Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Monster Truck Rally! Bobby Abreu hit two solo homers, Peter Bourjos added one worth three runs, and Hideki Matsui pitched in with an RBI double as the Angels pounded the recently helpless Jeff Niemann, whom they also tagged for 10 earned runs last month in Anaheim. Abreu's second homer, which actually came off of Jeremy Hellickson, ricocheted about 50 feet up the back wall at Tropicana Field. So the old man can still hit a little bit.
Scott Kazmir actually earned his first win since August 7. It was a pretty typical Kazmir start: 103 pitches over 5 innings with 8 base runners allowed, but with Mark Gubicza cheering on his "phenomenal" 88-mph fastball, he skated by while only giving up a solo homer to Kelly Shoppach. Keep your eyes peeled for official quotes about Kaznobyl "taking a step forward," "making good progress," and so on. He did strike out four batters this time around, but keep in mind that the Rays are the strikeouting-est team in the American League.
The most interesting development was Scioscia's vote of no confidence in Fernando Rodney. Michael Kohn made a mess of the ninth inning, trimming the 6-2 lead to 6-3 with two outs, thereby triggering the automatic "bring in the closer to earn a save" condition in Mike Scioscia's pitching management flowchart. But instead of turning to Fraudney for the final perfunctory out, he passed the ball to Jordan Walden. Maybe he was just giving the Fraud a "rest" after pitching in two consecutive games, but you have to wonder. While I'm still not ready to welcome Walden as my new game-saving overlord just yet, I would let my non-ambulant grandmother close games before she conclusively proved to be worse than Fernando Rodney.
0 recs | 32 comments
Went with Abreu
Bourjos’ 1 blast was worth more but it was nice to see double bombs by Bobby.
Monkeyspanked - September 19, 2010
i loved Peter Pans bomb too but
You can’t blame Bobby for only getting 2 RBIs off his two homers though if callaspo could have did his job and gotten on then maybe Abroo would of had 4 RBIs to gloat about :)
(!ts_a_C.A._thing) - September 19, 2010 via mobile
Haha I like
Abreus eyes in that pic. Looks like he’s thinking “yea bitch, I’m the shit”.
HalosBiggestFan - September 19, 2010 via mobile
Fleeter Peter
will hit 40 next year
DAD OF VLAD - September 19, 2010
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
halofan4life - September 19, 2010
you mean steal 40 right?
Rally Manatee - September 19, 2010
40/40 club baby!
Or the 40/40/40 club when you add the ladies…
Monkeyspanked - September 19, 2010
you mean feel like 40 by the end of next year.
44FAN - September 19, 2010
you mean he will get with 40 girls next year
blast21dave - September 19, 2010
This only happens if Naps doesn't get traded.
halofan4life - September 19, 2010
Or only if he DOES?
Gotta have some love to spread.
Clutch - September 19, 2010
I'm giving it to Kaz
He may have use 38 pitches in the first but he got himself out of the jams and pitched pretty decently after that.
This series should have been a sweep if it hadn’t been for Mr. “Blowanothersave” Fraudney.
angelsfan7 - September 19, 2010
So was this the official
Walden takes over as closer game? Because I picked him up for my fantasy league.
angelskid2210 - September 19, 2010
I doubt it. Rodney pitched 2 in a row. THis was a tester.
Kohn failed, Walden succeeded. I am just happy Sosh is giving them a chance. I want to see chopper get some good set-up opportunities as well
Wally's World - September 19, 2010
Yeah it is good to see Scioscia
finally giving the young guys a chance. He is like college coaches who do not like to play freshmen. Sometimes you just have to play your best players no matter the age…Trout 2011. :)
angelskid2210 - September 19, 2010
trout..
nochance
miketrout - September 19, 2010
There is a chance he is here
this time next year.
angelskid2210 - September 19, 2010
Gotta say
it was really nice seeing Walden in for that save, and not Rodney. I can’t believe a dude can throw that hard with such a smooth delivery.
Rally Manatee - September 19, 2010
BEAST.
angelskid2210 - September 19, 2010
That fastball was *moving*, too
mattwelch - September 19, 2010
For the life of me
I can’t figure out how a guy can throw 100 mph and still have movement on the ball. Amazing.
Rally Manatee - September 20, 2010
Staying alive for the playoffs!
YES!
:-)
norcaliangelsfan - September 19, 2010
I feel this season turning around!
Rally Manatee - September 20, 2010
Staying Alive!
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk.
red floyd - September 20, 2010
It's not like Kohn made a mess of the 9th inning, he allowed a walk and a hit in a full inning of work...
