"Shot through the heart, and you're to blame..."

"...you just pitched a bad game."

Dear Francisco Rodriguez,
You had a record breaking season closing games for the Angels.  I admit, you weren't the best closer in baseball, but you did manage to somehow save 62 games during the regular season.  While many of the games you pitched were more nerve-wracking than waiting for the results of your 15 year-old daughters pregnancy test, 62 saves is something to be proud of.  But what you did Friday night was a gigantic stomach punch to Angels' fan everywhere.  That was worse than finding your wife in bed with Kevin Youkilis.  We sat through the game and saw the Angels scratch their way back to tie the game in the 8th inning after being down by 4 runs before even getting a chance to bat.  Some teams, when put in that position would just fold up and die, but not your team.  They scored one in the first, and then one in the fourth, and another in the fifth, and one in the seventh, until finally tying the game in the bottom of the eight.  The Angels had put themselves in a position win in extra inning against a weak Boston bullpen.  All you had to do is get 3 outs.  Obviously, the K-Rod of 2002 is no longer around.  Instead, he's been replaced with a pitcher who nibbles, has limited pitch selection, and whose domination went the way of Brittany Spears' sanity.  Hopefully, that wasn't the last game you've pitched for the Halos and you have a few more saves left in your erratic arm to finish off 2008.  There's nothing more that Angels fans would like to see is you doing your stupid sky-pointing celebration after recording the final out in the World Series.  But then after that, enjoy playing for the Mets.

Sincerely,
Angels Fans Everywhere

What Went Wrong
Besides the obvious meltdown of K-Rod, the Angel hitters squandered too many scoring opportunities.  Their inability to get any two-out hits left runners in scoring position in 5 of the nine innings.  In the 7th inning, the Angels had the bases load with one out and scored just one run after Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar struck out.  The Angels middle infield went 0-for-9 with 5 strikeouts (four by Kendrick).  I don't think Brandon Wood would be able to do much better than Kendrick, but Kendrick has looked so over matched against the Red Sox pitchers, that giving Wood the start in Game 3 would be an upgrade.  How much worse could Wood do? 

Another area the Angels need to improve if they want to continue playing past Game 3 is regaining their power strokes.  Come on, one extra base hit in 73 at bats?  In comparison, the Red Sox hitters have nine in the two games, including 3 home runs.  Imagine what the difference in the games would be if one of the Angels hitters had managed to at least get a double with guys on base.  The 0-2 deficit could easily be the other way around.

What Went Right
Mark Teixeira is a ballplayer.  Teixeira, making his first post-season appearance of his career, went 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and three runs scored Friday night and is 5-for-7 in the two games.  In the fifth inning he scored the Angels 3rd run of the game on a shallow single by Torii Hunter in what looked like was going to be a very close play at the plate, he scored with a beautiful slide around Varitek and touched the plate with his outstretched left hand.  The Angels 2 through 5 hitters are batting an impressive .500 (with an OBP of .543) over the first 2 games.  The heart of the Angels batting order is doing their job, but were hitting without anyone on base to drive in.

What Needs To Change
Getting some hits, other than singles, with men on base for starters.  In my opinion, that is the biggest shortcoming the Angel team have done during this series.  With a couple extra-base hits, in the right situation, both games would have been completely different.  But when going station-to-station against the strong Boston pitching, the Angels hitters are allowing the Red Sox to shutdown any scoring opportunities before the Halos can take advantage.  The Angels haven't scored more than one run in an inning the entire series, never really turning the momentum in their favor.

Maybe shaking up the line-up will help too.  Replace the overmatched Howie Kendrick with Brandon Wood.  Kendrick may have a batting title or two in his future, but has looked totally incompetent in his at-bats.  Wood showed a completely different approach at the plate upon his return to the Angels line-up at the end of the season, and as I wrote above, how much worse could he do than Kendrick.

Game 3 ALDS Sunday October 5th, 7pm at Boston

	vs.
Joe Saunders		Josn Beckett

Joe Saunders - 2008

Saunders was good this year against the Red Sox, winning 2 of his 3 starts.  I don't know what was up with his high walk rate, but you can't argue with the results.

Career vs. Boston Red Sox

Josh Beckett - 2008

In 2008, Beckett was awful against the Angels, losing both of his starts and allowing 11 earned runs.  He did have a high strike out total and limited the Halos to just 2 walks, but he gave up 20 hits in 13.1 innings.

Career vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim