Angels Eke One Out, Dan Haren Gets Fifth Win

The Angels wrapped up a series against the cellar dweller Minnesota Twins today by impressive performances both at the plate and from the mound. The plate heroics were delivered by Erick Aybar, who went 3-5, including a two run triple, and he continued to solidify his spot towards the top of the MLB shortstop food chain. On the mound for the Angels, Dan Haren looked a little off, sometimes trying to find his stuff or making it difficult by missing with his location. Something seemed sketchy for the Angels ace, yet for the first time in what seems like forever, he actually had hefty run support, which enabled him to soldier on through the 6th inning, until eventually being shelled in the 7th. Luckily for Haren, the Angels would go on to get a couple more insurance runs from that point, stifling any attempts from the Twins to get back in the game.

One of those chances, of course, occurred in the 9th inning, as Jordan Walden swiftly got two batters out, but then proceeded to try and open the flood gates. This sort of bullpen-induced pressure is nothing new to the faithful Angels fans, but that doesn't lessen the pain from the sting that is opposing teams eroding the lead late in the game. This was, however, one that had a happy ending. With a man at 2nd and 3rd, Walden gave up a fly ball that was caught by Peter Bourjos and signaled the end to an odd series. Odd because we struggled against the worst team in baseball, as of today, and on a day after being 1-hit by said struggling team, a deluge of offense (relatively speaking) comes through in the form of a monster day from Aybar, as well as a double by Bobby Abreu.

Oh, and Mark Trumbo hit a moonshot to centerfield. That was fun. It's always great to see this kid park one deep, and even sweeter when it comes after Mark Gubicza spends a few innings slurping up his batting practice session. I swear, I've never heard an announcer of any sport trumpet the efforts of a player in pre-game practice mode more than Gubi on Trumbo. Alas, as long as the Halos' young stud keeps hitting those Trumbombs, I'll try to keep my complaining at a minimum.