:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49448055/usa-today-9275609.0.jpg)
The Angels flew to Texas for nothing, it seems. They are hopefully getting their money's worth in pay-per-view movies watched at the hotel, or eating some decent food, because as far as the baseball portion of this baseball road trip, they've been utterly outclassed. Tonight was like last night, one bad inning putting a sour look on the Angels' mugs, but this was a "one bad inning" on bath salts. With that, the month of April is over, and this is the whimper on which they went out, and that is a bummer.
Matt Shoemaker was hit from the first inning through the third, where he imploded like an artery after eating most of the offerings at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Going into the third, the Rangers already had a 1-0 lead, thanks to a Prince Fielder double, but hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit got to Matt Shoemaker. The final dagger was a Mitch Moreland three-run dinger. The Angels would find themselves down 7-0, with their starter absolutely ripped to pieces, and a bullpen tasked with cleaning up the mess.
Tough times in the world of The Bearded One, but his wife had this to say:
I am extremely proud of my husband. He works his butt off every day. Sometimes things don't fall n your favor &that's the nature of the game
— Danielle Shoemaker (@DanielleMShoe) May 1, 2016
Matt will be fine. But man, this game.
Of course, it's not like the Angels would have made it easy at all on The Cobbler tonight. They managed just a couple runs, and those ALL came up against a mop up Texas bullpen arm in the ninth. Once againt, they force the starter to be perfect, or the Angels take an L right in the nuggets.
They got a handful of hits in the innings before the ninth, getting completely duped and shutout by Derek Holland in six of those, and it was an ultra snoozer in the making. There was no life there, no sign of a swing in that moxie that would put the screws to these bootcut jean-wearing Rangers players and fans. It was just a quiet prairie, nary the tumbling weed blowing down the promenade. Zilch.
The final score of 7-2 suggested more fight in the Halos than was really there; this was a public pantsing, and then an eternity of swirlies in a Rangers clubhouse toilet. One more of these games tomorrow and we're back to ringing alarm bells. April is done, and they couldn't crack the .500 mark. Such is life in the world of the Angels crazies, we've seen it all before.