Final Score in Los Angeles of Anaheim: Rangers 11, Angels 6
Pitcher Joe Saunders had another short, bad outing for the Angels, one from which the Halos could not come back. But it has been revealed that the culprit was not the former All-Star's grit levels, heart or desire to win. No, the Lefthander has been diagnosed with a strained shoulder and was placed on the Disabled List ten seconds after tonight's game ended. Reliever Jose Arredondo will be in Anaheim tomorrow. But just as the injury news was being announced late in the game, pitcher Shane Loux's 4 innings of 1 ER ball seemed to be a glimmer of hope amid the wreckage. Loux seesm to be the logical candidate to take Saunders' spot in the rotation.
Saturday's game was all Rangers, despite an exciting Maicer Izturis 3-Run Homer in a 4-Run 7th inning, which at least forced Texas "manager" Ron Washington to exhaust Neftali Feliz, who ended up throwing 28 pitches, only 23 of which broke the sound barrier with none even close to the speed of light, so so much for all the hype, right?
Angels "reliever" Justin Speier might have ended his carer on the same night as Saunders, Giambi, Padilla and Smoltz with an inning that saw him surrender 3 solo HRs to Michael Young (probable), Taylor Teagarden (who makes Mario Mendoza looks like Babe Ruth so WTF, Justin) and Omar Vizquel (a 43-year old infield glove).
If the game had ben reasonably close, you can bet the miserable home plate umpiring of Bill "fistbump" Hohn would have been the subject of criticism. At one point, he consulted THE CATCHER to rule on a foul tip. You know, because the opponent is so damn objective about close plays. Even Mumbling Mark Gubicza split his lps into coherency and remarked that he had never ever seen that in a baseball game in his whole life. When the MLB finally gets a Tim Donaghy-style scandal ... Dave Parker's cocaine and David Ortiz' steroids are going to look like jacuzzis compared to the tsunami that is on it's way.