Final Score in Toronto: Angels 6, Blue Jays 3... Joe Saunders pitched 8 brilliant innings, Reggie Willits and Mike Napoli combined for a dramatic assist out at the plate to end a late threat and Fernando Rodney picked up the save, entering the 9th with no out, a man on base and a 3-run lead... but it was the bat of Howie Kendrick that slayed the Blue Jays. Batting second in the lineup for the first time this season (for a resting Bobby Abreu), Howie was 3 for 5 with a HR, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI.
The highlight of the game was the play of the young season so far:
It happened in the bottom of the 8th inning. Up 5-2, the Blue Jays had a man on 2nd and the powerful Adam Lind up to bat. Lind had homered yesterday and had walked earlier in the game. He drilled the 103rd pitch of the day form Joe Saunders into right field for a basehit and the speedy Alex Gonzalez was running home form 2B. Reggie Willits, playing RF to give Bobby Abreu a rest from the Toronto turf, caught the single on one hop and rocketed a bullet to Napoli. Gonzalez was already sliding past home plate and reached out to tag it for the run. But Napoli was perfectly positioned with his foot on the 3B site of the plate. Gonzalez made contact with the shinguard and not the pentagon. Momentum carried him past the plate and Napoli quickly turned and applied the tag. For all the crabbing about umpiring that is out there, HP umpire Marvin Hudson was perfectly positioned to oversee the bang-bang action and gestured the demise of Gonzalez with a clinched fist. It was awesome. Awaiting Napoli in the dugout was a beaming Mike Scioscia grinning wider than ever. We talked about that and all the action on the GAME THREAD this morning!
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