Cheap Hits Doom Jered Weaver, Angels Leave First Place

Final Score from the Lew Wolff Hollowsieum: Angels 1, Athletics 10...

By the time Oakland A Kurt Suzuki hit a towering 3-Run HR with two on and nobody out in the 7th inning, it was already apparent that Angels starter Jered Weaver did not have his best stuff on the mound tonight. But it was also apparent that, save for the tomato can hung out for Curt to bash, the Athletics were getting cheap hits that blooped in when they were not seeing eye singles and lucky liners.

The end of the winning streak had to happen some time and the bigger story of the evening may be the demolition of Felix Hernandez by Texas Rangers tonight, smothering the M's chances in the division perhaps once and for all this season. Weaver was seen after his stint on the mound laughing hysterically on the bench with a smirk that "what can ya do...?" If the AL West was officially made a three team race on Tuesday night, the Angels are still the team to beat.

Some questions do linger though:

• Will Mike Napoli ever throw a base stealer out in his career?
• Where were the whiny Choaktown fans who spent yesterday howling about the lousy strike zone tonight, when it was easily worse?
• Will instant replay take care of bad calls like the 3rd run at the plate? A perfect Bobby Abreu throw home goes for naught.

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