08 August 2007

SUCH. A LONG. GAME.

If you didn't watch today's game, oh man. Such. A Long. GAME. It tied for the park's longest nine-inning game. It was totally RIDICULOUS.

Lots of hits, lots of runs. Ended up at 6-9 Boston, taking away the sweep from the Angels. But it really wasn't an unsuccessful outing for the team, outside of some late errors that really put Boston ahead. Reggie Willits (my personal hero) went 2-2 and walked twice, and Aybar proved his worth indefinitely. I just don't see how Kendrick will expect to be playing second anymore. I mean, yeah, that's what they got the guy for. But in the last month or so since he's been gone... the rest of the team has really picked up the pace, and kind of blown right by him.

Though I don't expect it to happen, I don't think they have a need to keep Kendrick. I expect they'll keep him through the end of the season, of course. Let him play after he gets off his rehab assignments (not sure when he's due back but it's soon enough I'm sure), see if anything improves by the off-season. But last summer, Kendrick's name came up SO often for post-season trade talks. He's one of the top prospects and blah blah blah, and a lot of teams were interested in him. I'm just not impressed, and a lot of that has to do with the trading of Adam Kennedy at the end of last season. But even still, I'm not impressed. So what if I'm not easily impressed???

But you know who HAS been impressive? Mathis. And I argued with my dad over this one for a while, because I was skeptical of the rookie. I'm always skeptical of the rookie (besides Willits, but that's just because I love him ha!). Not to mention, I had a soft spot growing for Molina, and by trading him, there was going to naturally be some resentment in me for whoever took his place - much like the resentment I felt towards Kendrick because of Kennedy, but that's ENTIRELY different. I assure you. Point being, Mathis, though he doesn't have the hitting abilities just yet of Napoli, has done excellently at the plate. Scioscia has even made it clear that he's happy with Mathis' performance (check the site, lots of articles about it). He's blocked some ridiculous in-the-dirt pitches, and made some good pitching calls. Yeah, I miss Napoli, and I'll be happy to have him back, but it's nice to know there's a bit of security in Mathis if something keeps Napoli on the DL. Again. Mathis even caught his first runner today at first on a pick-off! Even if he did give up a passed ball... and some other wild pitches. Hey, give him some credit. I don't think I've seen him do that in all of his starts so far this season. That I recall anyway...

I'm a little worried about Shields though, I'm not going to lie about that one. He's been roughed up lately, and I'm not quite sure how to take it. It seems like since Napoli's been on the DL, Shields hasn't quite been pitching like himself. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with his pitching to Mathis or anything, just a bit of a pattern I've noticed. It seems to have really fallen apart since the game against Oakland where he really gave it up, and got emotional about the throwing error on Vlad that cost Shields an out in that inning and a few more runners after that. Sure, he pitched again and threw three strike outs after getting himself in deep yet again. But I kind of miss the Shields that went 19+ scoreless innings. I miss the security of knowing that when he came up in the 8th, the game was over. I haven't felt quite that secure with him lately.

But then again, I haven't been feeling real secure with anyone lately, and that's not because of lack of consistency or anything, I think it's just getting later into the season, and they're getting into some tougher match ups. About the only ones I feel any kind of security with are Escobar and Lackey, but they're having some tremendous years. We'll see Escobar on Friday against the Twins. I've really grown to love watching him pitch. And as always, I love Lackey. He's just so damn aggressive, such a football player on the mound. He HATES batters, no matter WHO they are. It's beautiful.

In Other News:

Bonds wasted no time on hitting 757. I'm still sick of hearing all the steroids crap. All of the sports analysis shows that aired today had to throw in their media biases on it. Frankly, I'm kind of sick of the media. No. Let me rephrase that. I'm TOTALLY sick of the media. Can't we just let it go now? Let him have his glory. Like I said, seven years. That's it! We can let it go, yes we can. No need for the media to keep digging at it because they thrive on controversy and are running out of things to say to get their ratings. Damn media...



So I heard through the grapevine (ie. reports on angelsbaseball.com ha!) that Napoli is expected back by Sunday... and JUAN RIVERA (omg omg omg I've been waiting for his entrance like ALL SEASON) is set for rehab assignments, and a hopeful return to the DH position (because God only knows WHERE the hell they're going to fit him in the outfield with Willits, Anderson, Matthews Jr., and Guerrero, et al) sometime around September 1st on the extended roster. You seriously have no idea how much I'd just like to see him sitting in the dugout during a game. Just flash to his face, sitting there with his hat and over-jacket on, and I'm ECSTATIC. He doesn't even have the PLAY.

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