posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 11:59 PM by Jim

May 23: Angels 3, White Sox 1

Gavin Floyd, as Steve Stone might say, had a most unusual start.  He had no-hit stuff, collapsed, and then picked himself up and had no-hit stuff again.

Carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning and throwing all his pitches for strikes, Floyd started the frame by striking out Garret Anderson on an awesome sequence: change, curve, curve, curve.  But then he made the confusing choice of throwing Torii Hunter a very hittable fastball, and as Hunter has done throughout his career any a time, he swung and knocked it into the left field seats for the first run of the game.

Floyd appeared to rebound by getting Casey Kotchman to foul out -- with Nick Swisher reaching into the first row to make the catch -- but he walked Mike Napoli on four pitches. Robb Quinlan shot a single through the left side, and then Floyd lost the strike zone.  He walked lightweight Sean Rodriguez, hit Maicer Izturis on a 1-0 pitch to drive in a run, then hit Gary Matthews with his first pitch to drive home another.

Vladimir Guerrero, of all people, bailed him out by swinging at the first pitch out of the zone and grounding into a 5-4 fielder's choice.

Kotchman would be the only batter to reach off Floyd the rest of the game.  He walked in the sixth and singled in the ninth, as Floyd rebounded from his meltdown to go the distance.

It would be the Sox's third complete-game loss of the season.  The Sox couldn't figure out Joe Saunders -- they had three hits and grounded into two double plays.  Don't blame Orlando Cabrera, though.  The night after I knocked him, Cabrera managed to be at the center of all the Sox's threats.

He scored the only White Sox run in the ninth when he led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and came around to score on Jermaine Dye's long single, which came off Francisco Rodriguez and put the tying runs on base.  Jim Thome struck out, and after pinch-running Dewayne Wise stole second, Joe Crede did too to end the game.  Having ruined the shutout and made the game closer than it needed to be, Rodriguez celebrated wildly.

Cabrera would be stranded in scoring position two other times, though.  He led the game off with a walk and A.J. Pierzynski followed with a beautiful bunt that hit third base, but they wouldn't go anywhere (Carlos Quentin flyout, Dye strikeout, Thome groundout).  He also doubled with one out in the seventh, but wouldn't score after Pierzynski grounded out and Quentin hit a routine flyout to center.

Record: 26-21 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: May 23: Angels 3, White Sox 1

Saturday, May 24, 2008 10:45 AM by Florida Jim
I listened to comments of the LA Angels' announcers who said at two Thome at-bats "he[Thome} insists on hitting directly into the shift" as the Thome shift was employed by the Angels defense. Thome is maddening for me he swings for the fences on every at-bat and when he connects we love him but when he refuses to go to the opposite field in a shift it is irritating to me. When he strikes out three times as in the game Thursday and strikes out on a terrible at-bat in the ninth inning last night, on a ball breaking into him , low and inside, he had no chance on God's green earth of hitting that pitch anywhere.
He could be such a force if he tried adjusting when a hit is needed rather than a homerun. I am afraid, however, that will not happen this year and his style has been so beneficial to him his entire career.