Halos Heaven

Pitcher Nick Adenhart pitched 6+ innings against the Chicago Cubs and won his 3rd Spring start without a loss as the Angels beat the NL Central Champion Cubs 8-4 in Mesa, Arizona today. Adenhart struck out 5 and gave up 2 ER, allowing a Triple to Kosuke Fukudome who scored on a Derrek Lee Double.

Torii Hunter went 2 for 3 with a HR and 2 RBI. It was Hunter's 5th HR of the Spring and was part of a 7-Run 4th inning that drove Sean Marshall from the game. Before the first pitch, Marshall was the likely 5th starter for the Northsiders. Considering that the Angels offense leads all of Spring baseball, he may still be considered National-League ready.

First Baseman Kendry Morales continued his quest to turn Mark Teixeira into an asterisk in the minds of Angels fans as his 2 for 3 performance at the plate this afternoon left his Spring batting average at .405... small sample size but plenty of faith that the moneyed Boras client will be all but forgotten by the L.A. of Anaheim faithful after a full season of Morales on the Wally Joyner throne.

If the Angels showed any weakness this afternoon it was the unreliability of the formerly Gibralteresque rock of pitching Scot Shields who surrendered a 2-Run HR to Cubs First Baseman Micah Hoffpauir. Shields did not even have the excuse of worrying about batting in the primitive National League.