Angels can’t get to Cliff Lee in 3-2 loss to Rangers
Reporting from Arlington, Texas — Forgive the Texas Rangers for not shaking in their spikes Thursday when they heard that the Angels had acquired Kansas City third baseman Alberto Callaspo, who has two extra-base hits in his last 25 games yet was described by Manager Mike Scioscia as a hitter with “the potential to be something special.”
The Rangers made their big summer splash July 9, acquiring left-hander Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners, and they’re pretty confident that Angels General Manager Tony Reagins won’t be able to trump that move.
Lee is an ace who could transform Texas from a division contender to a legitimate World Series threat, and he showed why Thursday night, limiting the Angels to two runs and five hits in 8 1/3 innings of a 3-2 victory over the Angels at Rangers Ballpark.
Lee (9-4) struck out four and walked none before yielding to hard-throwing closer Neftali Feliz, who, with a crowd of 39,876 chanting, “Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!” retired Torii Hunter and Mike Napoli for his 26th save, pushing the Rangers’ American League West lead over the Angels to six games.
“Any time Cliff’s on the mound, we want to take advantage,” said Texas third baseman Michael Young, who hit a solo home run against Angels starter Jered Weaver in the first. “Cliff has such a great tempo, and he keeps the defense involved. We’re always on our toes and ready to make plays.”
That, the Rangers did. Right fielder Nelson Cruz, with his back to the plate, made a running catch of Howie Kendrick’s fourth-inning drive before crashing into the wall.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler dived to his left to stop Bobby Abreu’s fourth-inning grounder and, from his knees, threw to first.
Left fielder Josh Hamilton made a running catch of Abreu’s sinking liner toward the line to open the ninth, and Cruz made a sliding catch of Hunter’s vicious line drive to right for the second out.
“They played some defense,” said Hunter, a nine-time Gold Glove winner. “They D’d us up like Michael Jordan. We hit the ball hard and had nothing to show for it. Their defense won the game. They have some sick athletes, man.”
The Angels have Juan Rivera. And Abreu.
Rivera, 32, is among the slowest and least athletic left fielders in the game, and Abreu, 36, does not have the range or throwing arm from right field that he used to.
Both were factors in the Rangers’ decisive two-run sixth, which Vladimir Guerrero, the former Angels slugger, sparked when he extended his long arms to reach an outside pitch and poked it through the Angels’ shift to shallow right-center.
Off the bat, it looked like a one-out single. Guerrero legged out a double, sliding in well ahead of Abreu’s throw.
“That pitch was probably three or four inches outside, and he placed it where he needed to,” Weaver said. “He hustled. He turned what I thought was a single into a double.”
Hamilton followed with a towering drive to left-center that dropped between Hunter, who was shaded toward right-center and raced at least 100 feet into the other gap, and Rivera, whose effort came up well short, for a run-scoring double and a 2-1 lead.
Hamilton went to third on Cruz’s infield single and scored on Bengie Molina’s sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
“Some balls dropped that I thought shouldn’t have dropped,” said Hunter, who was clearly perturbed but not ready to name names. “Vlad’s hit shouldn’t have been a double. Defense wins game, and that shows when you don’t play it right.”
The Angels scored in the fifth on doubles by Hideki Matsui and Maicer Izturis, and Napoli hit a solo homer in the seventh, but that wasn’t enough for Weaver (9-6), who gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.
“If some things go my way in the sixth, things may have gone differently,” Weaver said. “You hold this lineup to three runs in this park, you feel you’ve done the job.”
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