Well, I’m back. I’ve spent most of the last week sick. In fact, I’m still not right today, but it’s the best I’ve felt in a week. I just didn’t have the energy to do any of that. Additionally, I’ve kind of burnt out on scoring the games. The only ones I’m going to score for the rest of the season are games I’m going to.
For this particular game, it looked like Ryan Drese was pitching like he did earlier in the season, not the last 3 or so outings of his. He was pretty strong, and went seven innings, gave up just one run (a home run to Carlos Delgado), and striking out seven with one walk. The Eraser and Jeff Nelson followed up with an inning each, both giving up one earned run.
Miguel Batista was not the pitcher we saw in Toronto where he just shut us down. He gave up 10 hits in 3.1 innings of work, 7 runs, and had 3 wild pitches. It helped us get out to the win, which we needed, especially as Oakland lost.
Offensively, we were led by Kevin Mench who is swinging the bat VERY well now. Kevin had two solo home runs in this game (that gives him 5 in his last 5 games), All told, Kevin went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. A great night for him. He was backed up by Teixeira who had a two run bomb of his own into the upper deck in right. Barajas was also 3 for 4, it was just a nice night for the offense with a total of 17 hits.
I’m sure like most people after the White Sox series, you were feeling pretty gloomy, like “this is it”. The best case scenario is that we come out of the Toronto series two games back of Oakland (or Anaheim, as they might pass Oakland if the A’s keep losing). However, that’s best case scenario. I think we’ll come out of it 4 back, which is manageable, but still a tough assignment going to Oakland and Anaheim. We can still do it, but it’s not looking good for the home 11 right now.