Ohtani’s Dual Wielding Day
It is Ohtani Sunday again, this time at full dual wielding power. For the first time in nearly 5 decades, an AL pitcher hit a home run at an AL park. Not only was his hitting as awe aspiring as ever, but he was pitching like it was 2018 again. That is until the 5th inning,
But before that, he looked like he was back in 2018. He struck out 7, allowed only 2 hits, hit 100 on his baseball, Otani was looking great. For 4 and 2/3 innings it was all the Ohtani show. But then he did not get a double play with 1 out in the 5th.
The wild version of Ohtani was popping up throughout the game but in the 5th it was blatant. Walks, wild pitches, and missing his spots cost him dearly. It was his last batter that made this outing go from great to horrifying.
Shohei Ohtani got a dropped 3rd strike and Stassi threw it wide at first. That caused runs to score as Ohtani covered home and was hit, a slide by Abreu. Ohtani was down and was pulled from the game.
Maddon will be criticized for this for the rest of his life. Breakdowns here and elsewhere about his decision making. It is rough. He needed Ohtani’s confidence to be back, but it was also clear that he did not have it anymore. Yet, he almost got away with it. a call going the other way, or an Angel clean throw would have gotten through it with a lead.
The Game Must Go On
Baseball is more than one player though, and the game continued on. Upton had a sac fly earlier in the game to score the second run in the first, Fletcher scored Iglesias in the 4th. Juan Lagares made his debut and made a spectacular catch in the 4th.
Then in the bottom of the 5th, after the chaos of the top of the inning, Jared Walsh hit a solo shot, giving the Angels the 4-3 lead. Meanwhile, Cichek picked up where Ohtani left off and held down the fort for the last out of the 5th and through the 6th. Because of the sacrificing of the DH, pitchers would hit instead and so Pujols pinch hit for Cishek.
Slegers took over in the 7th, stranding a runner and keeping the lead. He came back out in the 8th as well, but was removed after 1 out with a double switch. Fowler took over for Upton, and Closer Iglesias came in for the 5 out save.
After 2 quick outs, the Angels got a chance to bat again and went down easy. It was a 1 run lead in the 9th and would have to do. Unlike in game 1, game 4 had a more stressful 9th. A hit by pitch put a runner on, and a bad throw to 3rd got him to score. 4-4 game.
Bottom 9
Bottom of the 9th, Fowler got a single to lead things off. Trout struck out. Rendon walked to make it 2 on 1 out. Walsh was up and just as the game passed the 4 hour mark, the former 2 way prospect walked it off with a 3 run jimmy jack, ANGELS WIN!
What a great game all around! I think we all held our collective breaths when Ohtani fell but it seems like he will be ok…
That 9th inning overthrow by Iglesias had me feeling all sorts of feelings but is it weird that I felt confident going into the bottom of the 9th not because of Trout/Rendon but because of Walsh? Guy is on a tear. He has to stay in the lineup at this point…
An absolute thriller which somehow ended happily.
The final numbers of the Hit and pitch show were probably rather good, at least better than I expected.
Leaving him in for a while during the 5th surely is controversial, but for a
person like Sho, I think there might be some good lessons there which he can benefit from in the long run by being left in there.
But for the future, if the Angels are considering to take this hit and pitch path again, they better limit it to visitor games. Being able to hit in the top and not pitch in the bottom obviously has its advantages than having to pitch in the top to hit in the bottom.
With Walsh being so clutch during this series, I already had that “Drive home safely” mood when he came to bat in the 9th. Hopefully he locks up the position.
And props to the bullpen which held the game. The second game was a mess but the renewed armes are looking good. The key would be how they keep it without wearing out.
Celebrate the win!
So. Much. Manliness.
Seven years later, I still get a kick out of the older guy going, “WTF are those two fools doing?”
Gotta say as much as I loved Ohtani being able to hit and pitch, it was a great example of all the reasons that can get messy. The double switching would have really caught up to us if that goes to extras. Had Ohtani bombed out in the 2nd inning or something, also messy.
Maddon’s 5th inning was that cliche of watching a car crash in slow motion except it ended even worse than you could imagine.
Really, really hope there’s no ankle injury or anything that surfaces.
I’ll give Maddon a bit of a pass. The point at which he should have pulled Ohtani was when that throw got away from Walsh, but that’s tough since Eaton’s at bat had already started. Once Eaton walked, there was another point to pull Ohtani, but outside Iglesias, is there anyone in the Angels’ bullpen you trust to pitch to Abreu with two guys on base? And then Ohtani struck out Moncada and should have been out of the inning without any of the shenanigans if Stassi had just caught the ball.
Maddon probably should have gotten Ohtani at some point, but I don’t think it’s completely indefensible.
Plus, I think Claudio was the first man up? If my eyes didn’t deceive me. I wouldn’t want him in to face Abreu.
