ANAHEIM - GAME RECAP

July 24th - Anaheim 9, Tampa Bay 6 - Attendance 16,131

Well, they can't all be great games and looking at the schedule, this one certainly seemed like a boring battle between two teams who were out of it. We lucked out with the pitching matchup, though, as Angel ace Jarrod Washburn took on Joe Kennedy, an up-and-coming rookie who had been impressive in recent outings.

But neither pitcher was on his game early, as four of the first five Ray batters singled off Washburn. But terrible baserunning on the 4th hit resulted in an 8-3-4-6-4 double play and the inning ended with the Rays scoring only two. The Angels got one back in their half on a David Eckstein double, deep fly ball, and ground-out RBI. In the third, Tampa Bay's Greg Vaughn hit a homer to restore the 2-run lead.

Darrin Erstand led off the 4th with a double and scored on a Garret Anderson single, assisted along by an error by Tampa right-fielder Randy Winn. (Aside - Randy Winn has the most ironic name in baseball as he plays for the team that wins the least!) 

In the 5th, things fell apart for Tampa Bay. 3 straight Angel singles tied the game and then with two out, Anderson smacked a 3-run shot to give the Angels a 6-3 lead. Tim Salmon homered in the 7th to make it 7-3, but the Rays tried to fight back in the 8th - after Vaughn reached on an error, Winn hit a ground-rule double. Chris Gomez, playing in his first game for the Rays, then crushed a Washburn offering to bring the Rays to within 7-6.

Gomez homers

But as expected, the Rays couldn't pull off the comeback. Scott Spiezio homered to lead off the 8th and the Halos added another run to win the game 9-6. Overall, this was a pretty good game given the teams, so it gets a 7/10.

July 28th - Anaheim 6, Baltimore 4 - Attendance 39, 261

Cal Ripken, Jr. was the attraction tonight, but Tony Batista got the start at third, and the fans were not too happy about that. The game itself was very good as the Orioles opened the scoring in the 4th inning with a walk and three singles off Angel starter Pat Rapp. In the bottom of the fourth, Spiezio homered to cut the defecit to 1, but rookie Mike Bigbie replied with a home run of his own in the 6th to make it 3-1 O's.

Spiezio was not impressed with that and led off the Angel half of the 6th with another homer and it was 3-2. Unfortunately, Oriole starter Willis Roberts was injured throwing a pitch in the 6th and he had to leave the game. In the 8th, it was time for the rally monkey to make an appearance and he paid off! After the Oriole infield dropped a Shawn Wooten foul ball, Wooten homered to tie the game. With one out, Adam Kennedy singled and Eckstein followed with a drive to right-center. Bigbie and Chris Richard converged on the ball but neither could catch it and Eckstein had an RBI triple. He scored on a ground out and another run scored later to make it 6-3 Angels.

The Orioles fought back, scoring a run and bringing the tying run to the plate with 2 out, but Troy Percival induced Jeff Conine to ground out and the Angels had won 6-4. This game was only average, and despite the Angels 8th-inning comeback, it only gets a 6/10 because Cal didn't play.