ANAHEIM -- There are special games, signposts, over the course of the long season. Months later, they come into focus as vastly more meaningful than merely one in 162.
It is possible the Angels produced such a collective effort on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, with Garret Anderson delivering the crushing blow in a 5-3 come-from-behind conquest of the A's.
Oakland had taken the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a Mark Ellis homer. Just when the A's were thinking the Angels' American League West lead was about to shrink to 2 1/2 games, with a sweep possible on Wednesday, the Angels went to work against reliever Alan Embree, a lefty familiar with big moments.
Casey Kotchman doubled. Maicer Izturis bunted pinch-runner Reggie Willits to third. Vladimir Guerrero singled home Willits. To the plate, after a Torii Hunter strikeout, strolled Anderson, so quiet throughout June that he sat for two games in a row to, as manager Mike Scioscia put it, "let the air out."
When Embree missed his target with a 3-1 fastball, Anderson lifted it high into the dark sky. The two-run homer gave Francisco Rodriguez a two-run lead that quickly became save No. 33 in 35 chances.
Scot Shields, who yielded the homer to Ellis in the eighth, moved to 4-2 with the win after Ervin Santana held the A's to two runs across seven strong innings. Embree fell to 1-3 with the loss, after starter Rich Harden was touched for two runs across five innings.
When they put together two runs in the third inning to draw even against Harden, the Angels matched their output from their previous 40 innings.
Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch, moving to third on Howie Kendrick's double to right. Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly scored Matthews and Kendrick took third. Kotchman's groundout drove in Kendrick.
Five singles in the first two innings had given Harden a 2-0 lead. Jack Hannahan singled and stole second in the sixth, but a sprawling stab by Kotchman at first robbed Daric Barton of a hit and an RBI.
"Kotchman beat us a little bit with the glove, too," A's manager Bob Geren said. "He had a great game."
After lashing an Embree breaking ball into the corner for the double in the eighth, Kotchman sat back and watched Anderson unload.
"He's got a track record," Kotchman said. "You know he can do it. It's just a matter of time -- when, not if."
Anderson said he wasn't crazy about sitting around for two games, adding that "it was a little weird the first few at-bats."
Watching Embree throw a string of 91-93 mph fastballs to hitters preceding him, Anderson said he was "looking for a fastball, trying to react to it -- not try to get outside myself and do too much.
"I don't lose confidence in my ability to hit. Just keep plugging away. The most important thing is don't panic. Chip away at it, one day at a time."
The way he turned on Embree's heater was a good sign for Anderson, telling him his bat speed is where it needs to be.
"It always feels good when you contribute like that," Anderson said. "The home runs make a little exclamation point."
For Embree, it was a pitch that got away -- up, up and away.
"I missed my spot by a lot," Embree said. "It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it was way in. I wanted to go down and away and it ran right into his swing. He pulled his hands in and got it.
"He's a great hitter."
"It's a two-point swing [in the standings]," Kotchman said, having made his first appearance as a No. 2 hitter memorable. "That's big -- either way."
Kotchman, still fairly new to this, hasn't experienced as many summers and autumns as Anderson. The most productive hitter in franchise history knows too much to attach undue importance to a July 1 game.
Yet, at the same time, he remembers how critical a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle was last August, how it sent the Angels' AL West rivals reeling.
"Without going too far ahead of ourselves, this could be an important win for us when we look back," Anderson said. "You can put a star on it and see how things turn out. It definitely feels better being 4 1/2 ahead than 2 1/2.
"I've been on the other end of that. You get a lead and they come back and snatch it. As you get older, they're harder to handle. You know you don't have that many opportunities."
Having scored two runs in their previous four games, the five the Angels put up against the A's felt like an outburst.
"Any time a good team is scuffling, you hope to time it right [in facing them]," Geren said. "But any team with that many good hitters is eventually going to get its hits."
THEIR 4.5 GAMES AHEAD OF OAKLAND IN THE WEST AND ONE GAME BEHIND TAMPA BAY FOR BEST RECORD IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE
REALLY AINT A ANGEL FAN BUT FOR GAMBLING PURPOSES AND SINCE THEY OUT THE AREA, I HAD TO THROW IT UP. PLUS I WANT TO TALK SHIT IN THE SPORTS FORUM...AND ALREADY KNOCKED OUT A DODGER FAN AT ANGEL STADIUM...SORRY SLIC I HAD TO MENTION IT.
