Alex Cobb takes his last start of the season as the Angels say bye to the state of Texas for 2021. Cobb has been the second best starting pitcher for the Angels this season and he wants to stay with the team, maybe that gets done, maybe he leaves and there will be another hole to fill. For today though, he looks to tie a bow on a solid, if not lengthy, 2021.
It did not go as planned. Cobb was off his stock today, giving up 5 in 5 innings off of 2 home runs. The offense would have to do well to make up for that.
Recap
First inning Blitz
Marsh started the game off with a single. Ohtani tripled him in for his 8th triple and 99th RBI.
Walsh singled him in to get the 2nd run of the inning.
Stassi grounded out for the first out of the game. Mayfield struck out. Rojas walked to put 2 on with 2 outs. Taylor Ward doubled both of them in, putting a 4 spot on the Rangers in the first.
Rengifo singled Ward in for a 5th run of the inning! Ward came up gingerly and was replaced by Lagares.
Fletcher was now up, the 9th batter of the inning. He grounded out to end it.
Corn on the Cobb
Alex Cobb started his outing with a 5-0 lead. He allowed a 2 out single. Then a 2 out walk. He did strike out the next batter to keep it a 5-0 Angels lead after 1.
Marsh led off the 2nd with a strikeout. Ohtani popped out. Walsh doubled but was stranded there.
Cobb got 2 quick outs but then allowed back to back hits. Luckily he got out of it without allowing a run. Still 5-0 Angels after 2.
Mayfield led off the 3rd with a flyout. Rojas struck out. Lagares took over LF for Ward and grounded out.
Corn off the Cobb
Again Cobb got 2 quick outs. Again he allowed baserunners after that, a 2 out walk followed by a 2 out single and then a 3 run home run. 5-3 Angels after 3.
Rengifo bunted out and Fletcher flied out but Marsh got a single. Brandon then stole second putting a runner in scoring position for Shohei. But, Ohtani struck out.
Alex Cobb was out there for the 4th, and for once, he got himself a clean 1-2-3 inning. Still 5-3 Angles after 4.
Walsh singled to start the 5th, his 3rd hit of the game. Stassi flied out. Mayfield got an infield single after that, his first hit on his birthday!
Rojas flied out to dead center right at the wall. It would have been out in 21/30 stadiums. Lagares came through, however, singling in Walsh for the 6th run of the game for the offense. Rengifo struck out to end it.
Now with a 6-3 lead, Cobb immediately allowed a leadoff double to start the 5th. A 2 run shot made it 6-5 and what looked to be an easy win has turned into a slugfest. He got the next 3 batters out. 6-5 Angels after 5.
Fletcher and Marsh grounded out but Ohtani doubled on a soft grounder past the third baseman. Man on second for Walsh with 2 outs. He walked to put 2 on with 2 outs for Stassi, who struck out.
Corny Bullpen
Sam Selman
Cobb was done after 5, giving up 5 runs. So Sam Selman was tasked with the 6th, a task that he handled well, getting through it with a 1-2-3 inning. He kept it at 6-5 Angles.
Mayfield grounded out to start the 7th, Rojas struck out after that, and Lagares did so as well. Angels go down in order.
Sam went out there for the 7th as well, by walking the leadoff batter. This was it for him as Maddon yanked him.
Jimmy Herget
The glasses were on as Jimmy came to pitch next with 1 on, no outs in the 7th. A GIDP made it 2 outs fast and a groundout ended the inning. Still 6-5 Angels after 7.
Rengifo led off the 8th with a leadoff single. Fletcher GIDP. Marsh struck out to end the inning.
Herget went back out there for the 8th. After a groundout, a 1 out walk put the tying run on. With a double right after, it was trouble with 2 on and 1 out. A double gave the Rangers the lead. That was enough for Maddon and Herget was pulled, one batter too late.
AJ Ramos
Ramos got a pop out and a groundout to end the 8th. 7-6 Rangers after 8.
Ohtani hit one far and deep and caught at the wall. One out. Walsh flew out. 2 outs. Stassi was the last gasp for the Angels and he struck out. Angels lose a winnable game.
Upcoming
The Angels finish their season in Seattle. With the Mariners gunning for a WC spot and the Angels playing for nothing, playing spoiler can be n play, as is losing for a better draft pick.
Can anyone explain the constant reference to Vladdy Jr. as a potential Triple Crown winner, when he isn’t leading in any of the three categories?
Perez is leading in two of them – where are his MVP candidacy promoters? (He should at least get votes, if not first place votes).
With the amazing and horrifying implosion of the Padres, I’m on the Mariners train now.
