MVN - Most Valuable Network

What is that strange number of runs the Angels scored in Tuesday night’s win?

The Angels did something unusual on Tuesday night. They scored eight runs.

For more than a month, Angel fans have sat through 3-2, 2-1 and other assorted 1-run and 2-run games so Tuesday night’s five-run blowout was a refreshing change of pace. It allowed Angels fans to sit back and watch a game and actually relax a little - even with Jon “Was I really worth Orlando Cabrera” Garland pitching.

It has been so long since the Angels scored eight runs that even the Angels announcers were getting confused. For at least one-half inning, Angels radio announcer Steve Physioc was announcing that the Angels had scored only seven runs; he somehow thought that catcher Mike Napoli had only hit a solo home run when Napoli had actually hit a two-run home run to make it 8-0.

(This is one of the problems with the Angels radio broadcasting team of Rex Hudler, Steve Physioc and Terry Smith. Terry Smith and Steve Physioc share the play-by-play duties along with Rex Hudler doing the analysis.

However, when one play-by-play guy is announcing the other is not there - but shouldn’t that other broadcaster be PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GAME????!!!! How hard is it to pay attention to the score and notice EIGHT runs on the scoreboard, instead of seven?

I assume Steve Physioc got distracted by something sparkly in the new Nationals stadium and spent 10 to 15 minutes trying to figure out what it was and missed the Napoli home run.)

Anyway, rant over. The good news is the Angels won their fifth straight road game and although the last two wins have come across the bumbling Keystone Kops Democratic National Party Washington Nationals a road win is a road win and the Angels are doing that better than anyone in baseball.

The other good news is with the eight runs scored the Angels finally overcame that magical barrier of not scoring eight runs or more since May 18 and are actually showing some signs of offensive life - fueled in part, I believe, by the return of Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick to the lineup. Also some guy named Vladimir Guerrero is beginning to hit. He is contributing a little.

The team now stands at 48-30 and has a 26-12 road record and went 21-10 in that stretch where the team scored eight runs or less since May 18.

So a lot of positives going into today’s series finale with the Nationals including the fact that the Angels are playing the Nationals who have committed six errors in the first two games to help the Halos win.

If the Angels can keep this road momentum up this weekend against the Dodgers in Los Angeles (the real Los Angeles) the team will have some pretty good momentum heading into next week’s series against the still-lurking A’s.

Hopefully, this offensive uptick will continue for that series.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.