Angels rally in seventh, shut the book on Blue Jays 4-3

Angels 4  Blue Jays 3

Jered Weaver had yet another spectacular start, and the offense strung together a solid night at the plate, as the Angels won their second game in a row against the Toronto Blue Jays. The fan favorite Weaver has certainly shrugged off the cobwebs he seemed to be entangled in during April, and the conversations about "What are we going to do with Weaver?" have all but disappeared. Tonight was just as dominant as his last two starts, save for one bad fourth inning, where he allowed all three Blue Jays runs while they already had two outs on the board. His pitch placement began to slip a bit and the Toronto batters took advantage. They were smart to do so, because after that, Weaver locked back into his groove and kept dealing all the way through the seventh. The two out rally was indeed a nasty blemish on an otherwise studly pitching performance, especially after Monday’s game when the Angels allowed a total of eight runs to cross the dish while there were already two down. Let’s hope that’s not a regular occurrence. However, the Angels settled in and behind another textbook Joe Smith-Huston Street late inning one/two combo, the Angels sure set themselves up for a nifty win.

Of course, the pitching staff would need the boys to do some damage at the plate, and do some damage they did. There have been some skeptical Angels fans as of late, in regards to Mike Trout, but it’s the kind of skepticism you’d expect towards a player of his caliber. People didn’t REALLY think something was wrong with Mike...but something was SORTA wrong, right? Well, he must have somehow absorbed these sentiments through the ether and set out to quell them, because tonight Trout went 2-3, including a homerun in the fifth, his 11th of the year. Erick Aybar continued his hitting streak to 11 games, and Matt Joyce even chimed in with an RBI double that was most likely his way of making amends for being benched due to tardiness. It’s a start, Matt. It’s a start. Between Joyce and Trout, the Angels had two runs on the board and found themselves running out of time. Then everything came together in the seventh. With Marc Krauss pinch hitting for Albert Pujols, who was hit hard on the hand by a pitch earlier in the game, Toronto pitcher Steve Delabar tossed an 88mph slider that Krauss found with his bat and subsequently parked  into the left-center power alley gap. The huge hit plated two runs, including Mike Trout, and gave the Angels a 4-3 lead. That’d be all they’d need to take their second game in a row in Rogers Centre, and to keep pace with the division leading Astros.

This was a big game for Weaver, who has undoubtedly turned a corner on his season and begun to pitch with the guile and confidence that we have come to expect from him. It was a big game for Mike Trout, who not only flashed enough with his power to calm down the most Chicken Little of Angels fans, but also scored 3 times, the 19th time he’s done that in his career and the first time this season. It was a huge game for Marc Krauss, who gave the Angels the lead with a very nice piece of hitting. The club is only one game off of last year’s pace, but they’re having to win close games way more often. Can they keep that up? I hope so! If the pitching can continue dealing, and the offense really wakes up, this team will crush their enemies, and hear the lamentation of AL West fans everywhere. Can’t wait.