The Freak’n Angels get iced by the Astros 7-1

Angels 1 Astros 7

The Astros have been playing well lately; they’ve gotten somewhat hot, have climbed back into the AL Wild Card race and have a slew of mediocre or worse opponents on deck. Things are good for the Astros right now.

The Angels have been playing poorly lately; they’ve gotten pretty cold, falling to an ugly 19 games out of first place, their worst showing this late in June since the Mike Scioscia era began in 2001. Things are horrible for the Angels right now.

Unfortunately, for us Angels fans, these two teams are playing each other. That means the Angels are going to lose, and in tonight’s case, the Angels are going to lose BIG. Tonight, they took a few punches to the gut, and a few slaps to the face, ultimately waving their white, metaphorical flag.

Tim Lincecum had a hardscrabble time out on the bump this evening, as he found out for the second start in a row that the Big A can be quite unfriendly, despite it’s pitcher-friendly reputation. He made it 4.1 IP, giving up 7 H and 5 ER. If you’re mining for positive nuggets, then his 7 Ks are your paydirt you’ve been looking for. Still, when he came out in the fifth, he was at 101 pitches (55 for strikes). That ain’t gonna win ya many ballgames.

The Freak was done in mainly by a three-run Carlos Correa homer in the first, that followed Lincecum walking a couple batters to put men on. He also gave up an RBI double to Carlos Gomez. Nothing is set in stone with the mercurial pitcher known as The Freak, and it seem as though we’re never going to be able to know what we’re about to get from him. Yes, he fits into this rotation just fine.

On the flip, the Angels got housed by Houston starter Scott Feldman, getting just 3 H off of him in 5.0 IP. The Astros bullpen was legit, too, and the Angels just weren’t about to make any headway whatsoever; the comeback would NOT be televised.

The Angels bullpen would be only SLIGHTLY porous tonight, so that’s another shred of smile-making fan service for ya. Meaning, they only gave up a couple more runs in the game, finally stopping the madness at a 7-1 Astros tilt.

Cue some more Angels mistakes. Cue the Halos’ ineffective bats. Lights, camera, Scioscia, we have ourselves one heck of a night at the Big A.

All in all, there is nothing to see here, and you’ve seen plenty of nothing already this year. Eppler said earlier today that there is no rebuild, there is no firing Scioscia. This is what we’re working with, people. Brace yourselves.