One Bad Inning Spoils the Angels Bunch

Today was a day that not a lot of us saw coming.

Ernesto Frieri getting traded: Didn't see it coming.

Matt Shoemaker being lit up for seven runs in one inning: Didn't see it coming.

The Angels turning an 8-2 deficit into an 8-6 game with time left: Didn't see it coming.

The Angels leaving lots of runners in scoring position behind two runs: Oh, yeah... we all saw that coming.

The Angels had a five-man bullpen tonight as Jason Grilli is one his way in and Ernesto Frieri was one his way out. They needed some innings eaten by their number five starter, Matt Shoemaker. They got four innings and were in deep shit. Then they got three shutout innings from an unlikely source, David Carpenter. Called up about a week ago it was his season debut. If you saw him get pulled in his one appearance last year, the look on Mike Scioscia's face might have made you think the kid would never appear in a baseball game again. But here he was, that 108.00 ERA (in one-third of an inning pitched) of last season an old memory. Carpenter ate three innings as the Angels crawled back into the game they had originally led 2-0 on solo homers from Mike Trout and C.J. Cron. The rookie DH would hit another one, a two-run shot, later in the game as part of a four-run fifth inning. So if there is a category of "Being Valiant", Carpenter got it tonight.

So the saddest situation - Trout stranded on deck as the tying run to end the game - left the whole affair's score the same 8-6 it had been since the top of the fifth inning. But it was nice to see Carpenter walk on the hot coals after expectations had left the building. The Halo is dark tonight but pieces of solutions may be sparkling right before our very eyes.