FIGGINS' CYCLE WASTED POOR PITCHING, FIVE ERRORS DIM ANGELS' FAINT PLAYOFF CHANCES TEXAS 12, ANGELS 6.Byline: DOUG PADILLA Douglas ("Doug") Padilla (born October 4, 1956 in Oakland, California) is a former middle and long distance runner from the United States, who won the overall Grand Prix 1985 and the World Cup 5000m race in 1985. Staff writer ARLINGTON, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas (USA) within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. According to a U.S Census Bureau release, as of July 1, 2006 Arlington has an estimated population of 367,197. -- Chone Figgins Desmond DeChone "Chone" Figgins (born January 22, 1978 in Leary, Georgia) is a Major League Baseball utility player for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Despite the unusual spelling of his first name, "Chone" is pronounced as "Shawn. rode a cycle Saturday on a night when the rest of the Angels' effort had flat tire. Figgins' triple in the ninth inning of the Texas Rangers' 12-6 victory made him the fifth player to hit for the cycle in team history and the first since Jeff DaVanon Jeffrey Graham DaVanon (born December 8, 1973 in San Diego, California) is a Major League Baseball outfielder with the Oakland Athletics. DaVanon came up through the Oakland Athletics system before being traded to the Anaheim Angels as a minor-leaguer in 1999. accomplished the feat in August 2004. An Angel has hit for the cycle six times in franchise history, Jim Fregosi Figgins had a single to left in the first inning, a home run to right to lead off the fifth, a double to right-center in the seventh and the triple to left to lead off the ninth. All four of his hits came left-handed. Figgins became the 20th switch hitter switch hitter n. 1. Baseball A player who can bat either right-handed or left-handed. 2. Slang One who is attracted to both sexes; one who is bisexual. in major-league history to hit for the cycle and second in threedays after the Rangers' Gary Matthews
For the son, see Gary Matthews Jr. Figgins no doubt will remember the accomplishment fondly, but the defeat was devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. to the Angels' already slim chances of pulling off the improbable and catching 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. in the 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. . They are sixgames behind with 13 to play. Figgins, Maicer Izturis, Orlando Cabrera, Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis each committed errors to increase the Angels' AL-leading total to 116. Only the Washington Nationals have more. ``They swung the bats well combined with our poor defensive play,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``You see what can happen, they put 12 runs on the board. We just didn't play well tonight, and we have to turn the page and play a better ballgame (today).'' The Rangers had no such problem. Matthews Jr. made a spectacular play in center field in the fifth inning to rob Garret Anderson of what looked to be a two-run home run. If the ball had gone out, it would have cut the Angels' deficit to a run. Instead, it ended the inning. Figgins had a reason to feel better than his teammates and even offered a controlled smile when he reached third after his triple and again when he reached the dugout after scoring on a fly ball by Izturis. Afterward, with a game ball tucked away in his locker, he was a little subdued. ``The way things have been going this year, to have it in a big loss it's good in a way but it feels bad,'' Figgins said. ``You don't feel as strongly as you normally would if you get a win out of it.'' Said Scioscia: ``It's a great accomplishment, but the bottom line is winning a game. I know if you ask Chone right now, he'd trade it for a win. You don't see it very often and when you see it it's fun to watch.'' With a depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d bullpen because of recent heavy use, John Lackey needed to give the Angels a strong outing. It didn't happen. Lackey gave up six runs on 10 hits in just four innings, with all of the runs earned despite the errors. ``It just kind of got rolling downhill, and I couldn't stop it,'' Lackey said. ``It felt like they found a lot of holes. It really felt like (Mark) Teixeira was the only one to hit the ball hard.'' Greg Jones was the first Angels reliever in the game, a necessity because Kevin Gregg was still sore from a 51-pitch outing Wednesday. Hector Carrasco was unavailable after throwing 44 pitches Thursday. Jones gave up two runs on two hits in his inning of work, Chris Bootcheck gave up four runs on fourhits without recording an out and Dustin Moseley was needed to mop up the mess. By the time it was over, Mathis, Kendry Morales, Erick Aybar, Tommy Murphy and Curtis Pride had seen playing time. ``As long as we have more games than games we're behind, we have to keep getting after it,'' Lackey said. ``We have to keep coming to the yard and playing hard. We have seven more with (the A's), but you'd hate to have to go in there and have to win all seven of them.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) Texas' Carlos Lee tries but fails to avoid a tag at home plate by Angels catcher Mike Napoli in the fourth. (2) The Angels' Chone Figgins triples in the ninth inning to become the fifth player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. Jim Fregosi did it twice. Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press Box: ANGELS at TEXAS |
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