YOUTHS LEAD ANGELS BELCHER SUPPORTED BY KENNEDY, MOLINA ANGELS 5, TAMPA BAY 2.Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer ANAHEIM - This has been a season full of the unexpected for the Angels, so Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Florida. The Devil Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Devil Rays have played in Tropicana Field. should come as no surprise. The Angels have relied heavily on their core group of big hitters, but they have collectively and suddenly gone into a slump. Enter an old man and two babies, relatively speaking. Thirty-eight-year-old pitcher Tim Belcher Adam Thomas Kennedy (born January 10, 1976 in Riverside, California) is a Major League Baseball player. He currently plays second base for the St. Louis Cardinals. Kennedy attended J.W. provided most of the offense as the Angels beat the Devil Rays 5-2 in front of 15,689 at Edison Field. Kennedy's two-run triple in the seventh was the key hit of the night. He also had an 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 single. Molina had three hits and the Angels scored in each inning he had a hit. Shigetoshi Hasegawa Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Japanese: 長谷川 滋利) (born August 1, 1968 in Kakogawa, Hyōgo, Japan) was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Seattle Mariners from 2002 through 2005. pitched a 1-2-3 eighth to set up for Troy Percival Troy Eugene Percival (born August 9, 1969 in Fontana, California) is a Major League Baseball reliever on the St. Louis Cardinals. Percival came out of retirement on June 8, 2007 when he signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals[1]. , who pitched a scoreless ninth for his 29th save. It was the pitching that was supposed to determine the Angels' fate down the stretch, but it was the hitting that went south in the previous four games against the Orioles. The Angels scored a total of only eight runs in the series, yet somehow managed to win two of the four, both by scores of 2-1. It would be difficult to credit the Orioles pitching staff, considering its ERA of 5.46 is second-worst in the majors. The only logical explanation is the slump of the big hitters at the most inopportune in·op·por·tune adj. Inappropriate or ill-timed; not opportune. in·op  por·tune time. ``The core of our lineup is very potent,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``But with home runs come strikeouts, and hot and cold streaks. There are going to be some down cycles and our core guys are in one.'' Going into Tuesday's game, the Angels core hitters - Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus - were hitting a combined .186 (13 for 70) with two RBI on the homestand. The Angels began Tuesday's game much the same, failing to get a hit off Devil Rays starter Bryan Rekar in the first four innings. Glaus finally broke the string with a bloop bloop Baseball n. A blooper. tr.v. blooped, bloop·ing, bloops To hit (a ball) into the air just beyond the infield. adj. Hit just beyond the infield. single leading off the fifth. The Angels turned that hit into a run, then finally got a clutch hit in the seventh when Kennedy drove in two with a triple, his team-leading 10th of the season. Now up 3-2, Scioscia called for a squeeze bunt, and Benji Gil got it down to score Kennedy for a 4-2 Angels lead. After a walk to Erstad, Rekar was finished. But the Angels weren't. Doug Creek replaced Rekar and walked both pinch hitter Ron Gant and Vaughn to load the bases. Tony Fiore replaced Creek and struck out Salmon to escape further damage. The Angels, though, were able to add to their lead in the eighth, scoring one run on singles by Glaus, Molina and Kennedy. ANGELS vs. TAMPA BAY Time: 7:05 p.m., at Edison Field TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net; KLAC-AM (570), XPRS-AM (1090 Spanish) Matchup: Ramon Ortiz (5-5, 5.72 ERA) will start for Anaheim against Tampa Bay's Cory Lidle (1-1, 9.57). Tonight's game is the last for the Angels at home until a three-game season-ending series vs. Seattle. The Angels' 43 home wins going into Tuesday's game were the most in the American League. -Joe Haakenson CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Tim Belcher pitched seven solid inning to earn the Tuesday. Michael Caulfield/Associated Press Box: ANGELS vs. TAMPA BAY (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion