Angels Win is a Dan Haren Stinger

Final Score in Toronto: Angels 7, Blue Jays 2

Peter Bourjos was a double shy of the cycle, Vernon Wells hit his fourth homerun on this roadtrip and Dan Haren pitched 8 innings of 1-run ball as the Angels gained ground against the Red Sox in the race for the wild card with a victory over the Blue Jays. Haren was hit by a liner in the 8th inning just below the wrist. The ball caromed and the final out of the inning was recorded, but a scare pulsated through the faithful as Dirty Dan lay in the fetal position on the astroturf. Scans revealed a mere contusion and Haren is slated to pitch Monday in Anaheim against Texas.

The Angels seem to be warming into a hot streak with 14 hits tonight. With his first two hits in the game a triple and a homerun, Bourjos had a cycle if the final two ABs (yielding a single and a double) of last night's win in Toronto were counted.

No Angels writeup is complete without a mention of how the worst player in baseball did: Jeff Mathis was 0 for 4, struck out twice and left 4 men on base. HIs batting average is now at .180 on the season. In one memorable AB Jeff grounded out sharply right to the shortstop with a runner on 3B, preventing a run from scoring. The Angels luck these days though lined up with that only being the first out of the inning and the runner eventually crossed the plate.

The Halos and Rays trail the Red Sox by 2.5 games for the Wild Card with 8 to play. Boston has lost 16 of their past 21. The Chowds are idle tomorrow while Ervin Santana takes the mound in the great white north for the good guys.

Tonight's victory was, to paraphrase Lawrence Welk's epilogue to this next video here, a modern spiritual...

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