If you need a mercenary team to root for why not Tampa Bay?. They’re really good every year despite having no payroll.
Exhibit A on why we should not issue another mega contract, ever.
Sounds like the As
Reasonable. I just don’t have any connection with or interest in Florida. Mariners drought is simply tragic and I I live in the PNW so that probably has something to do with it. I also try to support anything that takes away from the “east coast” narrative.
Looking deep at the Mariners line-up makes you more impressed by what they are doing. They will be spending money in the off season too.
I want them to lose too!
Don’t want them ever to win a WS.
Really, there is nobody in the AL I would root for.
In the NL I would not mind seeing the Cardinals win. It would be sweet to see them beat the Doyers in a Wild Card game.
I didn’t realize that the Padres have a record not much better than ours…until I looked.
Their collapse has been epic.
I think it is time for a change at manager; they can get rid of the guy whose name sounds like a newfangled sex toy (Jayce Tingler).
I hope you are kidding.
The Mariners HATE us. Good thing because I hate them.
Remember when we traded Newcomb to the “rebuilding” Braves. They’ve had 4 playoff appearances to our 0 since then.
Fun times.
If I could go back I would have tanked so hard 6 years ago. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. I just really hope that I don’t say the same thing in 6 years.
the problem with tanking is that you have to have a front office that can do it successfully. They have to be able to spot the talent we need. Dipoto might have been able to do it. Eppler, no. If you don’t have a great front office then “tanking” just becomes “losing”.
So Roberto Baldoquin was a tank move? Vinnie Pestano? The Dipoto 4? How about the Navapile?
Sounds like DiPoto was quite good at the tanking. It was the second part of the process that he was not so good at in his short stay here.
IIRC, Dipoto was hoping to retain Greinke, but was upended by Arte when Arte “put a ring” on Hamilton instead. That prompted an “oh sheet” moment to put together a backup plan, which turned out to be the Dipoto 4.
After that season, we won the AL west. Guess something worked for Dipoto. Since Dipoto’s departure, the Angels haven’t finished about .500 and haven’t prevented being scored against under 700 runs.
Grienke signed with the Dodgers before the Angels signed Hamilton. I don’t remember anything like what you are saying – that the Angels decided on Hamilton and thus couldn’t sign Grienke. All reporting at the time was that Hamilton was the reaction – the pivot after not getting Grienke (similar to the later pivot to Rendon after not getting Cole).
But sure, signing the Dipoto 4 didn’t work out – the pitching market was pretty weak behind Grienke in 2012 (Anibal Sanchez was the next on the list). Blanton and Hansen forgot how to pitch. Also, Madsen and Burnett got hurt. (do we count not foreseeing injuries as bad ownership moves now?).
Your facts don’t fit the narrative. Sure, we offered Grienke a bunch of money and then the Doyers offered him a mind numbing contract and he took it, but that was all part of an ultra secret plan to allow us to sign Hamilton.
Also yes. All injuries should be foreseen by Arte. Actually, I’m pretty sure Arte causes the injuries.
Isn’t Dipoto doing it right now? Seattle is now tied for the 2nd WC spot.
Then there has to be “franchise changing talent” in the draft spot you hold.
In MLB that rarely happens. It sometimes happens in the NFL.
The league where tanking can clearly pay dividends is the NBA.
That is why they implemented measures to undercut tanking at the end of seasons, because so many teams were throwing
games.
https://youtu.be/GgD9FyE60hs
In retrospect Newcomb was never better than Simba was for the Angels
3 to go. 75-84 now. We had a chance to go over .500, I think it was against Baltimore. As I recall we lost 2 of 3 so we finished that series 68-69. Baltimore or Detroit…but I think Baltimore. Anyway, since then we’re 7-15. Hm..and we have 3 against a team that right now is tied for the 2nd wild card. I would think we’ll win 1 of those.
But what I’m thinking is that the extremely poor finish is clouding our vision. As we all know, we had the same “AAA/AA plus Ohtani and Walsh” squad for the first 137 games and were, essentially a .500 team. That we’re crashing now is making us forget that we were pretty scrappy for 85% of the season.
I read that Shohei is hitting .304/.568/.609 over his last 9 games. Walsh is hitting again. It’s just that…you know…that AAA/AA part of the team that’s not doing so well. Oh yeah, Fletch, too.
What I’m trying to say, through this Scotch-induced haze, is that I’ve had a good ride with the 2021 team and I expect 2022 to be better, just because of Trout.
And, hopefully, Rendon too!
Wait til next year!
*Copyright 2015-2021
Had tickets to the game… outside of the first, glad I skipped this one.
