Angels Tease Early, Tease Late, Leave Texas With Season on Brink

Final Score in Arlington: Angels 7 Rangers 8

The Rangers took it to the Angels and are going onto October with more games on the schedule than the LAA, so congratulations to the Arlington Nine on making the most of a fluke 12-2 start.

The Angels meanwhile need such a miracle. I hold out no hope.

Ervin Santana pitched his final game in an Angels uniform and Mike Butcher has three left.

Mark Trumbo hit a big homerun early and Howie Kendrick kept hope alive with a monster three-run blast in the seventh.

But it wasn't enough. The ghost of Tony Reagins haunted us still as Mike Napoli bashed the Angels with his bat and caught the final pinch-hit popup for the last out of the game. Napoli had 6 RBI in a game his former team lost by a single run 8-7. If that is not a curse, Wrigley Field is a goat pasture.

Ervin Santana was non-stop terrible and while the offense did come around, the glaring 0 for 14 by the 8-9-1-2 hitters after Erick Aybar was removed from the game with an achy hammy sunk the ship. Mike Trout did have two walks to salvage his 0 for 3 night, but still, Vernon Wells, Bobby Wilson and Chris Iannetta made Texas pitching look ten times better than it was.

The number of miracles we need to make a one-game playoff to go to that one-game Wild Card playoff is so great at the moment that I would just as well get a better draft pick than Tampa Bay and make a withdrawal from the miracle bank in 2013.

In other words... Wait 'til next year.