MVN - Most Valuable Network

Angels execute, play the waiting game and come from behind to beat the A’s

Holy Moreno, the Angels scored five runs!

Stuck in a funk that the club has not seen since the 1960s, the Angels exploded offensively on Tuesday night and came from behind to beat the A’s, 5-3, with some late-inning heroics from Garret Anderson.

And while the GA home run was the significant moment of the game, let me guide you to a few other notable achievements:

- The Angels won on Tuesday not because of the long ball but because they did all of the other little things right.

In the third inning, the Angels scored two runs with only one hit. After Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch and Howie Kendrick doubled, Jeff Mathis knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly that enabled Matthews to score and Kendrick to get to third. Casey Kotchman then grounded out to second, scoring Kendrick.

In the bottom of the eighth, Maicier Izturis bunted pinch runner Reggie Willits to third base. Willits then scored on a Vlad Guerrero single which set the stage for GA’s home run.

All of these events contributed to the Angels win and represents what this team has struggled to do this year. I accept that sometimes this Angels team will struggle to score runs but when this Angels team cannot do the simple things - bunting, making contact, putting balls in play - that is what frustrates me as a fan. This is a team that needs to execute and do the small things to win; look at the Minnesota Twins, they are doing these things and having success.

The Angels have to play small ball when they need to and coming off a string of games where they scored one run or less for four consecutive games, every player needs to execute.

- The Angels were patient.

The Angels knocked the fragile Rich Harden out of Tuesday’s game not by scoring but by being patient - an unheard concept in Mickey Hatcher’s dugout for sure.

Harden - having an outstanding and healthy year - only went into the fifth inning and lasted 91 pitches, allowing the Angels to come back on the A’s middle relievers.

Part of the reason for the Angels patience? Angels Manager Mike Scioscia shuffled the lineup!!

Sometimes Scioscia is stubborn and refuses to change his lineup significantly but he - to some degree - blew up the lineup on Tuesday night. Chone Figgins still led off but Casey Kotchman was hitting second and light-hitting Maicier Izturis was hitting third. Guerrero, Hunter and Anderson then followed.

Obviously Scioscia wanted to shake things up for a moribund offense but I think he also wanted to put more table setters at the plate who are willing to take and foul off some pitches.

With Figgins, Kotchman and Izturis hitting 1-2-3, Scioscia stayed away from some of his first pitch swingers in the lineup - which the Angels have been doing far too much of lately, resulting in the opposing pitcher sometimes only needing to throw six pitches an inning.

Here’s a good example from Monday night’s loss to the A’s: In the first and sixth innings, Erick Aybar had reached base with Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter coming up after him - the big sluggers coming up with a chance to drive in the speedy Aybar especially if he can steal a base.

But in BOTH INNINGS both Guerrero and Hunter swung at the first pitch and both flied out - ending the threat. So that’s four pitches, four outs.

Don’t get me wrong - sometimes the Angels are best served by Vlad swinging at the first pitch he sees. At the same time, when your offense is struggling it might behoove a few of the Angels hitters to take a few pitches.

- Mike Scioscia is reading this blog!

OK, I have no real proof of this but I posted on Sunday night that Mike Scioscia should consider moving Casey Kotchman into the No. 3 hole in the lineup or even to the No. 2 position. Lo and behold, two games later, Kotchman was batting second.

Maybe I should write in this space that Mike Scioscia should give me a thousand dollars and see if that will happen. Or maybe he can give me a Howard’s big screen - the local television store that Mike Scioscia shills does ads for.

Anyway, good win for the Halos on Tuesday night, giving them a chance to take the series today.

Hopefully, the offensive output from Tuesday continues and Scioscia continues reading this blog!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 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.