I wasn’t able to get Saturday’s game in until now, so I’ll just do that one with Sunday’s game.

After putting on a absolute show in the first game of the series with The Nation, The Angels took Game 2 with some timely hitting and of course, strong pitching. Josh Beckett was incredibly tough as usual, and was backed by Kevin Youkilis’ 17th home run in the second inning. It would stay 2-0 Boston until the 7th, and that’s when things would get dramatic. Vladimir Guerrero crushed a Beckett fastball into the bullpen in left field to put the Angels on the board. This would cut the Sox lead in half. The Angels were wearing Beckett out, and the next two hitters, Torii Hunter and Garret Anderson singled. After Reggie Willits bunted the runners over, Beckett intentionally walked Howie Kendrick. Then on a 1-0 count, pinch-hitter Erick Aybar tripled down the right field line to clear the bases and send Angel Stadium into a frenzy. They had gotten to Josh Beckett, and he would be done after he finished the 8th inning. A relief for Joe Saunders, who had pitched so well and was on his way to a loss. For Beckett, his hitters couldn’t bail him out against a tough Angels bullpen, and he was charged with his 6th loss of the season. K-Rod earned his 39th save. Halos win 4-2. 

Saunders: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, SO

Guerrero: HR (16)

Beckett: 8 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, BB, 6 SO   

 Now for Game 2.

The Angels, as you probably just read, took the first two over the Red Sox in the series. The Clutch hitting would continue for the Halos as America would watch them beat Boston for the second straight night on National TV as they took the game 5-3. The Angels took the lead early, when Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter hit back to back home runs against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the 2nd. The Red Sox would tie it with 2 of their own the next half inning. From that point, Jon Garland dueled with Tim Wakefield to keep the game tied, and it was–until the 7th inning. With Coco Crisp on second base, Vlad Guerrero dropped Jacoby Ellsbury’s line drive, allowing the go-ahead run to score. The Halos were not ready to give up. Knocking Wakefield out of the game, they scored 3 runs in the 8th inning. Howie Kendrick’s run-scoring single against Wakefield would tie the score, and Casey Kotchman’s game winning two-bagger down the right field line against Manny Delcarmen would almost guarentee a win. Yeah, that’s how GOOD Francisco Rodriguez has been this year, and he showed it. Coming into the game in the top of the 9th, K-Rod struck out the side for his 40th save of the season. Nobody has been better.

At the end of the year, we may be calling Rodriguez the all-time saves holder for a single season. Better than Mariano Rivera, better than Trevor Hoffman. And he’s only 26. …..Okay I’m rambling, but this guy at least needs some Cy Young consideration, especially if the Angels go deep into October. If they take care of business against the Red Sox in October like they this weekend, then this team just might.

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The Los Angels Angels lost a heartbreaking game on Wednesday night as closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up a rbi single and a walk off two run home run as the Angles lost to the Texas Rangers 5-4.  K-Rod first gave up a rbi single to Michael Young, and then Josh Hamilton went deep for a two run home run to win the game for the Rangers.

Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver tossed six innings while giving up seven hits and two runs.  Weaver was only charged with one run however and he struck out five batters.  Weaver didn’t pitch to badly, he worked out of some jams which really helped out.  Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields both pitched scoreless innings for the bullpen.

Juan Rivera had three rbi for the Angles as he had a rbi sac fly and then a two run home run to lead the team at the plate.  The Angels also got one run when Torii Hunter grounded into a double play.  The offense did enough in the game to win, the bullpen just didn’t hold on this one time.  Tough loss for the team overall.

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Juan Rivera hit a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning off of Athletics relief pitcher Keith Foulke and the Los Angeles Angels went on to beat the Oakland Athletics by the score of 7-4.  With the victory the Angels took two out of three games from the A’s and improved their season record to 51-34.

Rivera’s home run put the Angels in the lead for good and then the Angels got two more insurance runs with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.  Erick Aybar had a solo home run in the seventh and Reggie Willits had a rbi sac fly in the eighth inning. Casey Kotchman also recorded an rbi in the game and now has 40 on the season.

Joe Saunders improved his record to 12-4 on the year after picking up the victory.  Saunders pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up six hits and four runs.  Two of the four runs were earned and charged to Saunders who now has a 3.04 era.

Jose Arredondo, Scot Shields, and Francisco Rodriguez all did good out of the bullpen. K-rod grabbed his 34th save in the game as he continues to have a marvelous first half of the season.

The Angels will now be off on Thursday and will begin a series with the Toronto Blue Jays on friday.

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Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson rallied the Los Angeles Angels in the bottom of the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Oakland Athletics 5-3. Guerrero had a rbi single that scored Reggie Willits to tie the game a 3-3 and then Anderson hit a two run home run to put the Angels up 5-3. Great come from behind win and the superstars stepped up late to carry the team.

Besides the heroics in the bottom of the eighth inning, Jeff Mathis and Casey Kotchman both had a rbi each as well in the game. Mathis had a rbi sac fly in the second inning while Kotchman had a rbi ground out in the third inning.

