Ballpark Banter- Talking Angels and Yankees

1) I'm not sure who has gotten off to the better homecoming, Torii Hunter or Kosuke Fukudome. But there will be time to catch up on the Japanese import later. This space belongs to Mr. Hunter, who has come out of the gate on fire for the Angels. Hunter continued his torrid streak on Monday night, blasting two homeruns against the Cleveland Indians, the second one being a walkoff grand-slam in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Los Angeles to a 6-4 victory.

The homerun was impressive-- it was a moon shot down the left field line off of Cleveland close Joe Borowski. But this homerun was important for the Angels on many different levels. After dropping 2-of-3 to Texas over the weekend, the Halos have a tough slate this week with Cleveland at home for three games to finish off their homestand before they head to division-rival Seattle for the weekend.

It is important that the Angels keep their winning ways and build a little momentum to ride out the injury bug that has depleted their starting pitching in the early part of the year. If the Angels can build a little bit of a cushion, it will take the pressure off of John Lackey when he comes back from his triceps strain. With Seattle taking its turn with the injuries-- Erik Bedard is experiencing some pain with his hip-- this will allow them a chance to gain a few games on the team who will likely battle them at the end, if the Oakland A's don't have something to say about it.

The most important part of this homerun though is how it saved tonights ballgame, which could have been a mood setter for the week. The Angels got a stellar outing from Joe Saunders who gave up 1 run over eight innings and was in line to get the win before Frankie Rodriguez blew the save in the ninth and had to be pulled from the game with his ankles flaring up. Scot Shields came in and didn't do much better, as the Tribe built a two-run lead going to the bottom half of the inning.

If the Angels would have lost this game, it may have spoiled the entire series and sent them into a 4-5 game spiral. Blown saves leave an unmistakably bitter taste in a team's mouth-- matter of fact, it is losing games that you ought to win that creats the bitterness. There is no worse feeling than giving away a game, especially when it is a chance to steal one from one of the best teams in baseball. But anyways, blowing inevitable wins does something mysterious to a ballclub sometimes.

Baseball is built largely on momentum and feel and confidence; that is the reason for long winning streaks, and that is the reason for slumps that span over multiple weeks. The mental part of the game is huge, both individually and collectively, and hopefully the Angels can ride this nice win and take a couple days to figure Rodriguez out, because they need him to save games. If Hunter doesn't hit that ball out, the entire team leaves the ballpark on the verge of vomitting. But since he did, a fresh dash of enthusiasm will fill the diamond when they return to action tomorrow.


2) Mike Mussina did a job for the Yankees Monday night, allowing the Yankees to take the final two games of a 4-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays. Mussina threw six innings of one-run ball, before handing the ball over to the bullpen, who had a sizeable lead to work with. These are the type of outings that will make or break the Yankees this year. If Mussina can go six innings with three runs or less, the Yankees are going to win the AL East by a nice margin.

If Mussina gets shelled and the Yankees have to bring Joba out of the bullpen, they could wind up anywhere. The ironic thing about this year is that this is the smallest role that Mussina has filled in a big league rotation in his entrie career, but yet, this may be the most that any of those ballclubs needs him to pitch well. Think about the difference in this Yankee club if Mussina is a steady arm at the back of the rotation, and if he needs to be subjected to long relief and mop up time.

The affect comes in the 7th and 8th inning-- more precisely, the time when Joba Chamberlain dominates the ballgame. New York has such an advantage when the can shorten a game down to seven innings, knowing that Chamberlain and Rivera will seal the deal. All ofthat falls on the shoulders of Mussina. The other startes are expected to do their share of heavy lifting. But with Mussina, the feeling is that the Yankees owe him one more year on his contract, so they feel inclined to put him out there and hope he gives them something respectable. It could just be me, but I almost feel like the Yankees are holding their breath this season with Mussina and are like a criminal trying to get away clean with a crime. Give Mussina the ball 30 times, get 13 wins, and then brush your hands off and exhale at the end of the season. I don't know, that is just how it looks from here. But, hey, so far so good for Moose.