It may not have been pretty, and the White Sox aren't exactly a good team, but ultimately, this game made me happy. Actually, a better way to put it is ".ultimately, this game did not make me really mad." That's been my best case scenario this season, so far, but it's two wins in a row and i'm not going to complain. Too much.
The Angels had two good innings tonight, and that was enough to triumph over Chicago's one good inning. Both of these teams come into this game looking like stoolies that had been recently roughed up by the city's infamous mobsters of yesterday. Both clubs are pretty ragged at the moment, and it showed in a contest filled with errors, miscues and, intermittently, some decent baseball.
The one constant in this whole laborious affair was Josh Hamilton, who went 0-5 on the night, leaving four men on. The rest of the offense was surprisingly adept at capitalizing on Chicago mistakes (and there were plenty) and hitting with men on. Brendan Harris, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols had some lively moments, possibly signaling things to come...but probably not. More about that later, but let's focus on other good things, like the late relief pitching.
After Tommy Hanson was a late scratch, the Angels called upon Barry Enright, who looks like a generic henchman from the 3rd season of Sons of Anarchy. He was also the ninth different starting pitcher the Angels have trotted out so far this year, and it's only May! The stout hurler did his best to combat the completely non-lethal White Sox arsenal, and for a time it seemed he would be up to the task. That is, until the 4th inning, when the wheels started to come off. From that point, it was familiar 2013 Angels baseball trAdition...some errors, a Hank Conger screw up, untimely hits and questionable timing on Scioscia's substitutions. The storm was weathered, though, and the combination of Michael Kohn, Dane De La Rosa and Ernesto Frieri came in and collectively pitched 5.2 innings of shutout ball. The bullpen showing life is huge to me, and that was my favorite part of the evening.
By the time the 7th inning rolled around, the Angels were basically playing a weird, mirror universe version of themselves, as the White Sox basically put some gas on their bullpen fire and let the Angels take a late lead. I'll take it.
So that's two in a row. Robots will be posted below, people will cheer. I'm not sold. Not. At. All. But i'm waiting for this team to show me up, make me look like a rube. I dare them. A win against Houston and another against Chicago is not going to shake me into a heap on the ground, make me a believer again. It's going to take more wins, more luck, more hitting, more pitching. This is a start, yes. However, like Charles H. Spurgeon wrote, "Eggs are eggs, but some are rotten; and so hopes are hopes, but many of them are delusions."
GO ANGELS.