Angels take series from Boston

Angels 5, Boston 4

Let me start off with this:


Josh Beckett is a five-year old having a temper tantrum on the mound. Since his days with the Marlins, he's been an overrated power pitcher whose success is entirely dependent on his inability to control his facial hair and a generally solid infield defense behind him. He is also an asshole of the highest degree, routinely breaking the unspoken code of baseball by throwing at players' heads countless times per season. When the Red Sox have their inevitable breakup with Beckett, as they have with Nomar, Manny, and Damon, you will hear idiot loudmouth Papelbon talking about how he was a "clubhouse cancer" and a "big pussy," while scrappy white guy Dustin Pedroia will mumble something about him not being a "team player" before devolving into a Tourettes-like hail of cursing.

The reason I mention this, by the way, was Beckett's pitch at Abreu's head which led to the benches clearing and the ejection of Torii Hunter, Justin Speier, and Mike Scioscia. Why wasn't Beckett tossed? More on that later.

The Angels, Abreu in particular, were able to bat Beckett around well enough to manage 4 runs over 6 inning. Their final run, which proved to be critically important, came on a monster Vlad line-drive home run off Okajima, who, like so many Red Sox relievers, isn't actually good. And you wouldn't expect him to be good with mechanics that awful.

Dustin Moseley pitched a hell of a game, giving up three runs over 5.2 innings, with only two of those runs being earned. He made two mistakes, one to JD Drew and one to Kevin Youkilis, and both pitches ended up in the stands. Arredondo struck out 2 over 1.1 innings of scoreless ball, and Shields miraculously worked around 3 walks to retire the side in the eighth. Fuentes hit no-name Nick Green to lead off the ninth, and Green would eventually score with 2 outs and Ortiz in the batters box. He managed to strike out Drew for the game's last out with a 1 run lead.
Overall, a good series for the Angels, who came 90 feet away from sweeping with a win in the second game.

The Angels will be selling Nick Adenhart patches for charity revenue, and I would like to be able to purchase a couple to add to future hats/jerseys. If anyone in Anaheim can grab a couple for me once they're released, I'd be happy to pay a premium for a finder's fee and shipping.