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Angels 5 Rangers 4
In a season where the most unpredictable (and not in a good way) aspect about the Angels is their pitching, what with all the gnarly injuries or trades or flame outs, there is perhaps no one more surprising and unpredictable than Jered Weaver.
Weaver has played the veteran role of last man standing, to some degree, fighting tooth and nail to get this team to the end of the season, all while not having a clue what his future after October entails.
He continued his laborious quest tonight in Texas, with the team reeling from two losses in a row. How fitting, that when this team really needs a stop, or some mojo, then can lean on Weaver...to some degree, that is. He wasn’t a world beater tonight, but he ate up innings and put his club in an advantageous position.
6.0 innings pitched, in which he gave up four runs on six hits, and racking up six Ks along the way. Nomar Mazara tagged him a couple times for some RBI singles, and Carlos Beltran added some on the board via 5th inning bomb to right field. That was all they could get off of Weaver, however, just those four runs.
Meanwhile, the Angels faced Derek Holland and were able to tag him a few times. Gregorio Petit drove in a run with a single in the 2nd, and later on, Albert Pujols would drive in run #1,812 for his career, which tied him up with Frank Robinson at #20 on the all time RBI list.
The game breaker came from the base(d)ball god himself, Mike Trout, as he knocked a three run heat seeker to center field in the 5th inning. That put the Angels at five runs for the night, and the bullpen had no problems keeping the Rangers at four (outside of a scare here or there), with nice nights from both our dudes A.J. Achter and J.C. Ramirez, and another save from Andrew Bailey.
They avoided a sweep, therefore they are champions of the world, kings by Mike Trout’s own hand, spoiler of Arlington dreams. They are truly the best team in the AL West, probably all of MLB.
(c’mon, just let me have this one)