Final Score in Los Angeles of Anaheim: Angels 4, Kansas City Royals 1
A great pitching performance by pitcher Matt Palmer was overshadowed Friday Night by an inside the park homerun. The vengefully delicious frosting on that sweet smack was that the catchable Howie Kendrick flyball down the right field line was misjudged by an arch-nemesis of all that is Halo: Jose Guillen.
Consider the karma of coming into Southern California riding a first place hot hand and waltzing past a loping fly that should either be caught or kept in front of a fielder for a single. Guillen, who turns 33 a week from Sunday, shoul hope that it is his only karmic komeuppance, as the old bull looked more sullen than ever as a gloating Fox Sports West cameraman made sure to zoom in on his pitiful Taurus frown, abandoned by fate to be jeered by the crowd he has publicly goaded into hating him.
Darren Oliver relieved Palmer in the 6th inning with one out and men on 1st and 3rd. He let in a run but that was all and his 2 strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched gave him a career total of 1,000 tying Ralph Terry and Tom Browning for 429th place in baseball history.
Palmer's "story" of being a 30-year old journeyman living the dream is wearing out as he continues to show up as a serviceable major league arm. His first-inning foibles were minimal this game, yielding only a high pitch count that left him gassed after 5 and a third innings. Brian Fuentes got his 8th save of the season. He is on pace for a 50-Save season despite having some rough outings in the first month of the year.
