On the day after Jackie Robinson Day, the Angels and Twins wore 42. As teams around Baseball honored his legacy, these two in particular gave their fans a hell of a game. One with aggressive base running, great defense, and balls in play a plenty. Also bad fielding, hair pulling decisions, and dropped balls. That the Angels won was a relief to be sure.
Recap
Good Heaney, bad Slegers
Andrew Heaney took the mound and the question on everyone’s mind was “Will it be good Heaney or bad Heaney?”. Today, it was good Heaney. He went 5 and 1/3 innings and gave up 2 runs on 2 hits (Both after he left). 6 strikeouts against 3 walks. Part of the reason for his success was inducing 3 double plays, using the defense to get through the innings quickly.
It was a quick quiet game to start on both sides. Took until the bottom of the 4th for either pitcher to even sweat a little. That’s when the Angels got 2 on thanks to a Trout walk and Upton double, all with 2 outs. The pitching coach came out to calm the Twins starter down, but it didn’t work as Walsh drove both of them in with a single up the middle. What was so surprising was that this was against a lefty starter.
The good times turned sour in the 6th as Heaney struggled and was pulled only for Aaron Slegers to give up 3 runs, 2 being charged to Heaney. A double play limited the damage to just 3, but it was a devastating stain to the good Heaney start. Still, plenty of innings left for the offense to win the game.
Rod Carew offense
And the offense did respond, gaining two in the 6th. This was due to bloops, aggressive running, and luck. A Fletcher bloop single, a broken bat Ohtani double, and a seeing eye Trout single gave the Angels the lead again. Rod Carew nods in approval.
It wasn’t an easy time the rest of the way, however. Justin Upton dropped a ball going from his glove to his hand to make a double turned single a double again. That runner scored thanks to Aaron. Also Trout and Iglesias failed to catch a ball hit between them. Still, no runs scored on that as Mike Mayers picked up his fielders.
The aggressiveness did not stop as the bottom of the 7th brought in more runs. Infield hit for Churches, a single by Rengifo that got just by everyone into right. Then, Fletcher fake bunted and hit one by right over the head of the first baseman. An IBB to a Trout and it was bases loaded for Justin Upton.
A grand slam for Hot Pocket and it was fitting. Jared Walsh wanted in and went back to back with him.
Wrap it up
Cisheck came in to pitch the 8th, the hard part out of the way with a 7 run lead. He made it look easy and looks to have found his role. The Twins responded with a catcher for a pitcher and pitched better and worse than the fans, not topping 60 mph. Alex Claudio finished the game, and securing the win. Not that he made it easy, as he loaded the bases with 2 outs, as is tradition.
The Angels are now 8-5 on the year and tied with the Mariners atop the AL West for now. Q is in the mound tomorrow vs the Twins at 6 pm. Shoemaker will be going for Minnesota.
Tonight’s game is cancelled due to COVID in the Twins clubhouse.
Damn!!
Rojas at 1B, Bemboom at C
I predict Shohei gets the nod for next Wednesday’s 4/21 afternoon start. The Angels have like 5 Thursday off days though the end of June ( way more than any other day of the week) so Wednesday starts would minimize post start recovery day impacts.
Old friend alert: Ol’ Shoey is throwing for the Twins tonight!
Maybe Alex will interview him pre-game.
Mixed feelings. How about Shoey gets a no decision and we tee off against the Twins relievers?
How about Shoey gets scratched, the Angels dominate and we get cool tweets from his wife?
I’m up for tweets from his wife. Danielle is the Queen of Twitter.
Is Taylor Ward the next Ty Buttrey? Drove by the old house and read this?
https://www.halosheaven.com/2021/4/17/22389011/los-angeles-angels-mlb-news
“While speaking with reporters, Maddon Taylor Ward, but said that he wasn’t playing at the alternate site. He said that Ward is currently dealing with “things going on in the world”, so we don’t really know if he’s injured or if he’s just dealing with some personal matters.
