Not only are the Angels out of the cellar, but they’ve made up some ground. They now stand only two games back of both the Athletics and the Rangers and they now sit only two games below .500. They get an extra day off, and then Friday the Angels start a three game series with the Tampa Devil Rays. Assuming we jump all over them like we should, we could be knocking on the door sooner rather then later.
Thursday was the lone loss and even that was a close one. Frank Thomas hit a walk off homerun in the bottom of the ninth to win it 7-5. Scott Shields gave up the long ball and he’s now 4-6. Kelvim Escobar pitched six mediocre innings but he at least kept the Angels in the game. Vladimir Guerrero hit his eighteenth homerun and drove in two runs. Mike Napoli went deep and Juan Rivera hit two solo shots in the 7-5 loss.
On Friday, John Lackey put the team on his back and he got the job done. He threw a one hit shutout and struck out ten. Rob Quinlan hit a two run shot in the second inning and that was all Lackey would need. Chone Figgins went deep with a solo shot in the fifth.
Jered Weaver improved to a perfect 6-0 yesterday. He threw seven shutout innings before giving the ball to Brandon Donnelly, who then gave up four runs in the eighth. Juan Rivera hit homerun number eleven and Maicer Izturis hit his first homerun of the season. Chone Figgins had four hits, two runs and two stolen bases in the 6-4 win.
Ervin Santana won his tenth game this afternoon. He gave up only two runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts through seven innings. Jose Molina went deep and Kendry Morales drove in two runs in the 4-2 win.
Time to enjoy the All Star Game. Have a nice break.
