Heaney Digs Hole, Angels Climb but Go to L

Final Score in Anaheim: White Sox 12, Angels 8 …

Andrew Heaney tossed two dominant innings – and maybe his future lies in the bullpen – as he allowed four runs on a grand slam in the third inning and then was charged with three runs in the fourth inning, leaving then before getting an out.

Down 7-1 the Angels fought back, a three-run homerun to dead CF by Albert Pujols helping the cause greatly, some cruddy D by the Pale Hose of perhaps of even greater importance.

But the story of the game was the first appearance and glimmer of brilliance displayed by Angels rookie pitcher Chris Rodriguez. His 2.0 IP of relief included 3 Ks, a walk and two hits surrendered. Bailed out by Mike Mayers with two runners on, C-Rod allowed no runs in his major league debut. The team’s top pitching prospect showed all the reasons as to why the team should stretch out his arm from the pen with an eye on dropping him unto the rotation sooner rather than later.

The tying and go-ahead runs got on late but – nah – and then the bullpen blew a hole in what was a tight, even hopeful one-run ballgame. If they shut ’em out in the top of the disastrous ninth, Ohtani hits a walk-off HR in the bottom of the frame (assuming all plays go the same way, fine, debate me all night). Whatever, the gravy here was C-Rod getting on the mound and perhaps seeing the final IBB of Albert Pujols’ career. Jose Rojas also made his big league debut too with an out in the ninth as a pinch hitter. Get the jitters out of the way Joe Maddon. Five Angels in all made their team debut tonight but… ehhhhh, whaddevah….

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angelslogic
Super Member
2 years ago

Deleted comment

Last edited 2 years ago by angelslogic
Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

Despite it being early in the season, apparently the White Sox have the backend of their schedule coming up.

https://twitter.com/CespedesBBQ/status/1378215839711817728

Brent
Super Member
2 years ago

Our #2 pitcher, ladies and gents.

JakeTaylor
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Brent

Yep. Buckle up because it’s only going to get worse.

Angels2020Champs
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Brent

Watching some of these game 3 pitchers on the mound right now leaves a lot to be desired!

ihearhowie3.0
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Brent

Not a Heaney fan but the supposedly legit White Sox had their #2 starter kinda mess the bed too FWIW.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  ihearhowie3.0

Well the world champs have had two bad outings from Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer. The era of big stud closers might be over ( Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Dennis Eckersly, Bruce Sutter, and K-Rod ). Bullpen by committee with 3 live nasty stuff young gun arms will be the new model of success, not 4 failed 29 yr old fringe guys on their third team.

Angels2020Champs
Legend
2 years ago

More traffic to the site (causing errors/not loading) is a good thing, right?

Article on where CRod should be used. My vote is often! https://www.google.com/amp/s/halohangout.com/2021/04/03/la-angels-chris-rodriguez-starting-rotation/amp/

admkir
Trusted Member
2 years ago

Sorry but I have never cared for Heaney aka Dr Jeckle and Mr Hide, also like they say in Forest Gump ( Heaney is like a box of chocolates, never know what your going to get ).

Maybe C-Rod should trade places with him.

steelgolf
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  admkir

You never know what you are going to get from one inning to the next inning.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  admkir

Heaney’s problems happened the second time around the lineup. He thought he could get cute and out fox the Chisox resulting in a .444 OPS (first time) vs. 1.914 OPS (partial second time) I’m not sure if this is an Angels coaching problem but after 5+ years in the league he needs to figure this out. Being his FA walk year he should definitely be motivated. but maybe the bullpen is a better option for him?

If the Angels decide to stretch CRod out into a starter Lets hope they don’t screw him up with bad pitch selection so he suffers the same fate.

SzenMaster
Member
2 years ago

Heaney being our #2 is brutal, not going to lie. I think the bullpen is still much improved but having to go there early and often doesn’t make it easy.

Also, I was unable to load the game thread on the game and the site crashed. I saw this happened the first game too, is this going to happen often?

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  SzenMaster

I had the same problem. I suspect the server can’t handle all the traffic. It’s frustrating. Would love to hear from Admin on this.

