Final Score in Oakland: Angels 5, Athletics 2
Joe Saunders struck out 7, Mike Napoli went 4 for 4, Torii Hunter had 3 RBI and Chone Figgins scored 2 runs on a 3 for 5 night. Brian Fuentes picked up his 6th Save as an Angel. Jose Arredondo relieved Saunders in the 7th inning and picked up his 8th Hold.
Mike Scioscia didn't exactly overflow with confidence when he had Fuentes warming up alongside Scot Shields. So much for the set-in-stone roles that he had managed with when Francisco Rodriguez was the Angels' closer. Fuentes threw a quick 1-2-3 9th inning, striking Gregorio Petit with the bases empty in front of a crowd that appeared to be about 675 shivering Bay Area die-hards stuck without Cable Television reception.
The Athletics got a run on a Balk, so their minor league offense scored in a manner befitting their minor league crowd. Their final run of the night was a homerun by Kurt Suzuki off of Joe Saunders on his 110th and final pitch of the night. It was the 8th pitch of the at-bat, so the A's minor league system has produced one hitter this decade.
Meanwhile Oakland Designated Hitter Jack Cust had 4 strikeouts and didn't even look that good at the plate. Brett Anderson was the kind of guy that A's boosters pointed to as the magic young pitching that would be carrying Oakland to a 162-0 season. Well, the fairy dust is off and the pre-April hallucination is over. Let a 6-month hangover known as the regular seaosn continue for the Green and Gold Getting Old if Not Sold Crew.
Two beaten and broken teams in a weak division up for grabs met Monday night and one showed which one has the urge to purge a loser at its door. I don't realy know what that means, but the Angels schooled the Athletics.