“There’s some stuff going on there,” Maddon said. “We couldn’t consider him just based on the amount of time he’s been on the field.”
Yesterday I posted the same thing and said I think it’s COVID, but we’ll see
based Upon Fletch’s inference I think you are spot on:
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1383201047808671746
Wouldn’t surprise me to see Slegers get optioned to the ATS and Pena getting activated from the IL in the next week or so. if not Slegers then Ben Rowan will probably get the DFA hook.
Great game! Heaney looked great. Felt bad for Slegers. Upton was great to listen watch with that granny and listen to pregame on 830 going to the game. Walsh back to back was just icing on the cake. Seeing Astudillo pitch in person was hilarious.
I was in section 102 and those Astudillo pitches were something I have never seen before in an MLB game, but they were exactly what I see in my kids Little League games.
You felt bad for Slegers?? The person you SHOULD have felt bad for was Heaney! Because Slegers cost him a victory.
On top of the fact that Slegers’ crap performance cost Heaney a W, Slegers actually vultured the Win for himself! So, his crap performance stole the win from Heaney and put it in his own column. Talk about injustice!
I sure hope Slegers went to Heaney in the clubhouse and apologized!
Kids and I met Slegers parents at a game last week. Nice people.
I am not ready yet to give up on Slegers, but last night was not a good one for him.
Bundy threw a bunch of strikes in his 4/6 start. I remember looking at the scoreboard and seeing 25 or so strikes to 5 balls. Seemed like once he pitched around the zone more, changing eye level, it resulted in more balls but also swings and misses.
I looked at the scoreboard last night and saw Slegers had 9 strikes to 1 ball after getting hit up a bit.
May be a big difference in SP and RP though
That was old school Luis Sanchez vulturing right there.
K-Rod did a little vulturing in the 2002 postseason as well.
Which games? I remember he gave up a 2run HR to Soriano in the ALDS, but other than that I don’t remember him giving up any runs after that. You’d have to get hit around (or at least give up runs) to vulture a win.
Is it me or does Kenley Jansen look alot like Craig Robinson?
The Doyer Friars game is pretty awesome. The Pads just tied it up with 2 outs in the 9th
Great win!!
Remember when some of us were paying attention to our minor league talent and it was usually, Adell is great, bring him up! And oh yea, maybe Walsh deserves some time seeing MLB pitching too, but man: Jo Adell, baby!
???
I know not what you are speaking of.
Yeah Walsh finally got his time and has paid off. Adell… Still needs time
Let’s not give up on Adell so quickly
I’m not giving up on Adell; I want him to be “all that.” Just pointing out how the way a guy looks in the minors has very low predictive value for how he’ll look in the bigs.
Walsh has almost never looked “lost” on the Angels. From what I saw of Adell, he looked lost most of the time. Hope the kid can get it together!
uh Jared Walsh 2019 looked extremely lost. kudos to the Angels for being patient and working with him.
Agree. I saw some of his first AB’s in person and he was not at all impressive. It goes to show that patience does sometimes pay off as you say.
How soon I forgot: in 2019: Walsh had 87 PAs, hit .203 and K’d on 35 of those 87 PAs.
I might have had that sort of trauma from watching something so horrible your conscious mind just blocks it out.
Jabari Blash killed the minors. So did Brandon Walsh. It doesn’t always work out.
That said, I really think Adell and Marsh become part of our future All-Star OF.
Why would you? His bat looked great in ST. He cut down on his swing, laid off questionable pitches and still hit rockets.
Now if he can just figure out his defensive game.
