Final Score in Toronto: Angels 6, Blue Jays 5
The Angels have found a lot of ways to lose games this season, but today they found a way to win in the face of certain defeat, snatching victory from the Canadian jaws of defeat and taking the series 2 games to 1 from the Blue Jays on the 20th anniversary of the Skydome's opening.
With a 5 - 1 lead in the 7th inning, John Lackey allowed his 2nd run of the game. In the 8th, the formerly reliable Darren Oliver came in to relieve, but relief was the furthest thing from his mind and arm. Wow suddenly it is 5-4, nobody is out andthe bases are loaded. Justin Speier comes in, is nails, but still a sac fly gives the Jays a tie. In fact, the best hit ball of the game was a hard hit line drive off of Speier by Joe Inglett that went right inot the glove of drawn-in infielder Howie Kendrick. 999 times out of 1,000 that liner hits the outfield wall before anyone even sees it and the bases are cleared on a hard hit double. Speier can hit the casinos when the team lands in Detroit tonight - let it ride Justin, your luck is astounding at the moment.
A great bunt single by Howie Kendrick in the 9th turned out to be the winning run and Brian Fuentes pitched a shaky but stirred 9th inning for his 14ths Save.
EXHALE! whew. The Angels hit customs, re-immigration and go to Detroit for 3 this weekend.
0 recs | 75 comments
Majorly sucks he doesn't get the W
chairmanofthebar - June 4, 2009
Lackey, I mean.
chairmanofthebar - June 4, 2009
I agree - especially since he's on my Fantasy team... I needed a W.
angelsfan777 - June 4, 2009
+1
reddawnman - June 4, 2009
I said Fuentes.......
because he’s the only pitcher who didnt give up any runs………(technically neither did speier……..but he gave up inherited runners which is just as bad)
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
Howie
Made things too interesting by standing at third so long. So I’d split my vote between Lackey and Fuentes (500th career K, struck out three to protect a one run lead) if I could.
AlanFalcon - June 4, 2009
44FAN - June 4, 2009
Poor girl. Touched by Speier. Softball career over
hauldog - June 4, 2009
You'd rather have her touched by BillyMac?
red floyd - June 4, 2009
Not saying that. Just hopefully whatever Speier's got didn't rub off on her.
hauldog - June 5, 2009
KingF15h - June 4, 2009
Given the "RUN FOR THE BORDER" title of the pic...
We don’t do Taco Hell here. Only Del Ninja.
red floyd - June 4, 2009
no, Taco Bell's slogan is "Run for the toilet"
KingF15h - June 4, 2009
I always said it was
“Get the runs at the border”
red floyd - June 4, 2009
lol
not bad!
KingF15h - June 4, 2009
Oh, and
Thunder Mountain is POTG.
Howie gets props for a perfect bunt, but loses them for forgetting that the object of the game is to get home.
red floyd - June 4, 2009
Howie may not be a smart man...
But he does know what love is.
Spird - June 4, 2009
wowie!!!
I leave for the store, we are ahead 5-1, get out of the store, score is tied up and then come home to find out we WON!!!
Nice ending to a day of grocery shopping!
ladybug - June 4, 2009
So you didn't get a heart attack?
red floyd - June 4, 2009
nope, stuff for lasagna ;-)
ladybug - June 4, 2009
mmm heart attack sandwiched between two layers of awesome pasta.
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
you betcha! I'm giving the heart attack to the hubby...it's his BIRFDAY
ladybug - June 4, 2009
lucky lucky man...........
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
for the lasagna, the birthday or the heart attack?
I did get wine to counter the evils of the lasagna.
Dessert is brownies (from scratch of course) with ice cream (the boy’s will serve)
ladybug - June 4, 2009
There is absolutely NOTHING evil associated with Lasagna. Bite your tongue.
Downing Rules - June 4, 2009
Make sure you have plenty of life insurance on Hubby, after all he's a Cubs fan right?
44FAN - June 4, 2009
So if we give out panthers here...
Do we give Ladybug the “Cougar”?
red floyd - June 4, 2009
rawr
teopeht - June 4, 2009
I am older than he is, so I guess I qualify!
hey Rev, I need to change my name to CougarBug
ladybug - June 4, 2009
Ladybug loves cats so much
She married Garfield
Higz - June 4, 2009
I'll let him you know you just called him orange, fat and lazy!
hee hee!!
ladybug - June 4, 2009
oops...
Higz - June 4, 2009
too late
he think this is hysterical!
ladybug - June 4, 2009
well, not hysterical....but very funny!
ladybug - June 4, 2009
Happy birthday Mr. Ladybug!
Higz - June 4, 2009
he says THANK YOU!
ladybug - June 5, 2009
Dessert is brownies...and ice cream????????? Party pooper.
What about some whipped cream…with a (ahem) cherry on top?
sothball - June 4, 2009
Yankees just took the lead.
We might actually pick up a game despite our disgusting bullpen.
bc56274 - June 4, 2009
A sound rarely heard on HH, but...
GO YANKEES….
Hell, right now, I’d even pull for the RSN over Texas. I’d feel dirty afterwards, but….
red floyd - June 4, 2009
2 more outs
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
Rivera closes it out..........
but not before making us sweat a bit……….
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
TEXAS LOSES
chairmanofthebar - June 4, 2009
Yeah, “Rivera closes it out, but not before making us sweat a bit” pretty much sums it up.
Downing Rules - June 4, 2009
We're gonna start referring to the bullpen as THE BLOWPEN.
