On night where Red Sox honor that one guy, I forget his name, Angels lose 9-4

Angels 4 Red Sox 9

I like statement wins just as much as the next Angels fan, like the series win in Houston and the recent beatings the Halos put on the Yankees, both home and abroad. Those were victories against some 1st place teams that announced to MLB teams and fans alike that they can run with the big dogs. That’s great stuff, don’t get me wrong; those were some of the best matchups we’ve seen in 2017.

They were missing something, however; that component to a series that really gets my adrenaline pumping, where they not only win and all that jazz, but it’s also a middle finger to another team, their city and their fans. The only team the Angels play that can provide that sort of rush to me is the Boston Red Sox. Nothing in life is greater than a Boston ass kicking, so I saw the recent successes against some good competition as a warm-up to grudge match primetime: A series against the Red Sox in Fenway.

Before this one even started, though, I had a bad feeling deep inside my mind. David Ortiz was getting honored with a number retirement thing today (ZZZzzzzZZ), and with the Big Papi love fest going on before and during tonight’s game, I figured it’d make tonight’s Halos victory all the sweeter...or, it’d make the Red Sox win utterly unbearable.

In case you missed the action, I hate to be the bearing of bad tidings but the latter is what ended up happening, and it was just as unbearable as I’d feared.

Remember when Alex Meyer looked like a pitching godsend in his last start? Well, do you also remember how we always complain about Meyer’s inconsistency? Do you see where I’m going with this? Angels fans, we’re all at the whim of the Meyer pendulum, which can delight us when it swings one way but cut us down when it swings back in our directions.

Meyer would go 3.1 tonight, giving up five hits and allowing five runs (including, yes, a home run), all earned. He wasn’t fooling anybody in Boston’s lineup , but compounded things by also being wild at times. He was knocked out early, but not before getting a nice dressing down by Mike Scioscia in the dugout. Looks like we’ll be seeing a really good performance from Meyer in his next start, though, so we’ve got that going for us.

The Red Sox kept pouring it on, tagging Eduardo Paredes, who was making his first big league appearance, for two hits in his 2.2 innings pitched, which was good for two earned runs. Oh, and he gave up a homer, too, so let’s go ahead and say that Paredes didn’t have a great MLB debut. The Show is no joke, Eduardo, but you’ll be back and you’ll be better.

Still, those two guys alone jacked the score up to a 7-1 Red Sox lead at one point (the lone Halos run thanks to an Andrelton Simmons single in the fourth), but I give credit to the Angels for not giving up the good fight. They’d eventually knock out Boston’s starter, Rick Porcello, and with a three-run seventh inning (Martin Maldonado triple, Cliff Pennington double and Kole Calhoun double) , they were able to get back to a more-respectable 7-4 tally.

Well, that is until Jose Alvarez gave up a few hits in a row and let the Red Sox add a couple more on the scoreboard. That jacked it up to 9-4 Boston going into the ninth, and the Halos decided to lay down and let Big Papi have his stupid night where they do stupid Big Papi stuff, whateverdudeidontcareaboutbigpapi!!!!!F*************...oh, sorry. Man, got light headed there a sec.

So, yeah. The Angels lost the game.

(Editor’s note: Josh’s fugue state, at the end of this article, is a completely normal reaction when a writer has to do a story on...well...I wont say his name. Please forgive his outburst. But, I mean, he IS speaking the truth. Nobody cares about Big Papi, seriously! omgbigpapiwtfKFJD:KLFJLDKFJ:D***8FJSDJ:KJ)