We’re still seven games back of Oakland and we’re still in last place in the AL West. At least we’re keeping pace though because with everyone in the division playing at least .500 ball the past couple of weeks, we could have really slipped back even further had we gone through a really bad streak.
On Friday, Ervin Santana got the job done for the Angels. He gave up two runs on seven hits and six walks (??) with two strikeouts over six innings. He’s now a very impressive 8-3 on the season. Orlando Cabrera and Mike Napoli both homered and Maicer Izturis drove in three runs. The Angels jumped all over the Diamondbacks early and by the end of the third inning, the Angels had a 5-0 lead. Final score was 8-2.
Yesterday we had an extra inning thriller. The Angels were down 4-0 but then they exploded in the seventh and tied the game up with four runs. Chone Figgins had a two run single and Orlando Cabrera drove in two with a double. Neither team scored over the next five innings but then in the top of the thirteenth, Rob Quinlan hit a two run homerun to give the runs the Angels needed to win. Bartolo Colon was knocked around and he gave up four runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. Brandon Donnelly threw two innings and picked up the win while K-Rod picked up his eighteenth save of the season. Final score was 6-4.
Kelvim Escobar got knocked around today. The Diamondbacks scored four in the second and four in the fifth on him and he dropped to 5-9 on the season. Kendry Morales hit his fourth homerun of the season and Tommy Murphy drove in two runs in the 9-7 loss.
Next up is a three game series against the Colorado Rockies who have cooled down after a hot start. It’s at home so we won’t have to deal with the unusual conditions in Denver. Tomorrow’s match up of John Lackey vs. Jason Jennings should be a good one.
