Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 08, 2006
West Coast Roundup

The Angels hoisted their AL West banner last night, then shutdown the Yankees offense for a 4-1 victory. The Angels staff shutdown the heart of the Yankees order, with Sheffield, Rodriguez and Giambi combining for an 0 for 12. Damon and Jeter did a good job setting the table, reaching base five times by a hit or a walk.

Fine work by both bullpens last night, as neither allowed a hit in a combined 6 1/3 innings. The difference in the game were the starters. Kelvim Escobar did a nice job of spreading out his six hits, while Chacon got off to a bad start allowing a homer to Orlando Cabrera (career .405 slugging percentage) and never recovered. The Yankees now sit in last place in the AL East.

All eyes were on Felix, but Joe Blanton was the dominant pitcher in the game as Oakland defeated Seattle 5-0.

"The other pitcher is getting a lot of attention, but I'm not facing him, I'm pitching against their lineup, '' Blanton said of the matchup with Hernandez.

Hernandez was a bit wild, but only allowed one run in five innings. His replacement, Julio Mateo was very wild, and the selective Athletics batters drew six walks against the reliever. Couple that with a timely Scutaro triple, and it was a comfortable victory for Oakland.

Blanton pitched eight innings, walking just one while striking out six. Sixty nine of ninety nine pitches were strikes, and Seattle managed just two hits against the righty. The two teams are tied for first in the AL West.

The news was bad at the start of the game for the Padres and just got worse. Ryan Klesko needs shoulder surgery and will miss one to two thirds of the season. That gives Adrian Gonzalez a chance to play, and so far so good for the former Ranger.

The Padres started off the game fine, earning a 4-2 lead after two innings, but things went downhill when Chris Young (7 K , 1 BB) got in trouble in the sixth. After giving up two hits and a run in the inning, Clay Hensely allowed hits to all four batters he faced to put the lead solidly in the Rockies column. Colorado knocked around two other relievers for a 10-4 victory. Colorado hit three homers last night at PETCO after only one in their first three games at Coors.

Atlanta pounded San Francisco 14-6. The first four batters in the Braves lineup, Giles, Renteria, Jones and Jones all hold OBA's over .400 right now. The four were on base 10 times last night, five by hits and five by walks.

The Giants actually led 6-4 after six innings. But the San Francisco bullpen stunk up the bay in the seventh, as neither Tyler Walker nor Jack Taschner recorded an out. All in all, the Braves batted around with out making an out in the seventh, scoring eight runs.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:14 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)
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