The Los Angeles Angels are struggling with the fundamentals of baseball, and in turn look like a bunch of spazzes out there. Torii Hunter related his feelings best,
"I think if I let my hair grow out I would have grays everywhere." He went on to say he's optimistic about heading out West, "I got this feeling, man. We go home, it’s going to be a different scene. Definitely."
That's likely, since it certainly can't get any worse than it was in the Big Apple against the New York Yankees.
The Angels wasted yet another fabulous start, this time by lefty Joe Saunders, who fanned five batters and allowed just two runs on six hits with a walk over seven lovely innings. Right-hander A.J. Burnett pitched pretty well also, surrendering just three hits over seven innings for two earned runs with two walks and four strikeouts.
Robinson Cano tripled in a run in the second before Derek Jeter hit his 19th career postseason RBI to give the Yankees an early 2-0 lead in the third, making his 9th inning error forgivable... especially since it didn't allow a run to score.
The Angels answered in the fifth with an RBI single by Erick Aybar, who scored on a wild pitch by Burnett later on in the inning to tie it up.
Huge point in the game for the Yankees: Joba Chamberlain's fist pump after striking out Vladimir Guerrero with the bases loaded in the 7th inning. A narrow escape.
Huge point in the game for the Angels: Ervin Santana's fist pump after Alex Rodriguez popped out to short center to keep the game alive for the Halos.
The Angels scored first in extras when Chone Figgins finally got a base hit, scoring Gary Matthews in the top of the 11th. Not so fast, though. A-Rod (the New Mr. October?) came up clutch once again, with a solo shot to right in the bottom half of the inning.
FIVE HOURS LATER, with runners on first and second, Melky Cabrera hit a grounder to Maicer Izturis, who in turn chucked it somewhere near third base -- attempting to throw it at roughly 100mph to Aybar at second -- where Figgins bobbled it and allowed Jerry Hairston, Jr. to score the winning run and get pied in the face.
The Yanks lead the series 2-0 heading into Angels Stadium on Monday at 4:13ET for Game 3 where Jered Weaver will take his home hill against Andy Pettitte, who has been pretty much unstoppable this postseason. The main thing the Angels need to do (besides score more runs than the Yanks) to win any ball games in this series is to chill the hell out.
[LA Times] | [FanHouse] | [Bats] | [River Ave. Blues]
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