Angels can't find the clutch, lose to Rangers 4-1

Angels 1 Rangers 4

Hey, I remember this team! This was the team that we saw throughout the end of April and the beginning of May. This was the team that would have LOBster fests on the regular, and would make starting pitchers either be perfect, or be losers. No two ways about it; tonight, in Globe Life, we saw some boring, old, pre-offensive surge Angels.

Jhoulys Chacin was on the bump, and he wasn't that bad at all. He would give up three runs, when all was said and done, but he wasn't really hit all that hard. Chacin finished with 6.0 IP, 5 hits and 4 Ks; the three runs coming off an Elvis Andrus double and a two-run no-doubter from Nomar Mazara. Again, this is some late April business right here, leaving starters with little wiggle room or respite from a few measly runs.

The Angels have had some fun, successful games lately, and that's because the offense finally woke up, finally got some balls bouncing their way, and finally were looking loose and having fun. Tonight, it was back to the meek, the quiet, the despondent at-bats. Rangers starter Martin Perez had a very similar stat line as Chacin; 6 IP, 5 H...but no big hits, no runs. The Angels just had no answer to him, and struggled equally against their bullpen.

It wasn't like they were totally bereft of opportunities, either. In the sixth, the Angels had runners at the corners, with no outs, and they even loaded them up at one point, but they ended up walking away with nothing. They'd get guys on in subsequent innings, and receive zilch for the effort. It was pitiful.

The only run they summoned up was from Kole Calhoun getting a single, then moved over to third from a Mike Trout double, and then Calhoun scored on an Albert Pujols groundout. That was in the eighth inning, and it was 3-1 Rangers. With the way the lineup had struggled so far in this game, it was a nice gesture to score and all, but ultimately it was too little, too late.

The Rangers would not even allow a reprieve after that one run, and they got one back in the bottom of the eighth. The Angels went into the ninth down 4-1 and looking grim. Texas closer Sam Dyson didn't have any issues getting Angels out, go figure, and the Angels were finished.

This wasn't really on Chacin, and him giving up three stinkin' runs. This was on an offense that couldn't get guys home if their lives depended on it; this was a team that went 0-7 with RISP, with chance after chance to make this one close, and getting buttercupped every time.

I remember this team. It wasn't fun to write about this guys. The Halos have a getaway game tomorrow, and hopefully they take it with vicious aplomb. Otherwise, they head back to Anaheim, with a familiar, incapable sheen on them. Please, no.