Tyler Chatwood could not replicate his great start from last weekend, when he faced the Dodgers on their home turf. The young hurler didn't necessarily look bad, per se, but it was a deluge of chintzy hits that got Dodger baserunners on base, as well as got them across home plate. From the very first at bat for the Brooklyn Bums, a double by Tony Gwynn Jr., till the very last inning, they had no trouble at all getting one or two men on each side. They had early help via a questionable strike zone that propped up Hiroki Kuroda, while hosing Tyler Chatwood, but those types of gripes can only last so long, as it was after the 5th and 6th innings that the Halos Faithful felt a clampdown on Angels offense all too familiar this season. Again, Chatwood had his problems, but the offense has to score.
I joked to myself after the first inning, when it was 1-0, that if Tyler Chatwood didn't allow any more runs, the Angels might be able to squeeze this one out. With emphasis on the "MIGHT", of course. And that's how it played out. Bloop single, bloop single, doink hit, dink, dong, baserunning gaff, bloop, etc., etc., etc.
And then you have the Dodgers up 5-0. And thats when FSN showed some of the evenings previous, pre-game festivities. The ceremonial first pitch, to be exact. Okay...let's see who they had... hmmm... Fernando Valenzuela. WAIT, WHAT?!! Fernando Valenzuela?!?! God, I hate this team sometimes.
Can anybody enlighten me as to why this guy was throwing out the first pitch for this game? He played for the Angels, sure, in their legendary and often revered (sarcasm, in case the internet is making it hard to pick up) 1991 season. A whole TWO GAMES with the Halos that year... a completely UN-remarkable season. Yet here we are...pandering to the opposing team. Not only the opposing team, but THE opposing team. The one the front office is battling for market share. The one whose fans we all lament trying to take over our stadium in these Freeway Series contests. Yes, sure. Let's have one of their most revered pitchers throw out the first pitch of one of the Angels home games. Whomever it is that's in charge of these promotions needs to stop smoking jock straps, and start thinking like a winner.
Okay, okay... maybe Chatty just didn't have his stuff today, and even if he did, yeah, we let a horrible Hiroki Kuroda totally own us...but beyond that, what's the culture of this club, when the people in charge of promotions decide to roll out the extremely heated rival's beloved pitcher?! Grow "some", Angels. And by "some", I hope you know what I mean (and on that note, yes, I want to go into the whole "we got thrown at on purpose yet we wont retailiate" type of conversation, but this game was horrible and I'd rather just go to bed). Hopefully the guys get back on track tomorrow and Sunday and show the Bridegrooms just who is the better team. Because while the Angels ain't great, we're better than this Dodger team. Easy.