Brandon McCarthy, Destroyer of Worlds, Has First Off-Night

(Don't forget, today's A's/Angels game is at the East Coast timeslot; 4PM!)

Well, it finally happened. Apparently, Brandon McCarthy isn't immortal after all, because he allowed 7 runs in 5.1 innings, on the strength of 14 hits. Consider it payback for that one run turn through the rotation last week.

Annoyingly, top prospect Tyler Chatwood didn't pitch much better, allowing 3 runs in the same amount of time, but he picked up his second career win anyway. Chatwood continued his odd season, walking more than he struck out yet again to get to 15 walks on the year, compared to 8 strikeouts. He can't possibly continue pitching like that with the expectation of good results, but that's a conversation for the Angels, not us. In his defense, he did induce 11 groundouts to 1 airout, which was his calling card in the minors.

As far as Brandon, his control seemed off all night. Unfortunately, instead of walking the Angels, McCarthy's lack of control resulted in hittable pitches that Los Angeles teed off on again and again.

On the hitting side of things, Conor Jackson did most of the damage, as he stroked a high inside fastball over the left field fence to drive in David DeJesus. Conor hasn't gotten very much playtime this year, but it looks like he may be finally back to full strength after his multi-year battle with a fungal infection in his lungs. He hasn't hit for very much power yet, but the the batting average and the on-base percentage are high, and he should be someone to keep an eye on.

But on the bright side? Hey, at least we're not paying Vernon Wells 23 million dollars to OPS .481.