Angels Fail to Heed ELO's Admonition; Let Bruce Bring Them Down, 4-2
by mattwelch on Jul 3, 2010 8:48 PM PDT
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PrintAs Bruce Chen -- seriously, Bruce Chen -- walked off the mound in the middle of the 8th inning, a frame he hasn't tasted in any game he's started since April 13, 2006, Victor Rojas put it both best and worst: "Perhaps he has figured things out now with his 10th major league club."
The hell he has. What Bruce Chen figured out is the same thing countless pieces of left-handed pus-balling meat have been realizing during Mike Scioscia's otherwise dominant reign: You can beat the 21st century Angels by throwing sub-Moyeresqe portsidery slop, especially when the offense is in full swoon.
Chen, an arm so pointless he was schlepped from the Braves to the Phillies to the Mets to the Expos to the Reds to the Astros to the Red Sox to the Blue Jays to the Orioles in less than FOUR CALENDAR YEARS, was, inexcusably, perfect through 6 innings, though he did have some help in the form of two great David DeJesus (of Montreal) catches in CF. Erick Aybar finally recognized that 85-mph pitches aren't "fastballs" in the 7th, but after Bobby Abreu somehow swung and missed at a third strike, Mike Napoli popped up to end the 0-0 threat.
Ervin Santana was great, but confused Billy Butler for Bilibur Stargell or something, walking him twice and hitting him twice more, including to load the bases in the top of the 8th, setting up a revenge-minded Jose Guillen for a two-run single to left-center that sure did stay up in the air for a while. A Jeff Mathis homer in the bottom of the inning chased Chen and provided a brief impersonation of offensive respectability, but some lousy relief pitching and unclutch-enough hitting by our non-Vlad DH in an exciting 9th sealed our fate at 4.5 back.
Relive the shame in the Game Thread, or just get started on Independence Day, already!
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Ever have
2 of those games?
"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." - Annie Savoy
by raskul on Jul 3, 2010 8:49 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I am still perplexed by the selection of F Rod to be the reliever in that situation
We need to be making up games against teams like the freaking Royals, not falling back.
I was shocked
Rodney was warming up, I expected he would have been in.
"That boy is our last hope" - Obi Wan Scioscia, as Francisco Rodriguez left for the Mets. "No, there is another" - Yoda Reagins.
PS - BOTG
Matsui,
That is his only job.
He fail.
"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." - Annie Savoy
OK:
Matsui. Phew-ee!
You give fail a new meaning.
I am so dis-appoint.
"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness." - Annie Savoy
Not quite. Last verse has 6 syllables, should be five.
How about:
You disappoint me
or
You so disappoint
Angels baseball. We do what we must, because we can -- HaloDutch
You sir are correct.
Forgive my oversight in counting the syllables red, now it’s time to crack a beer open, can’t count syllables sober! ;)
YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....
Juuust under
2 hours 50 minutes.
WTY's ERA+ = 152 : - ) -- Kevin Frandsen > Brandon Wood??????
by Figgi4life on Jul 3, 2010 8:53 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
I never want to go into any last game of the series thinking
“I hope we can avoid the sweep against the Royals.” Pathetic.
The offesnive slump was bound to happen
Just not now please
BOTG = Matsui
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
saved a no hitter against us
but i couldn’t get us the win.
my powers are limited.
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
by vladtheimpaler on Jul 3, 2010 9:22 PM PDT up reply actions
Davies and Chen are failed Braves prospects
And we just made them look like Maddux and Glavine.
"That boy is our last hope" - Obi Wan Scioscia, as Francisco Rodriguez left for the Mets. "No, there is another" - Yoda Reagins.
ouch!
Now stuck in Colorado Springs
by stuck in Romania on Jul 3, 2010 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions
offense sucks........
bullpen sucks………..
Bitch about Ranger’s easy schedule all you want……….but until the team takes care of its own business they have no one to blame but themselves.
Chan Gailey's #1 Fan!
by norcaliangelsfan on Jul 3, 2010 9:14 PM PDT reply actions
Truth
If the Angels really had all their ducks in a row right now, the Rangers would be a sideshow act. Texas could be good for 90 to 95 wins this season, which any of the last three Angel teams would have surpassed. As it stands, this team could be mediocre enough to make the Rangers’ schedule handicap irrelevant.
Well, it took longer than expected, but we really miss K-MO now.
These are the times he would step up and lead us to more than 2 runs.
Rodriguez sucks and should be embarrased to collect his paycheck
Matsui is exactly who I knew he would be before the season started, he needs a long vacation of a month or so, then you bring him back. The Angels offense just got owned by a pitcher by the name of Chen. Slow pitches with alot of movement. That was a pathetic display of baseball and the Angels may get swept by the Royals of all teams.
