I’m at MSP, getting ready for my flight to LAX, starting this monster road trip. Yes, I plan to hit In-n-Out Burger for lunch, not long after I land, and then it will be down to Anaheim on the 405.

I’ll have lots more from the ballpark.

Just scanned for some Angels tidbits, and found an interesting item in the OC Register. Turns out the Angels have concerns with their eighth-inning guy, too:

With the Angels clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth inning Wednesday night, Scot Shields anticipated coming into the game to build the bridge to closer Francisco Rodriguez. But Scioscia stuck with Jose Arredondo, who had come in to get the final two outs in the seventh inning.

“I was ready to pitch,” Shields said, declining to comment beyond that.

A night earlier, Shields struggled with his command, walking two of the four batters he faced and taking the loss as the Angels blew an eighth-inning lead.

Scioscia said he wanted to “stay away from Shieldsy” until he has a chance to work on some things in the bullpen before Thursday’s game.

By the way, I saw Arredondo pitch against the Rays last night, and he’s no slouch, either. I’m guessing the Angels won’t mind letting K-Rod leave via free agency, when they have an arm like Arredondo, ready to plug in at closer.

Also, the Angels’ lineup looks ridiculous now since the Mark Teixeira trade. Howie Kendrick wasn’t in there last night, so don’t go by the box score. Torii Hunter told me in spring training that Kendrick is one of the best pure hitters he’s ever seen.

Look for something like this tonight:

1. Chone Figgins, 3B
2. Erick Aybar, SS
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Vladimir Guerrero, DH
5. Garrett Anderson, LF
6. Torii Hunter, CF
7. Howie Kendrick, 2B
8. Juan Rivera, RF
9. Jeff Mathis, C
RHP: John Lackey

No wonder this team is 77-48.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 8:33 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.