Take me out to the ball game

I've been an Angel fan all of my life.  Since I grew up in Orange County, we would usually attend one baseball game a year at the "Big A" in Anaheim.  We'd sit up in the top deck and root for the Angels, usually over the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Indians.  Being from northern Indiana, those were my dad's two favorite teams, so that's who we'd end up seeing all the time.

For Father's Day, my daughter bought me tickets to see the Angels play on Monday night against the Seattle Mariners.  We had tickets in the upper deck, but that didn't bother me in the least.  We were watching baseball the way it was meant to be seen - live.  In my opinion, TV doesn't enhance baseball at all.  For most of the telecast, all you see is the interaction between the catcher and pitcher.  

I go to the game to watch the interactions between the other players, to watch how they change their positions during the count.  There's a subtlety to the game that most people don't understand, because all they know is what TV shows them.  I got to point out things to my boys like why the Mariners played the infield in at one point and what the difference was between a K and a backwards K for a strikeout.  It was great to be at the park with my boys and texting my daughter updates during the game.

The Angels grabbed the early lead and Jason Vargas, pitcher for the Angels was pitching well.  In the third he gave up his first hit, a bloop over third base that just caught the line.  Then Vargas made his only mistake, got a pitch up a little bit that was drilled to left field for a two run homer, cutting the Angel lead in half at that time.

In the sixth, the Angels batted around and blew the game open, eventually winning 11-3.  While most people would disagree, I would argue that Josh Hamilton, who struck out twice in the inning, had the best at bat in the inning.  Huh you say?  His first at bat in the inning there were two men on and one out.  He took two strikes, then worked the count full and fouled off several pitches.  He extended the inning by getting the opposing pitcher to throw a lot of balls.  The more balls thrown by the pitcher, the better it is for the batter.  

Eventually, Hamilton struck out, but the number of pitches (8 or 9 by our count) that the reliever threw to Hamilton took its toll.  Albert Pujols drove the very next pitch to the base of the wall in right and the flood gates were opened as the next 8 batters reached base safely and the Angels had scored 7 runs by the time Hamilton was up again.

Most people would look at the strikeout as a failed at bat. Knowledgeable baseball fans know otherwise.  And yes, Hamilton is admittedly having a very poor season, but what I saw Monday night was encouraging.  He hit the ball hard, got two hits including a two run shot to centerfield and only looked bad on his second strikeout in the 6th inning.  That's good news for Angel fans.