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.

Angels Blog

The Los Angeles Angels struggled at the plate and only scored two runs as they lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday evening.  The Angles offense was the reason they lost the game as they only had six hits and left 12 runners on base.

Garret Anderson had both rbi for the Halos as he had a two run rbi single in the fifth inning.  Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick both scored on the play.  The first three hitters in the lineup went a combined 0-12 in the game as they just didn’t get the job done.

Joe Saunders pitched a pretty good game as the tossed all eight innings.  Saunders gave up six hits and three runs in the game as he took the loss to fall to 12-5.  Saunders gave up a sac fly to Josh Hamilton in the first inning, then a solo home run to Chris Davis in the fifth, and then a rbi single to Hamilton in the sixth inning.

The Halos and Rangers will now play game three of the four game series on Wednesday night.  The series is tied at 1-1 and the Angels will be hoping to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Angels Blog

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.

Angels Blog

The Angels went into Dodger Stadium with high hopes for the weekend and were promptly shut out in the first game, 6-0 by their cross-town rivals. Joe Saunders struggled as Chan Ho Park pitched a great game for the Dodgers, throwing 6 shutout innings. The combination of 3 Dodgers relievers kept the Angels’ bats quiet for the rest of the night. The Halos mustered only 4 hits total in the loss.

Russell Martin got the Dodgers started in the first inning with a solo home run against Saunders. The Dodgers would plate 2 more runs in the fifth, one of them earned. After Saunders was lifted for a pinch-hitter, Justin Speier allowed a 3-run home run to Andre Ethier in the 7th. There’s nothing more to say about this game. Jered Weaver will face the Dodgers tonight, as the Angels will try and even up the series. This is a dream come true for Weaver, who grew up a Dodgers fan.

Joe Saunders: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, (2 ER) 4 BB, 4 SO

Chan Ho Park: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO

Andre Ethier: 1-1, 3-run homer

Angels offense: 4 baserunners all game

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?

Angels Blog

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.

Angels Blog

Torii Hunter provided fireworks for the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night as he hit a go ahead homerun in the 8th inning, and then a walkoff grandslam in the 9th inning as the Los Angeles Angeles defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-4.

Scot Shields picked up the win for the Angels after closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up three runs in the top of the 9th inning and then left the game with an ankle injury.  Right now, we are not sure how serious the ankle injury is, but it has bothered K-Rod for quite a while.

Joe Saunders had pitched eight great innings and was in line for the win before K-Rod messed things up.  Saunders only allowed four hits and one earned runs in his eight innings.  Good job my Mr. Saunders!

Angels Blog