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Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero cemented his superstar status and
future Hall-Of-Fame aspirations with his eleventh consecutive season
hitting .300+ and slugging 25+ home runs, a feat only achieved by Lou
Gehrig before. But it has been a different story in the postseason for
Big Daddy Vladdi, as Angels fans call him. In 16 postseason games with
the Angels, Guerrero has put up a measly .183/.269/.233 batting line,
production hardly acceptable for a utility middle infielder, let alone
a superstar of Vlad's caliber. This lack of postseason hitting has been
mostly attributed to the lack of protection he had before. But this
year, he is surrounded by Mark Teixeira and Torii Hunter and indeed, he
was 2 for 4 in last night's game and also reached on an error by Red
Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie. However, even though as the designated
hitter, he did not take the field, he still managed to add another
chapter of postseason disappointment to his resumé.
Trailing 1-2 in the bottom on the eight inning, Guerrero stood on first
base after his second hit of the night. With one out, Torii Hunter
(barely) blooped the ball ofter first baseman Kevin Youkilis and
Guerrero ignored the stop sign from third base coach Dino Ebel and took
off for third base even though Youkilis had the ball under control
almost immediately after it hit the ground and threw out Guerrero by
several steps (Video).
So instead of first and second with only one out, the Angels had a man
on first with two outs and failed to score in the inning, eventually
losing the game 1-4.
With their backs against the wall already, the Angels will try to even
the series on Friday with Ervin Santana on the mound facing Daisuke
Matsuzaka, probably the best pitching matchup for the Angels in the series, because
even though Matsuzaka (18-3, 2.90) had the better record and ERA than
Santana (16-7, 3.49), Santana had the better K/9 and especially KK/BB
ratio (8.79, 4.55 to 8.27, 1.64) and lasted more innings per start,
although this may not be that relevant as both teams feature excellent
bullpens.
What else do the Angels need to get back into the series? First,
Chone Figgins and the bottom of the order will have to contribute a
little bit more on offense as the Angels leadoff man and the number 6
to 9 hitters produced exactly zero hits or walks the game one. Hopefully,
inserting Juan Rivera for Gary Matthews Jr. will help here. Second, while
the hitters in the heart of the order Anderson, Teixeira, Guerrero and
Hunter each had at least two hits, the Angels have not picked up an
extra base hit yet, which obviously makes it more difficult to put some big
numbers on the scoreboard.
Maybe Vlad will make up for his baserunning blunder by hitting the second postseason home run of his career. So far however, Dice-K has only given up one long ball to Angels hitters, namely to Torii Hunter, but has also faced the Angels only once so far in his career, a loss this season in which he gave up three runs in only five innings. Santana has not pitched against Boston this year, although they have had success against him in the past, with Mark Kotsay (7 for 18) and the always dangerous David Ortiz (5 for 9, 1 HR) leading the way. On the other hand, Santana clearly has elevated his game to a new level this season and the Angels are confident he will lead them to victory in a crucial game two.
You can contact Bjoern Hartig via the writer's Profile or the AHP Staff via the contact form.
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