Shohei Ohtani gets on with a hit to start the game. After two outs, Ohtani stole second base. A walk brought up Max Stassi with two outs and men at first and second. Stassi then hit into a force out at second base.
Myles Straw doubled on the first pitch from Jose Saurez. Then the Indians shortstop, Amed Rosario, hit a two run homer on a changeup down the middle. This is already heading in the wrong direction. Franmuil Reyes walked. Mercado reached on a fielder’s choice hit to Mayfield. (2 outs). Bradley Zimmer struck out to end the inning.
The Angels went three up/three down in the second inning, naturally. Owen Miller walked and was sacrificed over to second base on a bunt. That was as far as he got.
Shohei Ohtani worked a one out walk and went first to third on a David Fletcher hit. Upton then hit into a double play to end the Angels half of the third inning. Rosario got his second hit of the game. Jose Ramirez hit into a force out to bring up Franmuil Reyes with one out. Reyes struck out. Oscar Mercado got hit by a pitch to put a second man on base. Zimmer struck out to end the third inning.
Quantrill struck out the Angels side to start the fourth inning. I’m pretty sure that was not the result we were looking for. Austin Hedges hit a one out double to get a man on base for the Cleveland Native Americans. He made it to third and then scored on a fielder’s choice that was hit to Jose Iglesias. The Angels got out of the fourth inning only down 3-0. The Angels went three up and three down once again in the fifth inning. At least this time they all hit the ball. Austin Warren came in and pitched a nice clean fifth inning for the Los Angeles Heavenly Beings.
Well, the Angels went three up/three down once again to start the sixth inning. This time it was mostly strikeouts. Strangely enough, Cleveland went three up/three down as well. I’m scared to say it, but the Angels seemed to be still in it at this point.
Not to be outdone, the Angels went three up/three down to start the seventh inning. Take that, Cleveland! The radio announcers said Max Stassi grounded out to first while Gameday said he struck out. It sounded like it was funky play in general. (Oh OK. Batter interference). Cishek came in to pitch at this point. Cleveland went three up/three down. Point/Counterpoint Anaheim! (Except that Cleveland has all the points).
James Karinchak came in to pitch for Cal Quantrill. Marsh walked in the eighth and Adell got a hit. Marsh was able to advance to third on a Mayfield fly ball out. Shohei Ohtani worked the count to 3-2 with two men on and one out. He then walked to load the bases for David Fletcher. Sho-Nuf!
Bryan Shaw came in at this point to replace James Karinchak. Unfortunately, David Fletcher hit into a double play to end the eight inning. Not enough!
Steve Cishek came back out to pitch the remainder of the eighth inning. I guess we raised the white flag right about here. Strangely, three balls hit to Walsh and the Indians go down quietly.
Emmanuel Clase came in to whoop some more ass on the Angels in the ninth inning with his 100 MPH cutters. Upton: out on a ground ball to third. Walsh: Safe at first with an infield hit. Stassi: Strikeout. Jose Iglesias: Fly out to center field. Game over man! Game Over!
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
I guess we’ll find out just how truly bad we are these next 3 games. No way we should lose to Baltimore. They have the upper hand though. They’re at home, they’re due and we have Bundy.
2 runs in 27 innings against the Guardians is not going to get it done. I expected the Angels to take 2-3. What a terrible series.
The only silver lining is Warren…. still good, still not injured.
Also, I think it’s really a smart tactical move over the last 3 years to NOT use the several wins we are to be awarded for firing Mike Scioscia, thus removing his horrible in-game decisions. At first I was impatient. So many people who seemed so friggin smart told me that Soth alone cost us several victories a year and that we would be that much better by replacing him with an old rolled up hose. At first I wanted those victories added to our tally right away, but now I’m glad we’ve held off till we’re in a situation where we are 5 games out of a play off spot… or hell, we’ve reached the World Series. Then we can just auto-win with our saved up retrograde wins.
It would have been tempting to rush Trout back, get to within a few games of the WC, then kick in those extra wins we’ve piled up, but no, we have been chaste and dry and stayed the course.
Remember when everybody thought Joe was the tactical genius who helped propel Soth to the WS win?
Horrible umpiring but nowhere as bad as the Little League World Series.
Flashback to 1960-something. I was up in the top of the 6th, 2-2 game as we (Englewood, NJ) played Haworth. Full count. The next pitch was a little high. I swung and missed and we ended up losing in the 8th. Haworth lost their next game and the team that beat them then lost to the state champion. For nearly 60 years I’ve regretted swinging at that pitch. Now, watching these atrocious umpires at the LLWS I believe if I hadn’t swung it would have been called strike three. So I feel better now. I was doomed either way.
LLWS is full of lifetime volunteer umpires, everyone that is involved with the actual games on the fields are volunteers, that should have given up the practice many moons ago.
As long as you win in life then baseball is just a game. No regrets
The. bright spots: 1. Pitching holding the opposition to 6-hits, Ohtani SB, #19 and swept by Cleveland who passed us in the standings,, headed for a better draft pick. To fortify the tank, Perry just called up Hoyt.
2 runs in the last 27-innings is horrible. We might be headed for an Ausmus-like end-of-the-year meltdown. We better sweep Baltimore cuz the rest of the schedule Is fugly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi1LMIUOOAI
It would be funny to just reuse Friday’s post game thread
How long would it take before someone would notice?
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1429294236327833601?s=20
We got the wild card teams ahead of us right where we want them. The comeback’s gonna be epic.
First, we need to turn Baltimore into a juggernaut.
We can still win 98.
95, we get swept in Baltimore first, then, we dominate SportsCenter
Yeah… and I’m Hugh Hefner.
Wait now we’re 2 games below 500 once again even though we will soon be 2 games above 500 again?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuFOkAL8ihM
Jose Marte already hurt and no reason given yet? Has anyone seen my tinfoil hat?
Just introduce yourself to the training staff, and poof……injured.
He was injured putting on the Angels uniform. There was a loose thread on the pants that caused a very small cut on his pitching hand. The cut became infected. The train staff cleaned and dressed the wound. Unfortunately the wound dressing was bulky, and when pulling his arm through the sleeve on a t-shirt, he twisted it and tore the UCL. While diagnosing the UCL injury, the infection spread from the hand to his arm. The arm is now exhibiting signs of gangrene. The medical staff is evaluating whether to schedule TJS or treat the gangrene, so he was placed on IR pending further evaluation.
2 RUNS OVER 3 GAMES VERSUS THE FUCKING (NOT SURE IF I USED THIS MONTH’S F BOMB, BUT I’LL BE OFFLINE ALL SEPT SO…) INDIANS? YOU SERIOUS? Another whiskey it is…
They tried. Just put another participation ribbon on the “Wall of Gaylord”
Apparently they can’t win with you watching.
We need a new strategy!
We have our top men on the case.
Top. Men.
It’s ok, the loss serves a purpose.
That pic looks strangely like Jaboo from the Major League movie. I believe the offense needs Jaboo really bad right now. This is a horrendous offense. Asstastic even.
Where Ya At Trout?