Mistake by the lake: Indians 3, Angels 2
Awesome, a walk-off error. With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the eleventh, Alberto Callaspo booted a slow chopper off the bat of Shelley Duncan, who might be mistaken for Sloth from Goonies at a Halloween party, even without a costume. One of the most awkward post-game celebrations ever followed as Sloth's teammates kept shoving him around to congratulate him for his walk-off reach-on-error. Good Sloth, good.
Yeah, it was a wet and rainy night. The ball was probably slippery. It's not fair to make Callaspo the goat for a near-total offensive failure on the part of the Angels' lineup. Fausto Carmona, who strikes out about 5 batters every 9 innings on average, punched out 8 Angels in only 7 innings. Two solo home runs from Hideki Matsui and Mike Napoli, both in the seventh inning, accounted for the team's entire offensive output. Callaspo actually hurt the team more with the stick than the glove, making five outs on four trips to the plate without getting the ball out of the infield--and all this while batting fifth in the order. Don't ask me about that one.
The loss mathematically eliminated the Angels from the American League wild card race. It also spoiled a decent start from Ervin Santana, who held out for 8 innings of two-run ball even though he walked three and hit two. Jordan Walden still doesn't know he's not supposed to be striking out everything he sees, and Kevin Jepsen even got a ground ball double-play to escape a one-out-runner-on-third jam in the 10th with a rare five-man infield. Bobby Cassevah absorbed the inconsequential loss.
Sixteen games left folks, enjoy 2010 while it lasts.
