Thank you, sir! May I have another? 

Posted 1:28 PM by Sean
So I'm pretty disappointed that Troy Glaus wasn't in the lineup last night. You know, to provide some punch to the DH slot.

Kee-rist in a sidecar, what a laugher. Although I wasn't laughing when Ramon Ortiz coughed up five runs in the top of the fourth, and the Angels had to protect that 11-1 lead by scoring ten more times. Indications appear to be that the Angels will be using Ortiz and Sele as sparingly as possible, going to a four-man rotation where days off allow, which is starting to sound like a pretty good idea to me. After dominating the Yankees and then completely losing his concentration against the Royals, Ortiz is even more of a riddle wrapped inside a question mark covered in a Scooby-Doo mystery sauce than ever.

Anyway, Jeff DaVanon hit for the cycle, a statistical oddity notable mostly for its rarity, and Maya wasn't even awake to watch it. Fortunately, the game's available for download from MLB. Jose Molina hit a grand slam and, maybe even more impressively, played a couple of innings at first base, where he made a fine play to stop a line drive and feed Matt Hensley for the final out of the eighth inning. J-Mo was grinning from ear to ear trotting back to the dugout, and I hope he gave Ersty an earful about it. "Hey, man, that's easy!"

I feel for Tony Pena though. I really do. How horrible must it be to watch that kind of defensive butchery every single night? Every time the Royals have made one of their seemingly inexhaustible supply of botched plays, the cameras have caught Pena with a look on his face that says "maybe I can just leave - you know, walk on out the tunnel, catch the first bus I see. Who's gonna stop me?"

No more Royals for the Angels, though. Sad as it seems, we must bid adieu, and turn to face the Minnesota Twins on Friday. Meanwhile, the A's won a pretty stirring victory last night against Baltimore, and go for a four-game sweep this afternoon, while the Red Sox start a series with Detroit. So the Angels are off today, but that pesky half-game will be transferred from the A.L. West race to the wildcard race, one way or another.