He’s still our 2nd best reliever, and he’s still freakin’ awesome. This Kohn, Walden, Thompson trio will be joined by Berg by the end of next season and we’re going to be the envy of every team going into 2012. We’ll have a bullpen that mostly costs the league minimum, is young and awesome.
Halowood - September 19, 2010
Kohn will most likely be an asset further on down the line
But it’s ridiculous to claim that he is the second best reliever on the team right now. Kohn has 15 walks to 15 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings pitched. That is just plain bad. His 1.67 WHIP is nearly as high as Shields’ at 1.72, and no one claimed that Scot Shield was a good pitcher in 2010.
The 2.60 ERA is just a result of a tiny sample of innings. Kohn’s been lucky that none of the 23 fly balls he’s allowed have gone over the fence, and only 5 of his 29 base runners have come around to score. He’s living in Rodneyland circa May 1, and a full season of work (without improvement) would have exposed his roughness.
There’s no reason not to let him pitch and get some experience at this point in the season, but you’re fooling yourself if you think he’s ready to be the team’s setup man heading in to next season.
Suboptimal - September 19, 2010
I'm not suggesting Kohn be our setup man....
I think the job is either Jepsen or Walden’s to lose. Next in line would be Bulger, because he has already shown he can be good in the big leagues over an extended period of time. For the time being, I am saying that Kohn is our 2nd best reliever. Despite his whip, he’s still fanning more than a batter an inning and has been VERY effective recently. There is nothing there that suggests Michael Kohn is a bad pitcher or that he wouldn’t grow.
It’s his very first stint in the big leagues, and for him to do what he’s done (before tonight, had gone 11 straight appearences without giving up a run with an ERA inching it’s way down toward 2), after beginning the season in AA as a relatively unknown prospect is fantastic.
Who’s to say that across an entire season he doesn’t develop better control? Your idea of him imploding is just as likely as him dominating. Regardless, he was a great find, not too often can you grab guys in later rounds that make it to the bigs in only a year and a half.
Halowood - September 20, 2010
Please read more carefully
I did not say what you say I said.
First, 15 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings is the opposite of “fanning more than a batter an inning” since 15 < 17. Nevertheless, his strikeout rate is still okay, but nothing close to the 13+ K/9 he put up in the minors. What’s not okay is the part about walking exactly as many batters as he’s struck. This is because he is young, inexperienced, and he was most likely rushed to the major leagues. His “effectiveness” is based solely on ERA sampled over a limited number of innings, and my point is, his low ERA absolutely cannot hold up when he walks as many guys as he strikes out.
What I said was actually “a full season of work (without improvement) would have exposed his roughness.” He is of course very likely to improve, but the question is how quickly. This is not the same as predicting an “implosion,” since I am not basing his entire performance on ERA. An ERA around 5.00 would be expected given his current inability to get guys out, not an implosion. Now as his skill improves, the expected ERA will naturally go down, but he is a long way from a perpetual sub-3.00 ERA pitcher right now.
So I am not suggesting that Michael Kohn is “bad” in the sense that Michael Kohn will not get better. I am actually very, very pleased to have him in the organization because there are few things I like more than young, inexpensive power arms. My argument is that he is still very rough and he should probably still be in AAA if AAA was still in season. He’s still only 24, so there’s plenty of time for him to grow, but I am afraid that if his pitching ability doesn’t progress as rapidly as you hope, his ballooning ERA will just disappoint you and others like you. I’m just urging patience here.
Suboptimal - September 20, 2010
Thompson still has some proving to do consistency wise before I would go bragging on him.
44FAN - September 20, 2010
Was anyone else really bothered by Trumbo not being the pinch hitter
when Napoli pinch-hit (while he had a strained forearm or whatever).
I just want the kid to get a shot this year. He still only has one at bat that I can remember. And now I am waiting for the inevitable “sit for 6 days a week, play on the 7th, go 0-3 because he has zero rhythm, and repeat that cycle” just like we did with Wood and others.
IE Angel - September 19, 2010
The Angels still think they're in a playoff race
Once they are mathematically eliminated, which could be as soon as Tuesday, Mark Trumbo will be out there.
Suboptimal - September 19, 2010
Regarding Rodney,
We went over a lot of his stats from 2009 when his signing occurred in the offseason.
One thing I remember vividly is that he is at his most effective after having pitched with two days rest. None of the other numbers are especially pretty.
wumbug - September 20, 2010
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Halos Heaven to post a comment.