ANGELS ARE TWO MUCH FOR ORIOLES LACKEY, JOSE MOLINA PLAY PIVOTAL ROLES ANGELS 8, BALTIMORE 4.Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer ANAHEIM - The notion of John Lackey John Derran Lackey (born October 23, 1978, in Abilene, Texas) is a major league baseball starting pitcher from Abilene, Texas. He has played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim his entire career. being the Angels' most reliable starting pitcher Noun 1. starting pitcher - (baseball) a pitcher who starts in a baseball game baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; once seemed about as absurd as the notion of Jose Molina kick-starting a six-run rally with a leadoff walk. But Wednesday night at Angel Stadium, those unlikely trends converged to produce an 8-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles This article is about the contemporary American major league baseball team. For other uses, see Baltimore Oriole (disambiguation). The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. . The Angels gained ground on the Oakland Athletics “Philadelphia Athletics” redirects here. For other uses, see Philadelphia Athletics (disambiguation). The Oakland Athletics are a professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. for the first time since July 18, as the A's 4-3 loss at Minnesota helped the Angels push their American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. lead to two games. The race figures to come down to starting pitching, an area the Angels have enjoyed success all year. And now, Lackey (9-4) is at the forefront. Since the All-Star break, he is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four starts. In 6 2/3 innings against a difficult - if not distracted - Baltimore lineup Wednesday, Lackey added to his power-pitcher portfolio, giving up two earned runs and striking out seven to extend his season total to 141, third in the AL. He shut the Orioles out for four innings and nursed a 1-0 lead before four hits - including RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in singles from Brian Roberts For the CEO of Comcast, see . Brian Michael Roberts (born October 9, 1977 in Durham, North Carolina), nicknamed B-Rob, is a switch hitting second baseman who plays for the Baltimore Orioles in the MLB. and Javy Lopez - gave Baltimore a 2-1 lead. Melvin Mora Melvin Mora (born February 2, 1972 in Agua Negra, Yaracuý State, Venezuela), affectionately nicknamed Melmo or Melvy, is a Major League Baseball Third Baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. He bats and throws right-handed. nearly extended the damage, getting just under a Lackey pitch for an inning-ending flyball to center instead of a three-run homer. But the Angels soon seized control again, with Molina putting the starting and finishing touches on the rally. In 2003, Molina nearly went the entire season without drawing a walk, finally drawing a free pass in September to give him one in 114 at-bats. But he's quietly become a more proficient offensive player, as he showed Wednesday. He led off the fifth by drawing a seven-pitch walk against promising Baltimore starter Erik Bedard, who soon went to pieces. After Maicer Izturis popped out trying to bunt, Chone Figgins, Orlando Cabrera and Darin Erstad followed with singles to push the Angels ahead 3-2. A walk to Vladimir Guerrero loaded the bases for Garret Anderson, whose two-run single made it 5-2. A walk to Bengie Molina finished Bedard (5-4), so Jose Molina finished the rally off Tim Byrdak by stroking a two-run single for a 7-2 lead. For Lackey, that was more than enough. Chided earlier this season for his flappable flap·pa·ble adj. Informal Easily excited or upset. nature in tight spots, he yielded eight hits and three walks to the Orioles, who lost for the 16th time in 18 games. But he again stayed steady when runners got on base, more resembling the stretch drive and playoff hero from 2002 than the inconsistent starter in the years since. Lackey has worked into at least the seventh inning in four of his past five starts and has given up two earned runs or less in four in a row. It didn't hurt that a suddenly awakening offense produced another well-rounded effort. Leadoff man Figgins singled and scored in the first and fifth. Guerrero contributed a pair of RBI doubles, the second accounting for the 900th RBI of his career. That provided enough cushion for Lackey and relievers Joel Peralta and Brendan Donnelly, who gave up a run in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Gabe Lacques, (626) 962-8811 gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): photo, 4 boxes Photo: Orioles starting pitcher Erik Bedard had his share of struggles against the Angels on Wednesday, giving up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings. Jae C. Hong/Associated Press Box: (1) ANGELS vs. BALTIMORE - Gabe Lacques (2) GAME RECAP (3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED (4) ALMANAC almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. |
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