The one Angel who hadn’t had an atbat was the one who had the game winning hit. Maicier Izturis was not in the starting lineup in Thursday night’s finale against the Rangers because of tightness but when he was called on to pinch hit in the eleventh inning, he proved potent as he delivered the 11th run of the game for the Angels. So obviously, offense was not the issue. Defense, on the other hand, failed them again as John Lackey had his toughest start of the year, going only 5 2/3 innings and giving up 15 hits. Although his velocity was up, his location was off, and he was leaving too many pitches out over the plate.

Lackey did get his run support, though. At first, the lead was going back and forth between the Angels and Rangers, but that was before the ___ inning when the Angels took a 10-4 lead. Again, it may have seemed to be enough for the win, but no one was surprised when the hot Ranger offense managed to come back and tie it in the ninth to send it to extra innings.

Angels pitching was not on their game. Relievers Shields and Arredondo also did not have their best stuff and contibuted to the Rangers comeback. Frankie Rodriguez was finally given a job when the Angels got a one run lead and tried to make up for the night before. It didn’t start well when he walked the leadoff batter and then made an error by dropping a pop-up bunt and firing it into center field. But then he struck out a batter, and ended up with a grounder to second to end the game with a nervous win.

Howie Kendrick was one of the main attributes to the Angels high scoring tonight, with his first and second homeruns of the seasons and his first multi homer game. He also smacked a double in the game and played a huge role in the Angels win. 

The Angels now catch a flight to Oakland for a three game series with the A’s of which I shall be attending, as I mentioned before. They hope to take the series and advance their lead in the division by three games.
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 I may not be able to write tomorrow’s entry so stayed tuned for future updates.