19-22, Quick Game Notes

The Angels rack up 11 hits off of Felix and win with Matt Palmer, then rack up two hits off of Jakubauskas and lose with Ervin Santana. Never bet on a baseball game. Ever. Don't ever do it.

• The Angels put 27 balls in play today, and didn't smack a single line drive. The hardest hit they might've had was an Erick Aybar fly out to Franklin Gutierrez in the eighth. This was one of those Ryan Franklin sorts of games where we say Jakubauskas was good, but not sustainably so. He did a very good job of avoiding solid contact, and as such is deserving of credit. He will be hard-pressed to repeat this the next time out, though, and that's where his hitability will be more of a concern. All those foul balls the Angels were hitting - those weren't just bad luck. That was evidence that Jakubauskas is lacking an out pitch. For that reason he'll go back and forth between games like this and games like his start in Minnesota.


• During his breakthrough 2008, Ervin Santana threw his average fastball at 94.8mph. Through his first two starts so far in 2009, he's been down at 91, topping out tonight at 93.1. I imagine he's still trying to get himself all stretched out, since he hasn't thrown many innings yet this year, but the Santana we saw tonight was not the Santana who was one of the best pitchers in baseball a season ago. He still has some work to do. Just because the Angels are getting healthier doesn't mean they're healthy.
  


• Adrian Beltre took a break from his recent pattern of sucking royally and reverted to his 2008 pattern of getting unlucky. Though his first at bat was nothing special, he hit two balls really hard at Torii Hunter and had Chone Figgins knock down and scoop up a hotshot aimed at the SS-3B hole in the sixth. As a result, Beltre thrice made pretty good contact and wound up 0-4. My only complaint concerns his at bat in the first - Santana gave him a first-pitch fastball at mid-thigh over the inner half, and Beltre inside-outed it and skied a foul flyball down the right field line. If you're going up there looking to swing early, you're looking to swing at a first-pitch fastball over the plate. Beltre got one and looked defensive instead of pulling it into left. That's bad.


• Immediately after Beltre's hot grounder found Figgins' glove in the sixth, Griffey came up and singled on an end-of-the-bat blooper into right. Zduriencik needs to trade Beltre before he kills himself.


• Some people will tell you that Miguel Batista has been a pleasant surprise this year. And in many ways, he has. But let's not get carried away. While a return to the bullpen has improved his health and ability to induce groundballs, he still doesn't throw many strikes and he still doesn't miss many bats. All he is is a half-decent reliever, and one who becomes redundant when the bullpen's at full strength. I imagine he'll have a new home before too long, and hopefully he's just able to land somewhere where someone has the balls to tell him his haircut sucks.


• It's a good thing Maicer Izturis looked so silly striking out in the eighth, because before that I was thinking that Mark Lowe might have the most hittable 98mph heater in the league.


• David Aardsma has five saves and a 1.37 ERA. Sometimes I hate that baseball has gotten so much smarter. I hate it. Come back, John Hart.