After a night in which the Angels surrendered a comfortable lead in the ninth inning, it was the Mariners who gave the game away on Sunday. Trailing by seven runs in the sixth inning, the Halos went on to score eight runs, taking a 9-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners in the final game of a six-game home stand.

For once it was the bullpen and bats that allowed the Angels to earn the victory, not the starting pitching. Sunday’s starter Ervin Santana surrendered eights runs on ten hits over the courses of 5 1/3 innings. Not exactly what Angel fans were expecting upon his return. But the bullpen, led by Rafael Rodriguez, Jason Bulger, and Justin Speier, went on to retire the remaining batters, allowing no runs.

But without the offense, no victory would have possible. Trailing by seven runs in the sixth, the bats exploded for eight runs. The offensive onslught gave the Angels their biggest comeback in a victory since July 15, 1996. But most importantly, the Angels avoided a 1-5 mark on their 6-game home stand and went 2-4 instead.

Here are some thoughts:

• It was nice to see Mike Napoli break out of his recent slump with a solo home run in the fifth inning.
• But it’s Torii Hunter, who continues to carry this team. In the sixth inning, Hunter ripped a home run to deep left field, scoring Bobby Abreu as well, and cut the deficit to just three. Where would the Angels be without him?
• Vladimir Guerrero looks to be just fine after missing nearly a month while on the disabled list. In the weekend’s series, Vladdy has gone 4-for-9 at the dish. On Sunday, he went 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs. A pretty good first week for Big Daddy.

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