Joe Maddon has been criticized for not standing up for his players lately. So today he got himself thrown out for arguing about checked swings. (Maybe went over his F-Bomb limit too.) Don’t know if that makes things better. He left with the team winning and soon after his tossing, it was tied.
Pitching
Dylan Bundy didn’t have his best stuff, allowing 7 hits. But it was still good. 4 runs, only 2 earned, with Mike Mayers allowing an inherited runner to score. (Although Fletcher should have gotten to the ball, miscommunication between him and Simba). Bundy did have 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk so his K to walk ratio continues to be excellent.
Felix Peña pitched a solid 1-2-3 7th. Up next was Hansel Robles in the 8th. Another 1-2-3 inning. The Bullpen was doing a good job. Noé Ramirez took the 9th, with the game tied at 4-4. After 2 easy outs he walked a man an Ty Buttrey was brought in. Ramirez was given the game ball for some reason and he threw it away. It is cursed anyway. And he promptly hit a batter on a 3-2 pitch. He got out of it anyway.
Hitting
Shohei Ohtani looks to be fixing his timing with an opposite field bomb that was over 111 MPH! He also got a single. Tommy La Stella, Simba, and Anthony Rendon also had multiple hits today. Brian Goodwin had an RBI single as well for the scoring.
Sir, that is not a microphone. pic.twitter.com/iXhTJUEhwh
— Crashing the Pearly Gates (@CrashingtheG) August 23, 2020
Going into the 9th tied makes anyone uneasy. What do we even want anyway? To squeak this by? To allow the A’s to walk off so that the team can tank for a draft pick? A 5-5 series split vs the A’s or for 20 losses before 10 wins?
EXTRA INNINGS
Well today we got Bullshit Extras Baseball. 10th inning nonsense. Jo Adell starting on 2B with Jason Castro up. Ump blew a pitch right down the middle. Angels failed to score though per usual.
Ty Buttrey went out for the 10th. He had a biter on his finger but stayed in. Maybe he shouldn’t. A hit and a sac fly later, and that’s a win for the A’s.
9-20 the first 29 games of the season. No more games vs Oakland. Next up is flying to Houston. The tank is on.
Image from Brent Maguire @bmags94 Twitter
A’s and Astros both have outstanding homegrown infields.
However, we do not, while our’s is a patchwork of sorts and Billy didn’t make a real attempt to rectify that,other than getting Simba. A good homegrown infield is sign of good cohesion and camaraderie. This draft strategy that Eppler pursued was total stupid nonsense and set us up for 3 more years of losing. 😡 And that’s just the infield and I don’t need to rant about the state of the pitching which has been a black hole under the entirety of Billy Eppler’s watch.
So how do spin this Roger? Oh yeah forgot the NBA playoffs are going on.
Honestly if Maddon were to be mad at anything, it would be Adell. He looks totally confused and lost. What has happened to Angel player development?
Not too many position players have made a transition from the Angels minors over the past 10-years. Just Fletcher. Before that, all the way back to Calhoun? And before that, Trout and Aybar? Cron = no. The Angels need someone to come onto the scene, grind and make a difference. Glue guys who make contact, work the count, contribute and compete to win.
Why did Joe go and get tossed from today’s game?
To kill the momentum? Build up the enthusiasm of this broken team? Hot date? And for what, a check swing?
Get your drink on early Soggy Joe. All that planning and execution must parch a wise man’s throat.
Nice to see Shohei getting into the groove, maybe. Not a horrible game, but that extra inning setup means one little mistake costs you the game. Winning or losing on a hair trigger. Apropo of nothing, was watching some of the Atlanta/Phillies game and the organist played a few bars of I’m A Lumberjack And I’m OK after an at bat. Odd.
Angels DFA’d Hermosillo. Honestly I think he has a chance of being a decent bench player. It looked like he was at least making progress in his ab’s. Arte can’t just release Upton though because if he does he’s on the hook for the entire 2 years. Now he can at least hope next season is shortened and he doesn’t have to pay him and Pujols the full amount.
Adell isn’t ready. Just play Upton for the tank and to embarrass him every single night as he sees that sub 100 average staring him in the face.
Didn’t watch an inning. Checked the box score a couple of times. Was actually shocked they held the lead as long as they did. Thankfully the relievers do what they do and allowed inherited runners to score and all was right in the world.
