Game 101: Angels 11, Twins 5

The Angels pounded out 19 hits and overcame an early three run deficit to beat the Twins and maintain their three game lead over Texas.  Ervin Santana struggled, allowing five runs in six innings, but tremendous work by the bullpen kept the Angels in the game.  Justin Speier, Jason Bulger, Kevin Jepsen, and Darren Oliver combined for five innings of scoreless relief, and limited the Twins to just two hits.

Bobby Abreu’ssolo shot in the seventh inning pulled the Angels to within one run, and Mike Napoli’s eighth inning solo shot tied the game.  In the 11th inning, the Angels nickled and dimed the Twins to death.  The first eight Angels to hit in the inning all reached base, all via either the walk or single, including an infield single from Howie Kendrick and a bunt single from Chone Figgins.  When the dust settled, the Angels had pushed six runs across.  Darren Oliver needed just nine pitches in the bottom of the 11th to close out the game.

Thoughts on the game:

• The first seven hitters in last night’s lineup featured five guys hitting over .300 and no one hitting below .280.  The stat guys will tell you that batting average fluctuates and isn’t as reliable as OBP or SLG, but when you send that many good batting averages to the plate, you’re going to score a lot of runs.
• The Angels didn’t make a move at the deadline, but based on what teams were asking, that’s probably a good thing.  I think there’s time for the starters to pick it up, and the bullpen has actually been pretty good of late.