'91 Halos take 2 of 3 from '53 Nats

GAME 1 (Anaheim): '53-WAS (5), '91-CAL (2)
Mark Langston didn't have it. Chuck Stobbs did. Langston looked sluggish from the start and yielded 4 runs (3 earned) over 5 inning of work. Stobbs went 8 and gave up 2 before yielding to Sonny Dixon who notched his 1st save of the season. The Senators scored 2 in the first and 2 in the 3rd and they tacked on an insurance tally in the 8th.

GAME 2 (Anaheim): '91-CAL (2), '53-WAS (0)
Jim Abbott tossed a 4 hitter vs hard luck Bob Porterfield. Washington made 5 errors and each Angel run was unearned. Angel manager Douglas Zaner commented how Porterfield pitched much better than the results indicated. Still Abbott was brillant as he increased his record to 2-1 with a poultry 0.74 ERA

GAME 3 (Griffith): '91-CAL (5), '53-WAS (4) 10 inn
The rubber match was a classic. Both teams coveted the win to inch closer to mediocrity. Chuck Finley started for the Angels and pitched 6 solid innings. Spec Shea started for the Nats and was gone before the 2nd inning ended due to an elbow strain. Connie Marrero relieved Shea and gave up 4 runs in just over 6 innings of work. Despite the poor relief performance by Marrero the Nats showed no quit. With the score 3-2 Washington the Angels tagged Marrero for 2 runs in the top of the 8th to take a 1 run lead. Back to back jacks by Winfield and Gaetti silenced the crowd at Griffith Stadium. Angels closer Brian Harvey looked to close it out in the 9th and was well on his way to doing so after gettng Pete Runnels to ground to short and Eddie Yost to pop to shallow right. Mickey Vernon hit a hard grounder that Donnie Hill booted at second and wound up on second with 2 outs. Jackie Jensen hit a clutch single to righ to tie the game, but he got greedy trying to stretch it into a double. Reliever Sonny Dixon, who pitched out of a jam in the 9th would not be so lucky as Dave Gallagher singled home Winfield for the go ahead run. The Nats, who ran out of comebacks, went down like lambs in the bottom half of the 10th as Harvey regained his dominant form.