Adell has had more than a few soul crushing games. It’s definitely gonna mess with his head. Hopefully someone talks to the kid. He’s just lucky the option behind him is Upton.
This team is beyond boring and like them, I’ve pretty much checked out and I hate that.
Time for a marsh call up.
Interesting times ahead, does Arte trust Eppler to manage the trading deadline?
He’s not going to pay for 2 GM’s if he can help it.
Luckily Arte’s quite the gm himself. 😉
Yea that Willson and Cozart deal pure genius. Who needs 1st round picks anyway!
I enjoyed the deal with the Dodgers he nixed. “A deal that is moving too slow, iiiiiis no deal.[feet stomping noises][fist pumping]”
a starting pitcher in Stripling, a veteran OF Pederson, and an OF Andy Pages prospect. Stripling… no need for explanation. Pederson could have kept Adell down. ::: sighs :::
what an unforced error… again.
I know I wouldn’t 😠 .
The Angels’ best pitching tandem was quite good today. Bundy, Peña, and Buttrey (and Robles for a short bit). And the Pirates/Mariners both won today, so rejoice!!
You forgot the blade glove guy, Mayers
Adell is too young, and hasn’t had enough competitive ABs for this stage. He needs to go down to Long Beach and get a couple months of defensive coaching and reps if the org wants him to become a corner outfielder. Then he’ll come up at age 22 next season with something to prove to all the early critics.
I doubt the org does this, but I’d bring up Marsh for 25 games. See if he plays in the corner. See how his lefty bat plays in the bottom third of the lineup.
Aye, aye, aye. I’m sick of watching this kid.
Let’s let him prove he’s an MLB player in 2021.
Bring on Marsh. We’ve got nothing to lose, except many, many more games.
BTW: if no one else will say it: Fat Kid had a terrible series in OAK. One great diving catch, one liner at 111 mph that went all the way to the wall for a double. That’s it. Too many Ks.
I think Trout is mentally checked out on the season.
You may be right, but if I “know” MNT, he’s about as competitive an athlete as you’ll ever see. I do not think he’s checked out on the season. (Perhaps one day we’ll hear about that season of the Plague Year, when the Angels were horrific, he’d had his first son born and was “distracted” and “wanted to be at home safe with is wife and son.” Maybe.)
But here’s my read on Fattie: if the Angels were 3-56 going into the last game of the season, he’d still want to play and hit baseballs hard, outta the yahd.
BTW: thanks for your contribution to this site. Also: what a cool name, John Henry Weitzel.
I’m sure he is but this season, the baby, and so on must be getting to him. Maybe checked out isn’t the right term but he isn’t as sharp as before. Fatigued mentally at least.
Thanks for reading them.
What evidence is there to suggest this?
He’s looked at called strike 3 way more than usual. And a lot of these aren’t borderline. The one today was right in his wheel house down and away in the corner.
Maybe it isn’t the right term but the drive isn’t quite there this year.
Yea, but: I’ve seen him look like he did this series, and think, “Maybe he’s not as good as we thought?”
Then he goes 4-5 the next game and gets 4 HRs the next week. NEVER count out MNT.
Agree with the mental fatigue assessment. He’s played every day/game since returning. Maybe it is a good time to give him a day off.
It did wonders for Ohtani. Big 3R bomb today.
It’s August.
Lol, the two things you mentioned were actually instrumental in winning the only game in the series we took. Do you expect him to single-handedly win every game?
I created an account just to reach out and signal that I totally agree with you. Adell does not look hungry at all. Plays lazy and I’m tired of the hat flying off. Call me worried. Makeup was supposed to be off the charts but he is not battling and the fundamentals are off. Angles to fly balls, catching on the opposite side of a tag up and he reaches for flys. Arm has not impressed either. Makes me miss the intensity of a Calhoun. I applause the Angels for giving him playing time is successive games to show his worth but agree with TT, he is not ready. Let’s get Marsh up…now.
So Pittsburgh is in the “W” column today, Yahoo l guess.
We lost, take that Boston.
Team sucks
now I’m sad
New Rule with a runner on second in extras sucks.
Agreed. I get why it was implemented for this year but it’s not baseball.
Learn to enjoy it. The right teams are succeeding with it.
Better than the three batter minimum a pitcher needs to face