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While you were away...
Pffft. What a waste. This was a series to be won. Instead, we were nearly swept. We opened the series on Friday with C.J. Wilson coming out in the first inning and getting roasted for 4 runs. Only 2 hits, but one was a 3-run home and that was followed by a solo homer. The damage of those 4 runs would hold up and the Halos could muster only 3 runs out of 6 hits all game and dropped the opener 4-3............Saturday saw Garrett Richards take the mound. Richards lasted 6 innings but burned through 107 pitches as he struck out 10, walked only 3, and gave up 4 hits while holding the Braves scoreless. Richards was lifted for pinch-hitting Raul Ibanez in the 7th as the Angels lead 3-0. Kevin Jepsen took over with the lead 4-0 and went a scoreless 7th. Joe Smith stepped for he 8th in with the Angels leading 5-0 and gave up 1 run. Ernesto "Napalm" Frieri arrived to close out the game in the 9th, having a 5-1 lead to work with. Frieri would never record an out, and the entire 4-run lead would be gone. The Angels would take the lead back in the 10th, but Atlanta would come back and tie it. In fact, if not for this particular brilliance by Kole Calhoun, the game would have been lost outright there in the 10th. Then both sides went idle for innings 11 and 12, before the Halos exploded in the 13th for another 5 run lead. Cory Rasmus would get the call and shut things down in the bottom of the frame, 4 hours and 57 minutes after the first pitch, and Fernando Salas would have himself a victory credit as the Angels win 11-6.............That brings us to last night, and the game we probably all expected to be a lost cause with Tyler Skaggs on the DL and Hector Santiago filling in. Suprisingly, Santiago picked up where he left off in his last start and cruised through the Atlanta batting order over the first 5 innings like a hot knife through melting butter. Then the 6th inning. the wheels came off Santiago and he was yanked after two runners had crossed home plate. Jepsen came in with 2 runners already on board, and gave up a single to load the bases. The next batter doubles, two more runners across, the Angels now have lost a 3-0 lead and trail 4-3, and the final score of 7-3 in favor of the Braves was merely dogpiling.
One more decent inning out of Wilson, and one more decent inning out Santiago, and the Angels sweep. Instead, only a great 13th inning by the offense on Saturday, after failing to get even one decent inning out of Frieri, kept the Angels from being swept.
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By the way, Mike Trout collected 7 hits over the weekend, including 3 doubles and 2 home runs with 6 RBI's to raise his BA 11 entire points over the weekend, to .305. Even more impressive, he raised his fWAR from 3.9 to 4.3, at this rate, he will over take Tulowitzki in a week. Albert Pujols had 6 hits for the series, Erick Aybar had 5 hits, and Kole Calhoun had 4. The offensive parts are starting to click............Eric Aybar had to leave the game last night with a hip injury, but supposedly is going to be alright...........As Rev touched upon in his post-game last night, that Halos sucked this weekend with runners on base. Looking at the box scores for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Halos had a combined TEAM LOB total of 25, but a combined individual total of 60.............Wade LeBlanc, DFA's by the Angels and claimed off waivers by the Yankees, refused an assignment to AAA and is now a free agent altogether...........Mike Scioscia still intends to feed us fans a steady diet of Roles, come hell, high water, or Ernesto Frieri.
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Moreno-Carpino Shame Update
Jim Fregosi still not being honored with a memorial patch.
Just to remind people why this is so odd, consider this: the Phillies wore a patch for a person who had inherited a minority stake in their franchise 24 years prior, who was invisible as an owner, and who had sold her last shares back in 2007. And even the Phillies sportswriters wonder why a patch for this owner, and not one of Fregosi.
68 games lost. Only 94 games remaining. Saving face may now be too late.
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