Admit it, you thought it was game over after the 2nd inning. I didn’t, mostly cause I didn’t start watching the game until the 6th. It’s great to see the offense come back from a huge deficit, especially the rookies Trumbo and Bourjos’ back to back 8th inning jacks to keep the game close.
All year I’ve been talking about how the top of the lineup has been getting it done or the rookies come through at the bottom of the order to win games. Today was all about the production coming from the heart of the lineup. 7 RBI’s and 10 hits, the most surprising stat being the 1 strikeout between Abreu-Hunter-Callaspo. Everyone on the offense did their jobs today, the top of the lineup was getting on base and scoring runs (5 RS from the top), while the middle of the lineup brought those guys in and the bottom of the lineup kept pressure on the defense.
Game Notes
- I don’t like Rich Thompson. I don’t NOT like him, I just can’t bring myself to harbor positive feeling towards him. He is a solid reliever, there is no denying that, but he has no backbone whatsoever. Whenever the going gets tough he flops like jelly all over the mound. Thompson breaks down whenever something goes south, no matter how small it is. He ALMOST had a clean inning today, except he decide to collapse near the end his appearance. Two clean outs followed by a 2 out single, no big deal right? Apparently not to Thompson, who allowed 3 more runners to reach base without getting an out. He almost gave the game away were it not for Trumbo and Bourjos’ big flys shooting some confidence into the rest of the team.
- Speaking of big flys, the Angels hit 4 today, 1 coming off of said rookies and the other 2 coming off the bat of Torii Hunter. Hunter looked nothing like the hitter he did mere days ago, instead opting to perform like an actual cleanup hitter. Who would have thought the Angels could pull together a great rally in the 9th like they did today? I did predict Soria would give away the game due to his recent struggles, and I was right. It wasn’t back to back jacks like I said, but we still got 2 runs off the longball off of him. Good enough for my Angels and good enough for me.
- The Angels battled at the way from a 6 to 1 deficit early on with big help from Santana. It looked like it was going to be a long day for Santana, but he pulled his pants up and kept his team in the game. I didn’t like how he started the game, but I loved how he never gave up and gave his team a fighting chance all the way.
Halo Hero
1,000 career RBI’s for Torii Hunter after his 4 RBI game today, and I wouldn’t have wanted them to come any other way. Even though we’ve been giving Hunter a hard time for his recent struggles we know this team wouldn’t be the same without him. Big game from Big Game Hunter, congratulations.