I'M BACK I'M BACK!

Have no fear! I have returned! And now that I'm done with music rehearsals this weekend, I'm back to watching the games. You have no idea how bad the withdrawals were!


So I'm glad we split the series with Toronto. At least split, and Seattle lost a couple games at the end there, and the Angels gained a game back. Every game is almost vital now, so close to the end of the season. But there are still a ton of games left, and the Angels actually have a pretty decent home stand coming up, while Seattle will be hitting the road against some tougher teams. It'll be nice to get somewhat of a break. And Thursday is an off day. Yay. That'll give me a chance to catch up again on what's going on around the league.

But I DID get to watch last night's game. I was excited as all hell. It was great. Only I felt a little left out, like I'd been missing something completely from not seeing the last two games.

You know what I'm totally excited about though? Our "one-two punch" as Hudler's been calling it for days now - the tag-team of Lackey and Escobar. Lackey's got his 16, Escobar's catching up with 15, they're just on a roll. I wish I'd seen Escobar's game two nights ago, but Lackey was awesome last night. Another complete game shut out. I thought for sure they'd yank him in the 8th, and then the 9th, but the outs were so easy.

... And he kept Ichiro off base. Ha! Struck him out twice. That's an accomplishment all on it's own.

But seriously, the two of them, Lackey and Escobar, have really been the team leaders this year. They've kept consistency in the starting rotation, and I usually feel pretty stable watching games they pitch in, even if they end up losing. Think of how nicely last night's game will help Lackey's ERA...

I'm really missing Kotchman and Figgins, though. And REALLY missing Napoli, even though Mathis is doing extremely well. Just something about Napoli. I don't know. But I still think Kendrick is... eh.

Something I've noticed about the Angels this year - it seems like when someone's streak goes out, another person's immediately follows. Kotchman had one early in the season, got hurt, and then Willits went on one. His died, Figgins' had a nice long stint, before getting hurt. Izturis went crazy there for a while, and now it's Anderson's turn. Who's next??? Any projections? Wagers? Ha!

But anyway, it's nice to gain yet another game on Seattle, so we know they can't pass the Angels in this series. And it'll get harder for them on the road, which is also good. Tonight is Santana, I'm really really REALLY still worried about that one. Still. But we'll see how it goes against Weaver. Hopefully the Angels will hit off him as well as they did off Batista last night. It's was good to see them get over 10 hits in a game again.


In Other News:

I can't believe the shut out the Yankees endured last night, 16-0. Ouch. I think those games at the Angels really messed up their nice little winning stint. Oh well. Back to 8 games back. I, personally, think they ought to concentrate on the wild card race, since they're only two back of Seattle and probably have a better chance there than with the division, realistically. But I guess mentally they need to keep the goal of the division for motivation. But realistically, I think the wild card is a more feasible option for them. But that's just me.

I've got some free time now, so I can reacquaint myself with the sport that I've only missed two days and it feels like I've missed half the season, ha!