Tonight, at the Big A, the Angels returned from a horrible, confounding, 4-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees and began a weekend series against the Cleveland Indians. They needed a win desperately, and as luck would have it, I had myself a ticket to watch it all go down. Yep, I was there, sure i'd see a couple home runs, lots of hitting, and a nice return to form from starter Hector Santiago.
What I ACTUALLY ended up seeing was a clusterf*** of epic proportions, unfolding right in plain view of the 39k+ fans (haha yeah right!) from the first inning, where Santiago gave up 4 runs before the Halos had a chance to get one single at-bat. The Angels more or less lost the game in that first inning, which meant for the subsequent 8 frames that I was buckled in for, I'd be watching a three hour long trainwreck.
Yes, I was there, live and in person. I saw Santiago give batting practice to the Indians, letting them send the ball darting to seemingly every nook and cranny of the field. I saw him look frustrated, glaring at the dugout from time to time, intimating that he was knee deep in another emotional meltdown.
Santiago's night was done after 1.1 IP. He gave up six runs, five earned. So after two innings, Cleveland already posted a run total that would beat the Halos on most nights, and the Angels responded by doing as little as possible. I mean, they scored a run on a Mike Trout groundout...and they also scored a run on a wild pitch. The horror...the horror. I should know, I endured this misguided performance from the comfort of the club level, looking down on the evil baseball banality that the Halos have doled out all week long.
Oh, and three hits. Two runs, three hits. Two of which were from Yunel Escobar (nice) who also added another run-causing error via an amateurish throw to first base. Esky giveth, Esky taketh away.
This was such a tough one to watch...they were drowned and forgotten in the first and second inning and the rest was just going through the motions. I sat in disgust as the Angels flailed around like they were the fish from Faith No More's "Epic" video. I stared in pure terror at my fellow denizens of the club level, dancing along to "Buttercup" during the seventh inning stretch.
And then finally, it was over...Angels lost 6-2 and looked puny and rudderless in the process. That's five in a row now, heading towards the cellar of our nightmares: last place in the AL West.