That's More Like It

Outstanding pitching and timely hitting, those are a couple of characteristics of a championship team.  Last night the Angels showed those traits while beating up on the Oakland A's.  Starting pitcher, John Lackey pitched his eight career complete game for his 5th straight win.  Lackey came within two outs of a shutout if not for Jack Cust's 9th inning home run.  The homer was the only mistake Lackey made in the game as he didn't walk a batter and struck out 5.  The strike out total was relatively low, but was by design.  Lackey's outing was more about efficiency than over-powering the hitter, as he threw 23 first pitch strikes (out of 32 batters), and only needed 98 pitches to get through nine innings.  Some have claimed the Angels lack the dominating number one starter needed to win a World Series, but Lackey has shown he's more than capable of filling that need.  Since beginning the season on the disabled list with a strained tricep, Big John has won 11 of 13 decisions while compiling an ERA of just 2.95.  I'd match-up Lackey against any other team's ace and feel confident in the Angels' ability to get the win.

One the other side of the game, the Angels' offense produced the timely hits to put 5 runs on the board, with most of the damage coming in the third inning when the Halo's scored 4 times.  Mark Teixeira and Gary Matthews Jr provided run scoring singles and Torii Hunter had an RBI double.  Juan Rivera added in a sac fly, rounding out the scoring in the third. 

Daily Notes:

• Torii Hunter is becoming one of my favorite players.  Not only does he play the game with enthusiasm and determination, but he shows a true joy while playing.  During the third inning, Hunter tagged up and went to third on Rivera's sacrifice fly.  Oakland's first baseman Daric Barton cut-off the throw to the plate and tried to get Hunter at 3rd base, hitting Hunter square in the back of the head with a bullet throw.  Hunter was a little woozy after the play, but when Angels' athletic trainer Ned Bergert checked him out and asked him where he was, Hunter joked, "Minnesota" and started laughing.  "I'm glad my helmet stayed on. Sometimes it falls off when you run, and thank God it didn't - because if I didn't have that on, I'd have been out. I would hav