Really? You are going to take yourself that seriously? Well I guess someone has to.
Scioscia should be a blame candidate....
…. for pulling Santana when he did. Ervin started out with a nice strikeout and then two bloops get him pulled? If there’s one thing Scioscia does wrong, it’s when to pull starters.
"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008
Well this probably explains it.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels-fyi-20100704,0,6600541.story
“Scioscia said right-hander Trevor Bell, who was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake on Friday so he could work as a starter, will start for the Angels on Monday in Chicago against the White Sox. Bell is 1-1 with a 6.38 ERA in 14 appearances this season.”
Poor Karmis.
They want power. We want respect...
by SenorChuckles on Jul 3, 2010 10:45 PM PDT up reply actions
Could this be to make Weave eligible to pitch in the ASG?
It would set him up well for it if Bell’s start just pushes everyone back a day.
I'm guessing it's more about giving Kazmir some more time before his next start.
I don’t see Scioscia messing with the rotation so Weaver can pitch in the ASG.
would Soth do that just for the All-Star Game?
They want power. We want respect...
by SenorChuckles on Jul 3, 2010 11:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Soth wouldn't in most circumstances
but Arte invested a lot of money in getting the ASG, and Weave is our best chance of actually having a starter, so a “special request” may have come down. Moreover, if Weave has expressed a desire to pitch in the ASG, it’s conceivable that Soth would try to accommodate him, given that Weave has gotten a raw deal because of the bad bullpen this year.
soth said he wouldn't.
“Our in-house business is very important to us,” Scioscia said. “These guys are on a schedule to, hopefully, maximize what they can bring to our club. I don’t anticipate us doing anything that would change what we have to do as a team. I think these guys understand that.”
only 40% of the time
That’s why we keep coming back
Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.
by vladtheimpaler on Jul 3, 2010 10:34 PM PDT up reply actions
Strength of schedule
The Rangers are winning because they’re beating up on weak teams, while we have to play… oh, wait…
I am fan various years ago.
Maybe Sosh
has too much faith in the 2010 relievers. For the past 10 years, the Angel bullpen was one of the best in MLB. Had Shields in his prime with K-Rod relieving/closing, a dominant Percival, Donnelly. When these guys messed up, it was a once per season thing. Now we got guys who keep walking batters, but also letting them score. In just years, the bullpen fell from best to worst.
Just wildly speculating here
but it occurs to me that perhaps Soth is parading our cornucopia of suckage out there to make the team’s true needs evident to the FO as the trade deadline approaches.
I'm seeing that as a good possibility, too
but now’s the time to shake these things out. Thompson’s back up, but Soth may be trying to force Reagins’ hand to bring Kohn up. I’m just trying to make sense of Mike’s seemingly inexplicable bullpen moves lately.
Things can't be going well
When your hopes are resting on a couple of guys straight from the farm. They’ll have to acquire at least one dependable reliever by trade to really brighten things up.
It's cute to blame one batter...
But all season there has been fairly regular clutch hitting fail (not to say they NEVER do) from nearly all our guys, and who is the monkey responsible? Mickey Hatcher, he fails, and I actually hope the offense continues to slump and hopefully SOME attention is paid to getting rid of him. Otherwise if they get back on another short-burst roll Soth will just coast with Mickey like he’s done these past few years.
Coast all the way to another f-ing title
I’ll take it. You can get off the bandwagon.
by Wytelitning on Jul 3, 2010 11:55 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Angels have the second "clutchiest" lineup in baseball
According to Fangraphs. Normally things like that are just random, but the Angels do it every damn year.
Blame the hitting coach.
Brilliant.
Sounds like a shit-for-brain GM who is unable to put the proper pieces together to field a winning team… in the lames division in baseball.
What do you need a fancy suit for, Charlie, you ain't got no job to wear it to.
by clover_black on Jul 4, 2010 12:14 AM PDT up reply actions
An FCKING inexcusable lost .
WTF is wrong with this team . Took 2 of 3 from Texas . Now ! game away from being swept by a last place team ,
Way to play down to the competitions level
The Angels are making the Royals look like the Yankees, ooops, correction, we can beat the Yankees.
Really? You are going to take yourself that seriously? Well I guess someone has to.
When is Juan coming back?
Seriously though, I hope his vision is ok.
I am fan various years ago.
I picked a good day to go down to SD. Glad I missed this one.
Really losing to Bruce Chen? Getting worked by Kyle Davies the night before? So sad.
Bobby Grich should be in the HOF!
Meanwhile...
Vladdy is All-Star bound and we’re still giddy about getting sloppy seconds from the Skankees.
God needed a starter. RIP #34
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