Angels blow early lead and drop 3rd straight to the Mariners, thanks to incredibly questionable bullpen choices

Angels 5 Mariners 6

The Angels may be long out of the playoff race but that isn’t stopping Mike Trout from showing he’s still MVP material or Shohei Ohtani from showing he’s the wise choice for Rookie of the Year.

This game was REALLY fun. For a while. David Fletcher hit second in this game and proceeded to knock his 17th double of the year. Mike Trout stepped into the box and swung at a rare first pitch - smashing it out of the park (more on that below). Shohei Ohtani - your should be rookie of the year - went back to back with Trout, knocking out his 20th home run of the year.

Justin Upton added a solo bomb in the 4th and the Angels had a decent 4-0 lead. Heaney who had been giving up a lot of good contact, gave the Mariners their own back to back home runs in the 5th inning, and suddenly the lead didn’t feel so comfortable. Heaney would exit after that 5th inning, giving up 8 hits, 2 runs, and 1 wild pitch. Sure it was only 2 runs, but not a great night for Heaney.

The fun wasn’t over yet with Mike Trout throwing out Ryon Healy in the 6th for his 6th outfield assist of the year, and Kole Calhoun making a high flying catch to rob Dee Gordon of a lead off hit in the 8th.

Mike Scioscia decided to play bullpen roulette in this game, and replaced Jose Alvarez with Jim Johnson in the 8th. Jim Johnson only recorded one out before Scioscia went to the lock-down bullpen arm of Williams Jerez. The same dude who, going in to this game, had a 6.55 ERA and 1.73 WHIP. THIS is the guy our manager goes to in a one run game with the bases loaded and Robinson Cano at the plate. Screw you Scioscia. Hope to see you not next year.

Boom. Cano hits a bases clearing double. Like clockwork. All this and Jerez has a zero ERA on the night. We really need to fix that stat for relievers but at least he was saddled with the loss AND blown save.

Aside from Scioscia managing this game into a loss, Mitch Haniger was brutal. He threw Trout out at home in the 6th inning (why send him Dino??), and later robbed Justin Upton of a 2 run homer. That’s basically 3 WAR, right? Pretty sure that’s how it works.

Lost cause tonight despite some home run heroics - including a two homer game by Upton who added his second of the night in the bottom of the 9th.

Before the poll, here is some feel good stuff on a (mostly) crappy night. This is why baseball is the best sport in the world and Mike Trout is the best player on the planet. All the feels: