Oh Kendrys, Where Art Thou?

From down 5-0 to up 9-7, I thought this team had figured it out. Then Fernando Rodney walks the bases loaded in the 9th, and almost immediately Vernon Wells drops a ball in the outfield and lets the tying runs score. Then almost two hours and 4 Innings Later, Matt Treanor hits a walk-off three-run-homer off of a tired Jason Bulger.

There were a ton of problems with this game. First was Scott Kazmir, pitching what I can only hope in his final game as a member of the Angels, who allowed 5 runs in 1.2 Innings of "work". I was honestly shocked that Mike Scioscia pulled him as quickly as he did. I hope this is a sign that Scioscia is ready to move forward as an manger and will pull guys who aren't up to the task of playing at a Major League level (Read: Jeff Mathis).

Speaking of Jeff Mathis, our "Defensive-Presence" catcher who always "calls a good game", went 0-for-6 in the extra inning game, plummeting his 2011 batting average to .154. Not to mention his "great game calling" led to at 12-run outing by one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, and he has thrown out 1 of 9 would-be base-stealers. ONE! OF NINE!!! So this talk about Mathis being this "superior defensive catcher" is turning out to be total Bullshit. Unless he turns this around (either at the plate or, at the very least, behind it), Bobby Wilson or Hank Conger NEED to see more time in the lineup.

There were some bright spots in yesterdays game. The Angels hit 5 home runs (including 2 by Howie Kendrick), and Rich Thompson came in and pitched a great 3.1 innings of relief for Scott Kazmir, and really put the Angels back in the game. Jason Bulger showed he could be a decent option out of bullpen (Especially if its not for 3 innings). Jordan Walden showed he is as dominant as I think he can be, while Rodney came that much closer to losing his Closer role.

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I had planned on doing something yesterday recapping what happened around the league over Opening Weekend, but I really had no desire to write yesterday after the longest 5 hours of baseball I've ever watched. I might touch on some of the stuff going on around the league occasionally, since I'm currently working on a goal to watch at least one game of each team around the league. Philadelphia and Texas look better than I expected while Milwaukee and Boston look much worse.