The 110 Report » Vladimir Guerrero

Angels Stay Alive, Beat Yankees 5-4

Bill Seitz — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:11:36 +0000

With the season on the line, the Angels needed to find a way to get back into this series. Thanks to the bats of Vladimir Guerrero, Howie Kendrick, and Jeff Mathis, the Angels pulled the series back to 2-1 and look to get even tomorrow night.

Jered Weaver didn’t bring his best stuff to the mound today. He got his pitch count up early, and his fastball was very hittable. He battled through five innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out four. He was undone by three solo homers, the first coming from Derek Jeter on the third pitch of the game. To Weaver’s credit, he worked out of some serious jams. In the second and fourth innings, he found himself with two runners on and no one out, and was able to work out of it both times. He left after a fifth inning in which he allowed the third solo homer of his day, a fastball that was hit over the short wall in right field by Johnny Damon.

In the bottom of the fifth, Howie Kendrick started the comeback with a solo shot of his own off of Yankees starter Andy Pettite. Kendrick crushed an inside fastball into bullpen in left field. An inning later, Bobby Abreu worked a one out walk. With two outs, Vladimir Guerrero hit a towering shot over the wall in left field to tie the score at three.

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Angels Throw Away Game 2: Yankees 4, Angels 3

Bill Seitz — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:32:04 +0000

Just an atrocious way to end a game that the Yankees tried to give away. I don’t even know what to say after this one. Time and time again the Angels had chances to take control, and time and time again they refused to cash in. For some reason, the Angels have not come to the ALCS prepared to play, and it has cost them the first two games of the season. They wasted an excellent effort from Joe Saunders and Kevin Jepsen, and now they head back to Anaheim with a must win game on Monday afternoon.

The Yankees got the scoring started in the second inning. Nick Swisher worked a two out walk, and Robinson Cano tripled him home. Derek Jeter’s third inning homer gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. The Angels got both runs back in the fifth inning. Maicer Izturis led the inning off with a ground rule double, and Erick Aybar singled him home. After Chone Figgins was hit by a pitch, and Torii Hunter walked, Yankees starter A.J. Burnett threw a wild pitch that scored Aybar to tie the game.

The bullpens battled it out into extra innings, with Joe Girardi burning through his best pitchers early, while the Angels went to the 10th with some of their best arms unused. In the 11th inning, Gary Matthews walked to lead off the inning. After Aybar bunted him to second, Chone Figgins singled him home to give the Angels a 3-2 lead. Mike Scioscia called upon closer Brian Fuentes to end the game, but he surrendered a lead off home run to Alex Rodriguez that tied the game. It came on an 0-2 pitch, but in Fuentes’ defense, the ball barely cleared the wall in right field, and would have been a routine fly ball in every single professional ball park in the country. Only in the joke of a ball park they built in the Bronx would that be a home run. Yankee Stadium is really an embarrassment to baseball.

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How Sweep It Is: Angels Exorcise Demons, Defeat Boston To Advance In The Playoffs

Johnathan Kroncke — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:39:47 +0000

The Angels were beaten. They had to be.

Down 5-2 in the eighth inning and facing two stellar relievers lined up to close the game, they could only look to tomorrow and a Game 4 match-up between Joe Saunders and Jon Lester.

Or at least, that’s what it looked like. But appearances can be deceiving.

Once again, I must defer to the great linguist Yogi Berra who famously declared, “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.”

Unbelievably, impossibly, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim came back to sweep the Boston Red Sox and advance to the American League Championship Series.

Any talk of demons, curses, or hexes has been laid to rest for good.

What’s more, the Angels did it in a game in which they failed to execute in all the ways that helped them build their commanding two-game lead.

The starting pitching wasn’t there, the hits weren’t coming with men in scoring position, and Halos were left hanging on every base.

At least, through the first seven innings.

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How Sweep It Is: Angels Exorcise Demons, Defeat Boston To Advance In The Playoffs - The 110 Report - The 110 Report - A Los Angeles Sports Site

ALDS Game 2: Angels 4, Red Sox 1

Bill Seitz — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:51:45 +0000

After two games, the Angels have erased the letters H and E from the word HEX. Two starts, two great pitching performances, and two days with just enough offense to get the Angels over the hump. They’ll board a plane tomorrow and fly back to Boston with a 2-0 series lead in the best of five ALDS.

Jered Weaver backed up John Lackey’s gem from last night with one of his own, limiting the Red Sox to two hits and two walks over 7.1 innings, while striking out seven. Darren Oliver, Kevin Jepsen, and Brian Fuentes took the reins and finished off the victory, ensuring a comfortable Saturday for nervous Angels fans everywhere.

The Sox got the scoring started in the fourth inning when Jacoby Ellsbury led the inning off with a triple. Two batters later, Victor Martinez singled him home, and the Sox had a 1-0 lead.

The Angels didn’t wait long to respond. Bobby Abreu led off the bottom of the fourth with a base hit. After Mike Lowell made a great play on a Torii Hunter line drive, Vladimir Guerrero singled Abreu to third. Kendry Morales cashed him in with a sacrifice fly to right field, and the Angels tied the game at 1.

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