I'm so excited, I may just vomit. Ok, I'm not that excited. But if you're a fan of the Angels, the A's, or even just baseball in general, the knowledge that an entire season comes down to three games has got to put a few butterflies in your basket.

Today we have Bartolo Colon vs. Mark Mulder- a matchup that isn't likely to instill a great amount of confidence in either side. Colon's first season as an Angel has been a disaster outside of the last couple of months, in which time he has been effective, if inconsistent. Meanwhile, Mulder has seen his season fall apart down the stretch, as he has been ripped apart in his last six starts (including a beating at the hands of these Angels).

Let's get it on!

Top 1st: The Angels make good contact against Mulder- with Vlad getting a clean single to center and Chavez stealing a basehit from Figgins, but nothing comes of it as Glaus lines-out to right. Note: Durazo will not play tonight due to injury. That's a huge break for the Angels. Damian Miller is also out for this game, with a thumb injury.

UPDATE: McPherson is not in the lineup tonight. Smart move by Scioscia, as DMac is only hitting .083 against lefties. In his absence Figgins moves back to third and Amezaga goes to second. I'm not sure Amezaga will have any better luck against Mulder, but at least the defense is improved somewhat.

Bottom 1st: Bart looked pretty good velocity wise. Usually the first is his toughest inning, but he puts them down 1-2-3. Good call by umpire at second as Chavez attempts to stretch a single into a double and comes off the bag.

Top 2nd: A combination of defensive miss-cues, bad luck, and, quite frankly, bad calls (Anderson appeared to be out at home) give the Angels the jump on Mulder. They score four runs in a huge second inning. Don't get me wrong- luck played a part, but Mulder is getting hit hard. The A's already have Joe Blanton up in the pen, and the crowd sounds as if it's getting restless with Mulder. Angels 4, A's 0

A Thought: Adam Riggs is making Mike Scioscia look like a genius. Since being installed as the team's lefty-platoon right fielder he's hitting .500 (4 for 8) with pair of doubles, and he's 3 for 3 against Mulder.

Top 3rd: Mulder out, Blanton in. That didn't take long. Mulder's line: 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

Blanton dominated the Angels in Anaheim on the 26th, allowing just 2 hits in 3 1/3 innings. That was in relief of Mulder as well.

Bottom 5th: Colon is cruising so far, and Blanton has done well to quiet the Halo's bats. This is beginning to look eerily similar to the September 26th game between these two clubs.

Top 6th: Alfredo Amezaga came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, having hit into two double plays in his first two at bats. Steve Physioc felt the need to point out the obvious; "He can't hit into a double play in this situation, because we've already got two outs.". That's good, I thought. Alfredo has to look for victories wherever he can find them.

Then he shut me, and the Network Associates crowd, up. I will never criticize Alfredo ever again. Angels 8, A's 0

Top 7th: Troy Glaus scores the Angel's 9th run as Marco Scutaro attempts the old "phantom tag" double play. Problem was he had a little too much 'phantom' and not enough 'tag', and the umpire calls him on it. Angels 9, A's 0

Top 9th: And Andres Galarraga makes it an even 10 with his 399th career homerun. Here's hoping we see two more blowouts this series so the Big Cat can get a shot at number 400. Angels 10, A's 0

A Thought: Bartolo has been relived by Brandan Donnelly (who has since been relived by Ramon Ortiz) after seven shutout innings. This brings his season ERA to 5.01- tantalizingly close to what could be considered an “adequate” season. Think about it- how pissed would you have been at the start of this season if someone told you Bart would finish with a 5.00+ ERA? Yet, surprisingly, I'm rather satisfied with Bartolo's performance at this point.

Game Over: And Ortiz closes it out. Angels 10, A's 0.

The Angels' magic number is now one. Man that feels good.