The good part is, starting in 2022 Walsh will be the full-time 1B without Grandpa Pujols weighing down the roster. RF will be open for either Adell and/or Marsh to step into. And given that 2022 is Upton’s last year under contract and his age, he’ll be taking the DH at-bats more often when Ohtani can’t. Leaving both LF and RF open to rotate in Marsh and/or Adell possibly. The future seems brighter than it has for a while…
We are first in RS in our division and second in the AL, not bad at all. We are a 1/2 game back of the M’s for first. We sure do like to score 7th inning on. Walsh is the real deal and is a good RF but we really need his bat and fielding at first right now. Renny had a good game tonight also. I am very happy that JUp is showing his old form at the plate but still needs some work in the field. How many times have you seen an 0-2 count turn into IBB? I know it’s a Trouty thing. Even with Rendon down for the count for awhile, is there any better top 5 line up as good?
8-5, on a pace for 99 wins
Of course every fan says this, but at some point this team could win 10 straight.
Now: wouldn’t that be kinda cool?
Which reminds me: apparently the blister is bad: Ohtani isn’t scheduled to pitch at any time thorough the 27th. Of course, they could push another guy back and get him a start before then. I wanna see him pitch without a blister!
So Bundy Pitches on Monday and Canning on Tuesday?
I haven’t seen the latest Blister Report. I wanna see Ohtani on the mound ASAP, though.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/704b7305-6515-4d66-a1e0-42bdcee8305a
Sorry, taking my May F-bomb early.
We need Motivation
Didn’t watch the game, but caught the highlight.
I love some Upton Funk.
I love it when Upton Funks you up the other team.
Was that MattV or Sutton who made the “Take a Ride with Justin Upton” call? I kind of like that for a HR call.
WAY better than what I may have blurted: “Here’s a long…deep drive from Upton…have a flap of skin from the roof of your mouth with a Hot Pocket salami!”
They would have DFA’d my ass the next day.
So uh, guess who ended up with that Upton grand slam ball?
<==== This guy did!
How much did you have to pay the kid for the ball?
j/k: congrats!
As Victor once said, “Are you serious?”
That’s awesome!
Wait Wat???
https://imgur.com/a/sWAdCxj
Were you able to get JUp to sign it?
No, an usher said we might be able to reach out to him on twitter to ask but that they don’t allow people to hang around the player parking lot or anything for autographs during covid.
That sucks.
Unfortunately the replay only shows my back as I turn before i snag it on a bounce off the step =(
https://imgur.com/a/GLqPfSA
Ryan, do you see? That’s how you handle the bounce!!!!
Cool!
Hell YEAH! And ALWAYS on the carom. A GRAND SLAM ball, hope you have a mantle and case for that one!
Nice, that thing landed about 25’ from my son and I, we were right by the foul pole. He was the loud kid with long hair yelling “Let’s Go Angels” even after the slam and Walsh shot.
Kids screaming at the ballpark is what it’s about
Fans were loud at the game, I was loving it. With 30% capacity or whatever it felt like there was more energy than when the place is full.
It was especially loud after that slam. Congratulations on getting that ball, that was the game changing shot that sealed a much needed victory!
LIGHT UP THE HALO!!!
Just Another Halos Victory!!!
Man, I would like to hang out with Alex and do some shots. She has an upbeat personality, fun and washes out Gubi on the TV. Halo good luck charm.
of course, I’m old enough to be her father. Then again, if we lived in one of those hillbilly states where you can marry your first cousin when you’re 12, I could be her great-grandfather.
As are Designerguy and I. That doesn’t stop either of us from insisting that she is our significant other!!!
I think Mia has some skin in the game as well.
Actually I met her father and 2 sisters at the diamond club one night. Nice family and a very proud papa. But, like MNT she definitely got the golden fairy dust from the family gene pool.
Wife asks what I want for my birthday two years ago.
“Alex Curry Bobblehead”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep that’s all”
She got it. I got a steak dinner too but the bobblehead is still in a place of honor.
Apparently the OC Dugout has signed ones available for $50.
That game was so fun!
Lately the baserunning has been totally amazing. Keep on pushing, all the time. Really like to see them making things happen, keep defenders off kilter.
