Ricky Nolasco and the Angels bullpen stymie the red-hot Dodgers in 4-0 statement win

Angels 4 Dodgers 0

There was a time when we had looked at the upcoming schedule, which included road series in both NY and Boston, as well as Dodger Stadium, and thought the Angels would have some dark days ahead. Instead, they played some really good baseball and continued to surprise people more and more. The big test was the Freeway Series, as the Dodgers are red-hot, almost unbeatable lately (riding a 10-game winning streak heading into tonight’s game). Well, this team did it again. This team is one heck of a ride, that’s for sure.

Ricky Nolasco dialed up a really good start right when it was needed most, going 6.1 innings pitched, giving up just five hits and zero runs while striking out five Dodgers batters. This is the best we’ve seen Nolasco in forever, it seems, he didn’t even give up a dinger! No runs allowed! Nolasco?! What’s going on??!?!!!

On the offensive side, Yunel Escobar had a two-run single that put a couple on the board early for the Halos. They built on that with an Andrelton Simmons triple, followed by a Danny Espinosa sac fly, and then Martin Maldonado continued his good year at the dish by mashing a home run in the ninth.

Combine that start from Ricky Nolasco, and those runs that the Angels laid on the Dodgers, plus add in the great relief appearances from Cam Bedrosian in the seventh(who had a big inning-ending K) and Keynan Middleton in the eighth (who also had a huge Belinger strikeout to end the frame, and then gave us the moment of the night by yelling “Not me, boy! Not me!” at the Dodgers’ rookie phenom) , then you’ve got one hell of a commanding win in Chavez Ravine.

The Angels put the hurt on the big, bad Dodgers, to the tune of 4-0. The Halos keep rolling with everybody pitching in and playing an integral part of this goliath-slaying squad of ballplayers. They have proven that they’re legit, people are getting hot and getting hotter, the pieces are coming together. This is textbook Team of Destiny stuff, people.