Posted 12:10 AM by Sean
Just finished listening to the Angels finish sweeping the Indians tonight, 7-1. A few thoughts:

1. Appier walked six and hit a batter in five innings. He pitched out of trouble a couple of times, and only gave up two hits, but then again this is Cleveland. I'd be delighted to to see Appier turn into a five-and-fly guy - the Angels have a good enough bullpen to cover - provided he's an effective five-and-fly guy. Seven free passes in five innings against Oakland or New York will get him crucified without nails.

2. Damn, nice game from Garret Anderson. 3-for-4, grand slam, double, 7 RBI. Kind of funny to look at that column in the box score: 0, 0, 0, 7, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.

3. It's becoming apparent that Scioscia is not going to limit his use of Frankie Rodriguez to eighth-inning setup situations. K-Rod threw two terrific innings tonight - the 6th and 7th (2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 15 pitches). This is the eleventh game he's been in this year, and the fifth in which he's pitched two innings. Only twice has he come in to pitch just the eighth to set up for Percival.

With Seattle getting hammered by the Yankees tonight, the Angels will be 4.5 back of both the Mariners and the A's tomorrow. The Blue Jays will be in Anaheim for three, starting with a game that will mark the return of Aaron Sele. Although it would be a mistake to read too much into Sele's first start since last autumn, a lot will be riding on him over the next few months. Hopefully we can get a little payback for being swept in Toronto, while at the same time Oakland and Seattle have to contend with New York and Chicago.