SO FUCK THE A'S AND SEATTLE LET'S DO THIS,
It is possible the Angels produced such a collective effort on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, with Garret Anderson delivering the crushing blow in a 5-3 come-from-behind conquest of the A's.
Oakland had taken the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a Mark Ellis homer. Just when the A's were thinking the Angels' American League West lead was about to shrink to 2 1/2 games, with a sweep possible on Wednesday, the Angels went to work against reliever Alan Embree, a lefty familiar with big moments.
Casey Kotchman doubled. Maicer Izturis bunted pinch-runner Reggie Willits to third. Vladimir Guerrero singled home Willits. To the plate, after a Torii Hunter strikeout, strolled Anderson, so quiet throughout June that he sat for two games in a row to, as manager Mike Scioscia put it, "let the air out."
When Embree missed his target with a 3-1 fastball, Anderson lifted it high into the dark sky. The two-run homer gave Francisco Rodriguez a two-run lead that quickly became save No. 33 in 35 chances.
Scot Shields, who yielded the homer to Ellis in the eighth, moved to 4-2 with the win after Ervin Santana held the A's to two runs across seven strong innings. Embree fell to 1-3 with the loss, after starter Rich Harden was touched for two runs across five innings.
When they put together two runs in the third inning to draw even against Harden, the Angels matched their output from their previous 40 innings.
Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch, moving to third on Howie Kendrick's double to right. Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly scored Matthews and Kendrick took third. Kotchman's groundout drove in Kendrick.
Five singles in the first two innings had given Harden a 2-0 lead. Jack Hannahan singled and stole second in the sixth, but a sprawling stab by Kotchman at first robbed Daric Barton of a hit and an RBI.
"Kotchman beat us a little bit with the glove, too," A's manager Bob Geren said. "He had a great game."
After lashing an Embree breaking ball into the corner for the double in the eighth, Kotchman sat back and watched Anderson unload.
"He's got a track record," Kotchman said. "You know he can do it. It's just a matter of time -- when, not if."
Anderson said he wasn't crazy about sitting around for two games, adding that "it was a little weird the first few at-bats."
Watching Embree throw a string of 91-93 mph fastballs to hitters preceding him, Anderson said he was "looking for a fastball, trying to react to it -- not try to get outside myself and do too much.
"I don't lose confidence in my ability to hit. Just keep plugging away. The most important thing is don't panic. Chip away at it, one day at a time."
The way he turned on Embree's heater was a good sign for Anderson, telling him his bat speed is where it needs to be.
"It always feels good when you contribute like that," Anderson said. "The home runs make a little exclamation point."
For Embree, it was a pitch that got away -- up, up and away.
"I missed my spot by a lot," Embree said. "It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it was way in. I wanted to go down and away and it ran right into his swing. He pulled his hands in and got it.
"He's a great hitter."
"It's a two-point swing [in the standings]," Kotchman said, having made his first appearance as a No. 2 hitter memorable. "That's big -- either way."
Kotchman, still fairly new to this, hasn't experienced as many summers and autumns as Anderson. The most productive hitter in franchise history knows too much to attach undue importance to a July 1 game.
Yet, at the same time, he remembers how critical a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle was last August, how it sent the Angels' AL West rivals reeling.
"Without going too far ahead of ourselves, this could be an important win for us when we look back," Anderson said. "You can put a star on it and see how things turn out. It definitely feels better being 4 1/2 ahead than 2 1/2.
"I've been on the other end of that. You get a lead and they come back and snatch it. As you get older, they're harder to handle. You know you don't have that many opportunities."
Having scored two runs in their previous four games, the five the Angels put up against the A's felt like an outburst.
"Any time a good team is scuffling, you hope to time it right [in facing them]," Geren said. "But any team with that many good hitters is eventually going to get its hits."
THEIR 4.5 GAMES AHEAD OF OAKLAND IN THE WEST AND ONE GAME BEHIND TAMPA BAY FOR BEST RECORD IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE
REALLY AINT A ANGEL FAN BUT FOR GAMBLING PURPOSES AND SINCE THEY OUT THE AREA, I HAD TO THROW IT UP. PLUS I WANT TO TALK SHIT IN THE SPORTS FORUM...AND ALREADY KNOCKED OUT A DODGER FAN AT ANGEL STADIUM...SORRY SLIC I HAD TO MENTION IT.
SO FUCK THE A'S AND SEATTLE LET'S DO THIS,
