The Astros held on to win a squeaker over the Diamondbacks tonight. Could the Angels do their part and maintain pace with the Astros? Well, The first batter of the game, Leodys Tavares, homered off Andrew Heaney to make it 1-0. Nick Solak got a single and Roughned Odor drove him home with another home run to make it 3-0 in the first. It looked like the Angels were headed off to a pretty bad start. In the bottom of the second inning Shohei Ohtani homered on his first at bat back after regrouping and the Angels were only down 3-1.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Shohei Ohtani hit a single to center to continue his hot hitting. Taylor Ward promptly doubled to right center to score him. It was now 3-2 Rangers. Ward was able to advance to third on a wild pitch by the time David Fletcher came to bat. Fletcher singled to tie the game. Walsh singled to bring up Mike Trout with two on and two outs. Mike Trout then struck out to end the inning.
Concerning Andrew Heaney
Andrew Heaney was not having his best day. In the top of the fourth inning he hit Willie Calhoun. He then sent him on over to second base with a wild pitch. Luckily, the Rangers were not able to drive him in. He made it into the seventh inning but the score was tied so he could not get the win.
The Bullpen
Just where was this game going to go? In the top of the seventh inning Leody Taveras singled to left center to drive Heaney from the game. It was all up to the bullpen. Uh Oh! But they brought in Noe Ramirez. “He’s often effective. Let’s see how that goes,” I mused. As it turned out, Taveras stole second base on Ramirez but Noe got Nick Solak to fly out and end the inning.
The Angels did nothing in the bottom of the seventh inning and this game was turning into a real nail biter. They brought in Mike Mayers to pitch the top of the eighth inning and he retired the side.
About David Fletcher
Not only did Fletcher drive in the tying run in the bottom of the fifth, he scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the eighth. Fletcher walhed, took third base when Walsh reached on a fielding error, and scored on a Mike Trout single. Hit ’em with the small ball! It was 4 to 3 Angels and Fletcher was in the thick of it.
Mike Mayers retired the Rangers in order in the ninth inning to get the win. Just another Angels victory.
Teheran in a day game scares the shit out of me. Today’s game will put a lot of extra pressure on the Halo hitters.
was gonna say. You’re right on the first part and right on the second part
Gubi sat in the booth watching Barria take down the Ranger line up on sliders and saiid he was sure that Heaney was in the dug out taking notes, but the way the 1st inning started it appears he had to look into his hat and recheck those notes
Don’t fret about draft position
Pete Alonso, Dakota Hudson, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Marcus Semien, Aaron Nola, Shane Bieber all were drafted and developed from later rounds or were late 1st rd. As long as you have Billy Beane or Grady Fuson type people doing the talent evaluating and not a analytics buffoon you’ll be fine. Don’t draft college catchers and HS outfielders and try to convert them into Mike Schmidt or Willie Mays. 😆 😆
Just another come from behind Victory!
7 and 0, go to the show!
Angels now would pick 10th.
since the low point of 9-22 we’re 14-8.
(Jim Mora) Playoffs! Playoffs!, with that taken care of l don’t think we have to worry about being embarrassed about getting kicked out of those Playoffs fast.
Fletcher is just simply special and is the best fielding 2b we have had in a long, long time. The thoughts of putting him at SS then gives us the continuing hole at 2b.
Ohtani needs to play more, period. He is in our future. And Walsh is the best 1st we have. Do the Math.
Mayers is looking like a great pick up and Hean Dog really is pitching good this season.
Mayers has looked great, but man, I can’t help but feel we’re starting to overuse him.
We didn’t use him that much early in the season so actually I feel like we’re okay with him.
I really liked the fact that Maddon let Mayers pitch the 9th last night. He has been nails and was the best option. That was the kind of thing Sosh would never have done. He would have stuck to his “roles” and gone with a struggling closer instead and likely have lost us the game.
I give Maddon credit in going with the hot hand and adapting. Walsh had a strong first few games and is now entrenched as the 2nd hitter. Ward has been playing well and is now regularly starting.
Mayers, Pena, and Andriese have all been pitching well in relief and are now getting key innings.
I do think Maddon is better than what we have had on the whole, but as with any new manager/coach, it takes some time to learn your personnel and adapt accordingly. He was put at a disadvantage by COVID in that regard
Listened to this driving home from SWMBO’s birthday dinner. Didn’t hear the beginning, but Heaney seemed pretty decent in the middle innings. Fletch and Walsh have jobs for a while as far as I’m concerned. Meyers too. Nice topper to a fun evening, outdoor steaks with the family.and a Halo win on the way home. Yay!
Great all-around win tonight…baseball is fun sometimes.
I think the Angels’ way to the postseason will have to be the #8 seed. The Astros play the Mariners for 3 Monday-Wednesday, then the Rangers for 4 to close out the season. It’s a lose-lose in the Astros-Mariners series, considering that the Mariners are ahead of us by 0.5 games, and if we want to pass the Astros, we’ll need the Mariners to win, but then they’ll overtake the Astros for the second seed in the AL West first.
On the other hand, the Blue Jays will be starting a 4 game series with the Yankees starting Monday. I feel like with how hot the Yankees are, it’ll be reasonable to ask for the Yankees to take 3 or 4 from that series. If we can shut down the Rangers tomorrow and Monday, we’ll reweigh our options.
But, 2020. Anything can happen. Great win tonight, enjoy it.
I was with ya, tryna believe, but then:
Thunderbolt wrote:
>If we can shut down the Rangers tomorrow and Monday, we’ll reweigh our options.<
Ehhh…we have Teheran starting tomorrow.
Agree. Teheran will get hit hard today.
The Blue Jays do finish with 3 against the Orioles, though.
Basically, we have to win out, and then hope either the Astros or Blue Jays stumble to the finish line.
The odds of us winning out are .. well, not good, especially on the road in SD and LA. Granted, it appears that both of those teams will have very little to play for, with the Dodgers essentially having clinched the #1 seed and the Padres the #4 seed, but even if they play their reserves, those reserves are still really good.
For now, just win one game at a time and hope that one of those two teams tanks. The Blue Jays have 26 losses and 5 games against the Phillies/Yankees. If they go 1-4 and we go 4-0 during that same stretch (we have an off day while they do not), we’ll catch them.
I agree with you Warfarin. The season ended a long time ago. If a fan base is relying on highly improbable fantasy scenarios (Grandpa has us wining the WS, lol.) to even get their team to the playoffs you can bet they are suffering from wishful thinking.
I think there’s a good chance we lose today with Teheran giving up runs in first three innings. I could see it being 8-6 Rangers or even 10-7 Rangers.
The point is, we needed to not get swept that first series in Texas (we should have won at least two), we needed to win the first home series with Seattle, and we got killed by losing 3 of 4 of the opening series in Oakland. THAT is where are season was lost, not today or a loss next week in SD or LA (I agree with you that it will happen).
Celebrate the win
Good Lord. It’s magnificent!