Charles Sutton
Editor
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Jessica has identified the problem and is trying to fix it. Please be patient.

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Charles Sutton

Thank you! And to Jessica as well.

H.T. Ennis
Admin
Super Member
2 years ago

Sutton’s home run calls still leave a lot to be desired!

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  H.T. Ennis

It’s like Perry Como (Mr Relaxation) making the call. That’s an old SCTV reference for all you younger folk.

https://youtu.be/zj5A7W-0zPY

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Automatic Rec for SCTV reference. Beauty eh?

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

The best. I preferred it to Sat Night Live by a country mile.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Early SNL ? (Belushi, Aykroyd, Chase, Radner, Murray, Morris, Curtin, & Newman) vs. SCTV ?(Candy, Short, Thomas, Moranis, Levy, O’Hara, Martin, Flaherty & Ramis)

Thats a tough one.

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

It is tough. I think if I were to simply look at those casts, I’m a huge Candy, Levy, Short and O’Hara fan. Mix in Moranis and Fleherty and it’s just hard to beat IMO.

I loved Gilda, Bill, Danny and John but was only so so on Chevy, Garret, Jane and Lorraine.

Both casts were incredible but the nod for me goes to SCTV with Short and Candy bring two of my all time favorites.

Canadian comedy (which included Akroyd and Radner) was on fire in the mid to late 70s and early 80s.

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago

Exciting game to watch even though not the result we wanted. Too bad the Ohtani jack didn’t win it. Splitting this series against a really good WS club would be a win in my opinion.

I’ll add that Heaney is not good. Looking forward to him pitching somewhere else next year.

Last edited 2 years ago by Fansince1971
Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

A WS team with a really shitty defense? I guess its possible

nishiogawakun
Super Member
2 years ago

No real excuses for Heany tonight. I just can’t figure him out really. Seems like he can’t really figure himself out either. Some times he’s got it, sometimes he doesn’t. Not sure about Raicel out there in a non-close situation, but I’m not the manager I guess. The two veteran RPs that followed though, made me have dumpster dive comeback pitcher flashbacks, though I think the PTSD there is still too raw to make me all that logical. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday and am still hopeful we take 3/4 in the series, but a split wouldn’t be too bad…I guess. High hopes for this team!

benjiface
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  nishiogawakun

Disagree on Iglesias coming out in a non-save situation. You want your best (or close to) reliever out there in a one-run game, to give you a chance to win. Now, it was his second game in a row to start the season. So we have a discussion there (like who closes tonight?). I have no problem with him pitching in that situation, in fact, I really like it.

But if he only pitches in save situations, he throws what? 45-50 innings at most this year. You probably want him to throw about 70.

End message, I like Maddon using him there. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Angels2020Champs
Legend
2 years ago

Ok. Just got the kids to bed. First things first… going to the Big A was a BLAST!! Got there with just myself, 3 and 1 year olds after the first pitch. Parked just fine and walked in (Trout Bobblehead yes!) and got to seat as we scored our first run. Multiple trips to concessions without a problem. Multiple pit stops to the rest rooms (no problems). Multiple dudes asked if I needed help with anything from filling up kids bottles to getting to seats (section 412 whats up). Highlights were Trouts walk up song (whoopty) and kids dancing to it, Pujols jack, bullpen doing good work until they didn’t. Bad news Heaney (I always want him to do well after a Q/A and autographs with kids) sucks, Fowler isn’t great, bullpen couldn’t hold up 2 days in a row,

Angels2020Champs
Legend
2 years ago

Also pics don’t upload in post game thread either

WallyChuckChili
Legend
2 years ago

I’ve never been able to upload pics, just posting URLs works. Guess you would need to upload them 1st somewhere else,then post URLs here

John Henry Weitzel
Editor
Super Member
2 years ago

Was excited and then bummed then excited then let down. Good show!

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

he pitched last night.

WallyChuckChili
Legend
2 years ago

Can’t win when the other team shows up in a Mercedes and you’re in a Suzuki sidekick with Stassi

Last edited 2 years ago by WallyChuckChili
Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

Well it can’t be because we go to Church too much