C-a-r-r-a-s-c-o Spells Relief

Oh, starters! Why have you forsaken us? The only way this team can beat good pitching is if we have good great pitching ourselves. Because it stands to reason that the offense isn't going to help you that much when the opposing pitcher is throwing under 3.00.

As is common lately, our starter only had one bad inning. The first inning, even. But that was enough to keep the other team on top and the right team from winning. Kazmir started the game off loading the bases, then gave up a 2-run single. He managed to get one out, but then came a 3-run homer.

Ooooh...

So once he got out of the first with no more runs (past the 5 original runs...) he stuck around for 2 more 1-2-3 innings. As soon as he gave up a single in the 4th it was like "Ok! No more!" and they sat him down.

Out came Albers, who - as Tom Hamilton pointed out - is pretty good at being our any-time guy and pitching whenever and wherever needed. He came in to have a 1-2-3 4th.

Next up was ... Carlos Carrasco! He just, appeared today. I can't even follow the ball anymore as to who goes up and who goes down. Heck I knew that Adam Dunn was DFA before I knew Carrasco was here!

But, who better to have in your bullpen when you need super-long relief than a former starter? Those guys can go forever! (Allegedly) He had a 1-2-3 5th, then in the 6th gave up a walk but a double play. The 7th was similar, and he was still there in the 8th AND the 9th! He ended up going 5 innings (2 more than Kazmir, the starter) and only gave up 1 hit. He did give up 3 walks but with those double plays he only ended up facing 17 batters.

That's great! Nice to see we have a long reliever while our starters get their stuff together. Basically like having a backup starter every night. And boy did we need it today because the bullpen is hella spent, and there's no off day til next Thursday.

The team hit a lot better than the score would suggest today. Lots of guys got on base - 7 hits and and 1 walk. But all around them guys were hitting big long flies that were caught, or lasers that got caught. Nothing was dropping!

The only balls that didn't get caught were Brantley's homer (6-game hitting streak!) and Asdrubal's homer (OMG!!! $144 off tires, tomorrow only!) Well and Kipnis's double dropped and so did 4 other singles but still ... it seemed like there were a ton that ALMOST made it but didn't!

Ok 7 made it, 4 outs were strikeouts, one GIDP so that leaves 22 potential almost-made-its.Yuck - remind me never to conjure up that statistic again!

I bought some hot dogs at the store today (actually, I bought some hot dogs while the Angels were scoring 5 runs!!) and am all ready for tomorrow's game. I don't know if you knew this but I was sad about the lack of hot dogs in my house. All Beef Hebrew National, buddy.

Hey also good news is that tonight and tomorrow night is Rock-N-Blast fireworks! Good times!

I don't know why but I am strangely energized by the games of late. We're losing but stuff is going good, or interesting stuff is happening. I don't know if the feeling in my gut is "Relax, we're totally out of the race now, let's just have fun!" or "Relax, this team is totally good enough to stay in the race, let's just have fun!" Perhaps it's remembering that there's less than 2 months to go so I'd better enjoy it while I can.

Or maybe it's just that the weather has been so nice and that just makes everything nice. And, hot dogs.

Anyway, we get another chance to listen to grown men play baseball tomorrow! It'll be Ubaldo versus LHP 3.49. It's time for wins again - let's do this!

See you there!

Radio Chatter:
"...I thought it was the 6th inning. Bye! I'll go get more food."
- Tom Hamilton comes in an inning too early

"He will be going to sit in the opposite end of the dugout from manager Mike Sciocia."
- Tom Hamilton on JB Schuck's horrible bunt attempt then GIDP

"Welp, there are nights like this when the baseball gods work against you."
- Tom Hamilton on the Angels always catching the ball