring 3 or more runs in each game of the series proved to be slightly off, but at least I got the no shutouts portion of the prediction right (although I might not have, technically, since the Angels did get shutout for nine straight innings in Wednesday’s marathon game). Clearly I should have just stopped right there, but can you really blame me for trying to be positive?
- And just one quick stat to prove that I should have known better than to make the second half of my prediction, counting Tuesday’s game, the Angels have now scored just one run in a game a staggering 20 times this year. On a related note, does anyone know how to get vomit chunks out of a laptop keyboard?
- Will their ever be a series against Cleveland where Shin-Soo Choo doesn’t kill the Angels? I really can’t wait until the Korean army conscripts him into military service for two years. Heck, I’ll drive him to boot camp myself if I have to. And, yes, I realize just how cold and callous that sounds, but the guy has been murdering the Angels for years and I’ve had an assful of it.
- Another series another brilliantly boneheaded baserunning blunder by Torii Hunter. His attempt to steal third in a game where the Angels trailed by five runs made absolutely no sense, not that that has stopped him before. As usual, he was apologetic for the gaffe after the game, but it seems to be happening so regularly with him that I am starting to not believe him. Heck, I’m beginning to think he is doing it on purpose just so the Halos can get the games over with more quickly.
Halo Hack of the Series
Please, you thought it would be somebody other than Fernando Rodney? He gave up the winning-run in the first game and then blew the save in the third game. He really couldn’t have been much worse. But guess what? I couldn’t be happier. He is playing right into my master plan. If Fraudney can continue to be this awful as a the closer, the Angels will have no choice but to find a replacement this off-season rather than let him keep the job which he very clearly doesn’t deserve. And it wasn’t like either of his outings was just bad luck, it was bad pitching. He didn’t make a mistake and pay for it with a homer or just have a bunch of seeing-eye ground balls and flares do him in, he got touched up for a combined five hits to plate two runs. And why did that happen? Because he really isn’t that good and is a lot more hittable than any closer should be.