Angels Power Past Rangers in Arlington

Han Solo needed Chewbacca to fly the Millennium Falcon and Mike Scioscia needed Shoebacca to pilot the Angels Express. Matt Shoemaker did so quite beautifully in Texas tonight after a rough first inning that saw him surrender three runs, he settled down and the offense eventually roared.

The Rangers offense hit him with a bang but once his offspeed stuff was delivered in the second inning they could hardly do anything at all. Down 3-1 in the fifth inning, the Angels saw Collin Cowgill and David Freese hit home runs making it 5-3 suddenly. With twelve hits on the night there were plenty of men left on base but enough scored that the Rangers withered on the vine.

The ball was carrying in Arlington on a night where rain had been predicted, nary a drop fell during the actual contest. The worry might have been that a flyball pitcher like Shoe would be challenged with the wind behind the batters' backs. But he allowed no home runs and with no fire works the Arlington faithful... well there were not that many at the game and they all lost a little more faith.