And Ohtani was still throwing 100-plus
There’s also the mental factor. Ohtani, given how well he played and how long a journey it’s been for him to get back to that point, needed the benefit of the doubt for his mental fortitude. Both Maddon and Ohtani commented on how this is a great building block for his confidence, and letting Ohtani work through that inning was a big piece of it (noted in Ardaya’s story in The Athletic). So it seems like Maddon was playing the long game in this, and while the end result was sketchy, if Stassi catches that ball, we’re all talking about how that was one of the coolest starts we’ve ever seen by an Angel pitcher.
Agreed. The messiness of that half-inning falls entirely at the feet of Stassi. Yes, Shohei did walk a couple of guys, but if Max can catch the damn ball it is a clean inning and Ohtani gets himself a W.
Can we talk about how bad Walsh is at catching one hoppers at 1B? What about the Strike Ohtani throw to I believe Abreu that espn showed was a strike and the ump called it a ball, then Abreu’s wing and miss would have been strike 3. How about Fletchers high throw home that got Ohtani to leave his feet? As much as I want to blame Stassi, there were other errors to consider.
Yes, but if Stassi does not surrender that passed ball the bad throw to first and more importantly Fletcher’s high throw, never happen.
This was the most National League style game I ever recall the Angels playing in.
It was the best of games. It was the worst of games. And then it was the best of games again. It is a game I’ll never forget.
Walsh is very impressive right now.
FIFY “Walsh is impressive”
Great win despite Maddon’s best efforts. Ohtani definitely left in too long. Having Fletcher sac bunt. Not a good inning for Maddon.
Walsh for panther, obviously
It was not Maddon’s best game as a manager. I thought he should have brought Mayers in for the 8th and Iglesias for the 9th instead of going for the five out save.
I do however understand leaving Ohtani in to finish the 5th, and in fairness he would have gotten out of it with no damage had Stassi not made THREE ERRORS in that inning; two passed balls and a throwing error,! Just a complete disaster by Stassi on the defense.
And it all ended happily ever after
Major “we’re off to see the Wizard” vibes
Doe, a deer, a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Walsh was DiPoto pick correct? 39th rounder.
We’ve batted in the 8th and 9th innings 7 times thus far and scored 10 runs. Nice!
6x in the 8th or 9th for 10 runs
I give up on videos. Just going to bask in the happy opening series.
On giphy:
Find gif>Click copy link> Copy GIF link> Copy and paste link into a comment>Post comment
Don’t use the address in the address bar.
Thank you. Having a celebratory drink and will Tru again.
You are using mobile aren’t you?
Eh whatever, I fixed it for you.
Yes but I think I got it.
By golly I’ve got it!
Yes but figured it out. Sorry for having to learn on the threads time. Thanks for your help.
No problem. It is more of a pain on mobile.
https://giphy.com/search/dancing-robot“>
I tried to attach the video but am once again confused as to how to do it 🙃
It needs to end in a .png,jpeg,gif, or.mp4
https://giphy.com/gifs/funny-dancing-rEbJjSjoS8qYM
Here ya go.
Walsh picks up where he left off 2020. So great.
Just another reminder that spring stats do not matter.
Bring it on, Houston!
We need Shufflebots!
This team feels waayyy different than anything we’ve had in the last decade.
Feels a lot like an 04-09 kind of team…
How about a 06-14 kind of Team?
I see what you did there.
One last thing…
They’re high af
My girls were the right age when Angry Beavers was on Nick. One of my favorite Nicktoons.
I loved it, too!
While I am of course very relieved and happy about the final result, I am not pleased with the sloppy defensive play and the blunders.
If Walsh had not turned into Superman tonight we would have lost a game that we more or less dominated. Against really good teams you can’t play that way and still win. At least not very often.
A passed ball in a key spot by Stassi and a terrible throw cost Ohtani the W and all almost a lot more! Then Iglesias throws a circle-change that hits Madrigal instead of blowing him away with heat. And then he really screws up with a wild throw past Rendon.
In short, this was a game that should NOT have been close going to the 9th, and yet we made it so.
We are going to have to clean up these mistakes if we want to compete with the likes of the Rays etc..
All that said I am thrilled to see Walsh continue from where he left off last year.
Not arguing, Jack. Just saying it was nuts!
I understand. I responded to you because your gif with “ That was nuts” and the crazed/stoned creatures was the only comment that seemed to acknowledge that it was less than an ideal victory.
Your response seemed somewhat appropriate; it wasn’t just pure celebration. And rightly so.
That throw to third was horrible and should have had The Angels starting the 10th with a runner on 2nd. And that always ends bad.
Yep. We definitely escaped and avoided what would have been a disastrous loss.
The previous batter’s sacrifice was almost a disaster if it wasn’t for Fletch’s great catch to save another error. It looks like it’s time for some PFP for our closer and the rest of the pitching staff.
That was literally our Malamutes tonight after getting into the glazed yams while we were watching the ninth inning.