Los Angeles Angels Sweep Oakland A's

When the Angels lost Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards earlier this month I wondered if they would be able to compete with the A's for the AL West crown. Who would have guessed that they would allow only 4 runs in the 4-game home stand against the A's, shutting out the A's in 31 of the 37 innings on the way to a 4-game sweep. Before the series started I would have said that a sweep was possible, but not probable....but this became a series of improbabilities.

C.J. Wilson was the only starter to allow a run (although one of the games really didn't have a starter...more on that later). Angels gave Wilson a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st, but he couldn't hold the lead and the A's tied the game in the 6th. Howie Kendrick ended up winning the game with a walk-off sac fly in the 10th...and that was the most normal game.

Jared Weaver outdid A's #1 Jon Lester by pitching 7 shutout innings on the way to a 4-0 win in game 2. The game was a 0-0 duel until Chris Iannetta drove a ball deep into left center. Coco Crisp seemingly made a home run saving catch, but the ball popped out of his glove when his wrist hit the top of the wall. Crisp had to leave the game with a strained neck and didn't play in the rest of the series.

Matt Shoemaker matched Weaver with 7 shutout innings in game 4. In Shoemakers win, the Angels ended former Angel Scott Kazmir's day in just 1 1/3 innings by scoring 6 runs in the 2nd, eventually wining 8-1. Shoemaker being the savior of the Angels is as unlikely as the 4-game sweep without Skaggs and Richards. Shoe was an undrafted free agent that wasn't that impressive in the minors. He only got called up to the Majors because of the injuries to the starters, getting a few spot starts earlier in the year. Shoe has been lights out in August, winning 6 games and pitching 23 1/3 straight shutout innings. He's the 1st Angel to pitch 3 consecutive shutouts of 7 or more innings since...get this...Nolan Ryan. He picked up his 14th win, which ties the Angels rookie record set by Dean Chance and tied by Frank Tanana. Nobody in their right mind would have even mentioned Shoemaker in the same breath as Ryan, Chance, and Tanana...but they are.

The bullpen allowed only 1 run in the series including a game 3 shutout that was pitched entirely by Angels relievers. The Angels used 8 pitchers against Jeff Samardzija who pitched all 8 innings in a 2-0 loss. Technically, Cory Rasmus was the starter and pitched 3 innings. Yoslan Herrera got the win pitching 2/3 of an inning. Fernando Salas, Jason Grilli, Kevin Jespen, and Joe Smith all recorded Holds, each pitching 1 inning each. Huston Street pitched a scoreless 9th to record the save. The other pitcher was Michael Roth who recorded the 1st out in the 4th before giving way to Herrera. I know this had to have been done before, but I can't remember a team using only relievers. 

The Angels now own a 5 game lead over the A's with 26 games left. Even if the Angels should go 13-13 the rest of the way, the A's would have to go 18-8 just to tie. If the Angels continue to play at the .610 pace they are on, they would go 16-10, meaning the A's would have to go 21-5 the rest of the way. Possible, but not probable. 

Maybe I shouldn't have typed those words.

The Lost Year (Well half year)

I can't believe that I haven't posted on this blog for 6 months. It wasn't that I went into hiding for a year...the exact opposite in fact. Things are starting to slow down enough to revisit the little things...like this blog...which has taken a back seat since this time last year.

Since it's NFL season again, I'm working on a post about my thoughts on the Chargers. Coming is a post on the Focus ST now that I've owned it for a year and a half. There's been some changes and one issue that I ran into that I'll cover. Not happy that I had a problem with a new car, but Ford had a TSB out for it and they fixed it in a day.

I also have some ideas on an Angels post and maybe a throw back post to the Spurs Championship. I already own the Spurs Championship DVD. Also found (and bought) a DVD on the 1999 Championship, which I have only seen on VHS before. I now own all the Spurs Championship DVDs and the Angels World Series DVD. Still waiting on the Chargers Super Bowl DVD. It was interesting looking back at the past Spurs' Championship DVDs...that may be an interesting post.

The best movie I've seen this year is "Guardian's of the Galaxy."  To be honest, I didn't know much about the Guardian's, but after seeing previews it looked, if nothing else, like a fun movie to watch. I absolutely loved it, so much so I made my own Awesome Mix Volume 1. I won't do a review, that's more my good friend Bulldog over at Nothing If Not Random...on which I had a good time catching up on reading the articles he posted over the last year...but the story was good, the Characters great, and the humor was, well very funny, and well delivered. All though there were a lot of 70s references, none of it went over my head (Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it)...you have to see the movie.

Anyway, look forward to posting regularly again.