2002 all over again.
Had the Angels at 100-1 in the WS that year.
They were never 100 to 1.
They were on August 18,2020
I meant in 2002. Either before the season started or any time during they were never 100 -1.
I know because I actually DID have a ticket on them. Got it right before the season started. It was 40-1.
Yep, off-shore sports book, in the UK. The year before, the Angels had a good team, just injuries hit em. So they were a value play. Plopped a lovely Franklin on it. But college football ate most of it back.
Off-shore sportsbooks you get much longer odds on the futures than Las Vegas, much better. I don’t follow the books anymore.
When did you get that? I talked to ALOT of people in Vegas that year, including people who lived there and went around to different sports books in early Spring and even late winter. The longest odds I heard was 60-1, though one guy claimed he got 75-1, but I could not confirm it.
I never heard 100-1.
I had an offshore account with a company called Bodog. Used to place bets before around the Winter Meetings, not sure they are around anymore but you can find many that still exist. The ones in the Caribbean were very shakey. UK was good and more solid financial footing.
Just looked right now, Vegas Insider has the Halo’s at 22-1 but you can search offshore and get 40-1. Have to get it early, once season starts, they just decline.
I know about Bodog. I was with them for a few years, though I believe they have changed their name now.
I am still refuting your 100-1 claim,about 2002.
Well, I can’t prove it. But if you bet sports overseas, very common to get longer odds. The only risk was that the US would close down places as it was illegal. The British sportsbooks started to open satellite sites in Antigua among other sites in the Caribbean. Angels were crappy the year before won 75 games as the Mariners 116. This was a recipe for “good” odds the following year.
So…was able to search and found they opened at 75-1 in Las Vegas so offshore was a cinch that 100-1 could be realized. See AP article below:
Thursday, October 17
Updated: October 18, 9:42 AM ET
Angels a narrow favorite at Vegas books
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — The Anaheim Angels, who opened the season a 75-1 pick to win the World Series in some sports books, are now a slight favorite over the San Francisco Giants.
The Angels were 6-5 favorites over the Giants at most local sports books, which expect good betting on the World Series because both teams are from California.
The odds vary at different sports books.
At the beginning of 2002, Angels were 75-1 at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas sports books, while the Stardust had them at 40-1.The Giants began the year as 7-1 favorites at the Stardust and 25-1 at Bally’s and Paris.
“I think the Angels are more of a complete team,” John Avello, director of race and sports book operations for Bally’s and Paris, said Thursday. “But anything could happen. Your bats could go cold, but I like the Angels.”
Despite the odds, Joe Lupo, race and sports book director for the Stardust, isn’t convinced.
“I think the Giants will win. Just my personal opinion,” he said.
Again, the 75-1 I could believe because somebody who lived and bet in Vegas gave me that exact number. After early money came in, the odds went down to 60-1 and in some places 50-1.
I got my ticket at the Bellagio in late March and it was 40-1.
My last comment on this, coming from someone who had years (mid 90’s thru 2010) of offshore book accounts when technically was illegal to do so. The offshore odds were “always” longer (i.e. greater) to entice the action. If it was 75-1 legally on a bet placed in Nevada, 100-1 is extremely believable. Anyone who was a serious player with offshore accounts knew to check overseas to see what was being offered. It’s all changed now with the passing of legalized sports betting in selected states. 100-1, Halos, 2002.
Had the SF Giants on a $100 hedge at 8-1. You could get 8-1 at the start of the playoffs when the Giants were 7-1 at the start of the year. Giants won like 8 games in a row to end the year. Evidence that for short odds, no need to make a play until October.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders
.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I have been betting off-shore for over twenty years myself. The lines are usually identical to what Vegas has. If there is a difference it is usually very small. The off-shore books don’t have their own line makers. They take their odds from Vegas.
Roger that.
2002-2009, really.
Sorry but if you ain’t first. you’re last.