Halofanatic - June 4, 2009
The Bull-shyte
RexTookMyStash - June 4, 2009
It's unfortunate that Lackey didn't get the win
But much more importantly he:
Interesting matchup for tomorrow. Verlander is throwing much harder this year (avg. fastball at 95.5 mph, supporting a great K/9 rate of 11.7), while Santana’s fastball is greatly diminished. If Ervin struggles again tomorrow, the Angels should put him on the DL and focus on rehabbing his arm (i.e. long-toss program, bullpen sessions, etc.).
Fan Since 1981 - June 4, 2009
So was Howie asleep or was it a good play?
That is, in the 9th, was the contact play NOT on and Howie simply waited for the double play to go into motion and broke for the plate. Or was the contact play on and Howie hesitated. Listening on Gameday audio I would have said the latter, but now that I have seen the video, I say the former. I think if he goes on contact, that maybe he would had been thrown out? Thoughts?
tanana40 - June 4, 2009
Looked like he was half asleep
It looked like he was playing the contact then hesitated then broke for home as the DP was being turned. Had Overbay been paying attention at 1st he could have thrown Howie out at home for a triple play
Epic Dean - June 4, 2009
BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE on ESPN!
Vincente Padilla being fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing at NYY first baseman Mark Teixeira. What a joke.
44FAN - June 4, 2009
Burnett from the yanks got fined too, for throwing at Cruz on the Rangers.........same game
plus Burnett is suspended for 6 games
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
I just saw that too. ha, ha
Doug Eddings was the umpire in the game where Tex got beaned twice.
44FAN - June 4, 2009
he probably had bets going on it
ladybug - June 4, 2009
Awesome.
Some guy, who no longer belongs to any major league baseball team, has to pay money to the league office. Why is this headline news? Oh. Yeah. Because he threw baseballs at a YANKEE batter.
Stirrups - June 4, 2009
yup
if he was an Angel, Padilla would have gotten a bonus
ladybug - June 4, 2009
Gave my vote to Fuentes
Little shaky but nails when we need him to come through
Epic Dean - June 4, 2009
Getting through an inning without giving up a run is such a tough task
hauldog - June 4, 2009
it is for our bullpen
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
So since it is expected that he will blow the save wew should give him a panther when he doesn't?
That is logic used on the one and only panther that Mathis will get this season that he stole from Hula Dula.
hauldog - June 4, 2009
actually I was thinking because he out performed his peers he deserves it........
but I guess you could look at it your way (glass half empty)
norcaliangelsfan - June 4, 2009
Lackey completed that feat 6 out of 7 times
hauldog - June 4, 2009
Howie's blunder?
I have no opinion yet because I only got to hear the game on the radio, but…
Hud made it sound like Kendrick was basically asleep on the bases again when he didn’t break for home soon enough on that double play in the ninth. This also seems to be the consensus among the posters here. But then I come across this account of the game on SI.com:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/gameflash/2009/06/04/26845_recap.html
Oh well. As long as the Halos won the game I don’t really care, but I wonder if the club would have made the call for Sean Rodiriguez if Howie had failed to score.
KennyKatella - June 4, 2009
I will agree with Gaston
‘’Howie reacted and made a great read,’’ Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Scioscia’s reaction would have surprised Toronto manager Cito Gaston , who called Kendrick’s play ‘’bad baserunning’’ and said ‘’he made it look interesting because he didn’t break right away.’’
’’He’s got to go right away,‘’ Gaston said. ’’I’m pretty sure if you guys go talk to Scioscia, he’s probably wondering what the hell that kid was doing.’’
hauldog - June 4, 2009
If he goes right away, he attracts the throw from second...
He had to make sure that they went to first before breaking for the plate.
Downing Rules - June 4, 2009
just saw the replay...
There is no way that Overbay would have gotten him, even if he knew Howie was going. I disagree with Gubicza when he said “if Oberbay had been paying attention, they could have had three outs on that play.”
Downing Rules - June 4, 2009
Yeah, just watched the replay
He was inching down the line, just waiting for the throw to first. I call it a good play.
leftwing - June 4, 2009
Agreed.
Howie would have scored even if Overbay was hyper-juiced on Starbucks.
sothball - June 4, 2009
Man, no meltdown you guys suffer will ever be as painful as the one you dealt us on Saturday.
.Taylor - June 4, 2009
I mean Sunday.
.Taylor - June 4, 2009
Dude...
I was at the game Saturday night…you know, the Fuentes one-strike-away before Lopez cranked a 3 run HR over the LF wall game? That we ended up losing 4-3? With GMJ running us out of a rally in the 8th inning with a boneheaded rounding of 1B with no end purpose…other than to impress his “fans” (fan?) with his bitchin running stride?
As painful as Sunday was for you, Saturday night was equally painful for us Angel fans.
sothball - June 4, 2009
Yeah, those two games were incredibly stressful.
2-out ninth inning rallies are what shaves 10 years off of baseball fans’ lives.
.Taylor - June 4, 2009
10? only 10?
I had a full head of hair last Friday…
sothball - June 4, 2009
I still have mine…it all went from dark brown to gray on Monday morning.
Downing Rules - June 5, 2009
How About TORII or FIGGY?
Howie???? Sure nice bunt, and he scored, one inning of goodness, game = 9 innings.
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - June 5, 2009
Canady Dry
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Oh, sorry, it wasn’t that funny.
Lackey gets the Panther
vladtheimpaler - June 5, 2009
As opposed to Ken Dry.
Downing Rules - June 5, 2009
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