Cubs are totally rude, don’t let the Angels ever win any games or score runs

Angels 1 Cubs 3

One more game against the Cubs, a team that had, thus far, totally pwned the Halos this season. We expected more of that in this little Chicago trip, and that’s what we got.

The Angels were going with Ricky Nolasco on the bump tonight, because why not? Also, they literally have no other options. But Tobasco Nolasco, or whatever it is we call this dude, was actually competent-to-extremely-competent out there. He pitched 6.0 innings, gave up six hits and two runs.

The first was from an Anthony Rizzo RBI single in the third, and then in the fifth, Dexter Fowler would double home another run, giving the Cubs a slim 2-0 advantage. Not bad, definitely could have been worse...actually, against the Cubs this year, it’s always worse. So good job, Nolasco; compared to most of the other pitchers we had that faced Chicago, you did pretty darn good.

But the Angels still weren’t scoring off of Jason Hammel, the Cubbies’ hurler, and were getting blanked. Then, in the top of the eighth, they got something cooking. Reliever Pedro Stop allowed a single to Yunel Escobar, and then when he exited the game for Travis Wood, Kole Calhoun answered with a double. Men on second and third, no outs...two run ballgame...the time to strike was upon them.

Albert Pujols would end up getting an RBI off a groundout, scoring Escobar, but that’s all that the Angels could muster. Mike Trout had struck out on a check swing (he had a rough night at the plate, getting royally hosed a couple times), Pujols had that grounder, and Andrelton Simmons was the one who ended the frame.

JC Ramirez would kind of slip up, and allow a homer in the bottom of the eighth, making the score 3-1. It wouldn’t really matter, though.

They would head to the ninth inning, down two runs and facing a guy named Aroldis Chapman, who can probably throw a baseball through the engine block of a 1970s Cadillac. The situation...less than ideal, to say the least. Chapman threw a bunch of balls 103 MPH...almost every single one...and fanned three Halos in a row, ending the game on a note of raw power.

The Angels scored two runs in two games at Wrigley. They played four games against the Cubs total this season, and scored three total runs in those four contests. That’s not very good. They head back on the road, riding a bunch of losses in a row, and the road is hard, and getting harder.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. Dyin’ time’s here.”