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After a scorching weekend in Texas, both on the field and on the Weather Channel, the Angels traveled to Colorado to get a little two game series in with the Rockies. Young gun Andrew Heaney was on the mound, and while Coors Field is historically a boon on players’ offensive stats, there’s no way the Angels could hope to replicate the Herculean results they got over the holiday weekend in Arlington. Right?
Not so fast.
The Angels dropped 10 runs on Colorado starter Chad Bettis in just the first few innings; a bombastic, bonafide Halo Blitz punctuated by long ball after long ball, it was a glorious three innings that kept the offensive train barrelling down the tracks. Albert Pujols got the party started with a three run blast, his AL leading 26th, in the top of the first. That homer tied Pujols with Garrett Anderson’s club record for most home runs before all star break. In the second inning, Angels up 3-0 already, the Sun turned black like sackcloth and the rivers and oceans turned to blood and Matt Joyce hit a home run. He not only hit a jack, but he hit it to deep center field, on what was easily his best swing in a century(or just 6 weeks or so). Johnny Giavotella had an RBI single and then Mike Trout came up to the plate and hit a three run bomb to left. It was the 25th time that Trout and Pujols have homered in the same game, and this one was also Trout’s hardest hit dinger of the year(left the bat at 113mph). Real. Ultimate. Power.
With the score 8-0 heading into just the top of the third, Chris Iannetta of all people got into the action, and like Joyce, he went to deep center, this time for a two-run shot. Angels were up a whopping 10-0, all on Chad Bettis, and it was the first time since 1939 that a road team scored 10 runs or more on a starting pitcher two games in a row. The Angels also became the first team in MLB this year to score 10 or more for three games straight.
Andrew Heaney looked solid today, although he obviously didn’t have to do much. It was a welcome reprieve for Heaney, I’m sure, as he got to work out against an MLB team without sweating the scoreboard too much. Heaney finished with 7.1 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER and 5 Ks; another great outing from the kid, which is good, because otherwise we would be feeling the sting of losing Howie Kendrick. As it stands, we may have something very special here, while Kendrick procures himself a big money deal after a nice contract year. Gimme Heaney.
This offensive outpouring is showing an Angels team that is undaunted by any of the turmoil and back-and-forth he said, he said stuff that’s occupied many a fan’s mind recently. They are a buzzsaw, albeit it in a couple hitter friendly parks and not facing world-beaters or anything, but even in with those relative terms, their showing these last four games has been bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. The team didn’t put up quite the gnarly hit total as they did in the Rangers games, but with all the balls being launched into the stands today, it wasn’t necessary. Want some more good news? The Astros lost to the Indians today, and the Angels now sit just 2.5 games back in the West and are sitting atop the Wild Card leaderboard. The rollercoaster ride that is called Angels Baseball sucks us back in; such is life, and right now, it rules.