Maicer Izturis attacks the ball when it is bounced out to him at SS.

Yorvit Torrealba's cERA is growing.

Tommy "Big Game" Hunter still doesn't have an "out" pitch.

The tendency for Ian Kinsler to pop up pitches is coming back into a tolerable range.  He's still taking lots of walks and is very dangerous on the bases.  And, he's still an amazing defensive 2B - maybe in the top 2 or 3 in baseball.

Mitch Moreland can play 1B - very well.  Michael Young is more than adequate as a substitute when Mitch needs a break and Mike Napoli can play there as well.

Adrian Beltre is a beast at 3B.  Sometimes, he waits for the ball to get to him to decide if he will go forward or backward for it, but seldom lets one go by him.  Still... naw... let 'im play.

Now, if Elvis would "attack" the ball like Izturis did last night rather than gliding over and waiting for it to bound to him, he would have gotten BOTH of those outs last night rather than seeing Mike Trout and Alberto Callaspo racing down the line fast enough to beat Andrus' otherwise huge arm.  Elvis seldom comes in on ground balls trusting that huge arm.  Still... I'd take the Elvis we have over any other SS in baseball.

Josh Hamilton is a beast.  Anyone wants to critique him... doesn't know what he's talking about.

Nellie Cruz is a beast.  He could use a bit better eye at the plate, but I'll take him.

Endy Chavez... had no chance against Scott Shields last night.  Wouldn't that have been the perfect opportunity for Wash to pinch hit with co-CFer Craig Gentry (who bats from the opposite side from Endy)?  Wasted AB for the team at a critical time in the game.

Anyone who wants to write off David Murphy only has to look at last night.  He's a lefty Hunter Pence without the playing time to hone his skills to any serviceable level.  But, he never gives up on an at bat - on a fly ball - on anything.  He's a bulldog.

Pitching:

Derek Holland may well be our most talented pitcher.  When he's on, nobody can hit him.  And, he impressed me last night.  Even when the Angels were hitting his best pitches, he kept coming back and kept making pitches.  They said he made "mistakes" in that 6th inning?  I only saw one or two - no more than in any other inning.  Trouble was, the Angels got a psychic/spiritual lift when Elvis launched that ball into the dugout screen and didn't come back down.  That wasn't Derek's fault - the Angels just took over the game.

Before this, Holland would fold up like a cardboard box with a house sitting on it.  Not last night.  Way to go Derek.  Write it off.  Move on.

And, Tommy Hunter killed us.  Again, I blame Yorvit.  No change of speeds on any of his pitches.  If he's gonna sling everything up there at max speed, he's gonna find out those guys with the sticks in their hands get paid as much (in many cases more) as he is paid.  Those guys are professionals and if you want to out-testosterone them as a pitcher - you lose.  We lost.  "Big Game" desperately needs to learn how to change speeds on his pitches.

Yoshinori Tateyama can pitch.  Not throw ... p.i.t.c.h.  If he used the same skill Yoshi uses, "Big Game" Tommy Hunter would live up to his nickname.  He'd actually have an "out" pitch that he doesn't currently have - what he didn't have in the playoffs last year that got him slammed and us beat.  He'd be a very good pitcher.

Maybe if he had a catcher that could let him in on that little secret.  Same thing that Yorvit allowed Neftali to get killed on last month - throw me fastballs!  Don't worry, they can't hit it.

Oops.