That was better

Good thing the Angels had a 6 run lead, as they gave up twice as many runs in the 9th as last night's game.

Josh Outman has a great name for a pitcher. He was one of the guys they got for Joe Blanton. I thought the trade was worth it just for Cardenas, not knowing anything about Outman, but he's not bad either. Outman throws in the mid 90's, and not many lefties can do that. He mostly relieved in the minors, and that might be his future. His control is not that good. He seemed to be on a tight pitch count, leaving the game in the 4th inning. He's not a big guy but doesn't have much of a windup, just sort of short arms the ball up there with surprising velocity. That will probably work in relief but not hold up to a full season of starting.

The Torii Hunter steal of home was pure Angels baseball. It started with Robb Quinlan stealing 2nd with two out, stopping, and getting himself in a rundown. The Angels executed the play perfectly. It works as long as the defense is taken even slightly off guard. I don't think the play works if Mark Ellis was playing 2nd, but it worked perfectly on Cliff Pennington.

Any other Angel fans tired of the criticism "I thought the Angels had all these can't miss prospects, how come none of them are any good", well tell them to watch the replays of Kendry (gotta have more cowbell) Morales, Mikey Napoli, and Brandon Wood hitting back to back to back homers. Do we have an MVP candidate among the young players? No, but we've got so many of them who can do their job, adding up to what is a great team. It's been beautiful how every time another player gets hurt, we've got another farm product ready and able to step in and do the job.

Tonight's 9th inning meltdown, comebined with an ugly outing on Tuesday, probably means we won't see Jason Bulger taking Justin Speier's playoff roster spot. Especially since it's looking more and more like we'll play Boston. The last thing we need against them is a pitcher who has trouble throwing strikes. Save Bulger for next year when he can get Seattle and Texas hitters to swing at breaking pitches out of the zone.