Scot Shields picked up the win as he pitched the top half of the eighth inning and allowed one run. Shields is now 4-2 on the season. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth inning to record his 33rd save of the season. Starting pitcher Ervin Santana pitched a pretty good game as he lasted seven innings. Santana gave up eight hits but only two runs to get the no decision.

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The Los Angels Angels were able to get by the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 3-1 on Tuesday night.  John Lackey picked up his first win in the last eight months as well in the game.

Lackey tossed seven innings and gave up seven hits but only one run to get the win as he improved to 1-0 on the season.  I think Lackey will come out and be a great pitcher for the Angels now that he got the first win of of the season.

Scot Shields pitched a scoreless eighth inning before Francisco Rodriguez came in to pick up his 18th save of the season.

Garret Anderson grounded into a double play in the first inning but atleast a run cross the plate for the Angels.  Then in the third inning Casey Kotchman had a rbi double and in the seventh inning, Vladimir Guerrero had a sacrafice fly.

Good win for the Angels!  Angels Blog

Francisco Rodriguez did what rarely happens in a game.  He gave up the game winning single in the ninth inning as the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 to split the series.  Jim Thome singled off Rodriguez in the ninth inning to provide the winning run for the White Sox.

Rodriguez took the loss which was his first of the season as he is now 0-1.  Former White Sox pitcher Jon Garland got the start on the mound for the White Sox and pitched ok.  Garland tossed six innings and gave up seven hits and three runs.  Things could have been much worse for Garland much he worked himself out of a couple jams in the game.

Darren Oliver and Jose Arredondo combined to pitch two scoreless innings in relief of Garland.

At the plate for the Angels, Garret Anderson and Casey Kotchman each had one rbi.  They both came in the first inning when Anderson had a rbi single and Kotchman had a two run double.  Anderson scored the Angel’s third run in the seventh inning on an error by Joe Crede.

Want to help with Angels Homeplate? We are currently looking for an Angels fan that would like to write game recaps.  If you are interested, please click the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.  Angels Blog

The Los Angeles Angels three hit the Chicago White Sox but it almost wasn’t enough to get the win as it took two runs in the eighth inning to finally get the Angels on the scoreboard.  The Angels went onto get a rbi sac fly and and rbi single in he eighth inning to finally score.

Mike Napoli had the sac fly rbi while Robb Quinlan had the rbi single.

Starting pitcher Jered Weaver tossed seven strong innings as he only gave up one hit.  Weaver ended up getting a no decision however as the Angels had no runs on the board when he left the game.  Scot Shields got the win as he pitched the eighth inning, Shields is now 2-0 on the season.  Closer Francisco Rodriguez picked up his 16th save of the season in the ninth inning.

Good win for the Angles even though the offense struggled.  The pitchers picked this hitters up that is for sure.  Angels Blog

Vladimir Guerrero went 2-4 with four rbi to lead the Los Angeles Angels past the Chicago White Sox 10-7 on Monday night.  The Angels pounded White Sox starter Mark Buehrle for ten hits and eight total runs in a little over five innings of action.

Guerrero had a three run home run in the fifth inning and then a rbi single in the sixth inning to lead the Angels.  Casey Kotchman finished with two rbi as he has a two run single in the sixth inning.  Gary Matthews Jr., Erick Aybar, Garret Anderson, and Mike Napoli all finished the game with one rbi each.

It was Nick Adenhart who picked up the win for the Angels after tossing 5 2/3 innings.  Adenhart gave up nine hits and four runs so he didn’t have his best stuff, but it was good enough to pick up his first win of the season.

Chris Bootcheck gave up two runs and Scot Shields gave up a run before Francisco Rodriguez came in to pick up the save in the ninth inning.  It was Rodriguez’s 15th save of the season.

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The Los Angeles Angels struggled at the plate against Greg Smith and the Oakland Athletics but they were able to somehow push across two runs and beat the A’s 2-0.  A wild pitch and a fielders choice scored the runs for the Angels in the third inning.

Joe Saunders pitched eight innings and only gave up four hits to the A’s hitters to pick up his fifth win of the season.  Saunders is now 5-0 on the season so far and he lowered his ERA to 2.08.  Francisco Rodriguez walked two batters in the ninth inning but was able to get the save which was his eleventh of the season.

The Angles and A’s will play once again on Wednesday, who do you think will come out on top?

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The Boston Red Sox sure made it intersting in the ninth inning when David Ortiz hit a two run home run but the Los Angeles Angels were able to hold on and defeat the Red Sox 7-5.

Joe Saunders pitched six inning to pick up the victory as he improved to 4-0 on the season.  Saunders gave up seven hits and three earned runs, but did enough to pick up the victory.  Scot Shields pitched tried to pitch the final two innings but after serving up a home run to Big Papi, he was replaced by Francisco Rodriguez who closed the door on the Red Sox.  Rodriguez picked up his ninth save of the season by recording the last out.

Gary Matthews Jr., led the Angles at the plate as he went 3-5 with three RBI.  Mike Napoli connected for his fifth home run and picked on one RBI.  Chone Figgins, Maicer Izturis, and Erick Aybar each had one RBI as well for the Angels.

With the win, the Angels record now stands at 14-9.

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