Royals playing nice, but Tigers are playing dead.
Is Pedro Martinez on FUKING drugs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z23LAHHl-Mg
favorite comment: “Pedro: I didn’t get it in 99’ so Ohtani shouldn’t get it now!!”
Oh I’m sorry – did Pedro hit 40+ HR that year?
I like how Pedro has declared that Shohei hasn’t exposed his body enough…. like Darvish did.
The worst part of Pedro’s argument is that he didn’t bother to actually find out anything about how Ohtani is working. Ohtani doesn’t pick n choose who he pitches against. He also, as far as I know, takes batting practice. His main argument is that Ohtani’s not a full pitcher or a full position player, thus his huge combines value isn’t valuable.
I am curious how Pedro would feel about Ohtani if he was from the Dominican Rep.
Pedro is Vladdy Jr’s Godfather. What is he supposed to say?
Why was he chosen as a debate participant?
That would be like choosing Tommy Lasorda (were he still alive) to debate “Who is the Greatest NL Baseball Team of All Time “
( Cardinals or Dodgers).
He was probably the only one they could find that would say Ohtani didn’t deserve it.
He’s an idiot
Pedro is a badass, I’ll allow him some wiggle room for some of his nonsense.
So…..H.T……
You still convinced Seattle will fade?
Mike Trout just wasn’t there to check them this year. They should enjoy it while they can 😂
A season negative -48 run differential is just too glaring to ignore. . Whether they make it to be a sacrificial lamb next week or end up with just an attaboy by Sunday, The good ship lollypop is running on borrowed time
I’ve adjusted my priors and, obviously, they have a much better shot than they did on Monday. Still, only 29.5% per Fangraphs.
And if you gave me even-odds on Monday, I’d say they were going to miss 100 out of 100 times.
If someone would give me 3-1 odds on then making the playoffs right now, I’d take that bet
That is a positive EV bet according to Fangraphs?
I’ve got news for people: the difference between picking 13th and picking 12th is not worth mentioning; not worth talking about.
If we were in position to move from 4 to 3 or 3 to 2 overall, or especially from 2 to 1, then you’d could argue for tanking (depending upon who was available in said year).
But really this is quite silly to be cheering loses because we could go from 13 to 12.
We want to move from 12 to 9
*13. Was 13 at the start of today. Let’s give credit to the tank where credit is due.
The tank has been on for 7 weeks. The logic behind those sketchy lineup moves has been exposed.
Dude, are you pulling a Halos Heaven style “I see see the truth behind the truth” conspiracy where you take a totally decimated team and decide there’s “something happening” because the manager played the tan colored turd instead of the espresso brown turd?
Running out of players who don’t suck isn’t a plan, it’s just running out of players who don’t suck. Playing a bunch of guys who you may or may not keep to help you make that decision is also not a planned tank. You’re starting to sound like the hobo that stops by my work and thinks there’s something to the fact that white is the most popular car color.
Unless we can tank all the way down to a top 5 pick there just isn’t much to gain by tanking in the MLB accept a little bonus pool money and I doubt a manager and players are willing to do it for that.
But hey, it’s a lot more fun to believe the teams last 2 months were a plan than just plain being out of contention and then having even more awesome injuries.
I just want to know where Andrew, Soth and the Cabal of Stripper Sniffing Christian Billboard Salesmen come into it and if it can all be linked back to playing Luis Valbuena over Yunel Escobar in 2017.
no way that’ll happen.
Damn straight. Let’s start Walsh tomorrow. This team needs to dump.
Ummm, following what people have been saying, all this losing has gained us a grand total of one spot in the draft, not three!
Fletch went 0-4? I am still in the money for my under prediction.
that seemed almost deliberate. Oh well. Two hits for Marsh, two for Ohtani, 3 for Walsh. That’s a good day at this point.
Her-get off this team!
nice photo, eh?
Fletcher should probably just sit the rest of the way and take it easy. Whatever happened to his hitting prowess is a mystery but he is not helping the offense. I like Cobb and hope he returns.
Who broke Fletcher? The guy is a shadow of his prior seasons.
but identical to his start of 2021. He had a solid middle of the season.
He seems to be finishing worse and this would mean 2/3 of the season was putrid.
I think that Fletch is just our greatest victim of “suck fatigue”. Guys like Walsh, Marsh, Ward have things to prove still to one extent or another. Ohtani has the MVP. Fletch is a singles hitter who has a line up that includes guys like Rojas, Gosselin, Mayfield, Lugares etc to look forward to. We have no way of knowing, but he’s probably mentally tired.
I bet he’s closer to normal next year.
As a quiet guy, I think internally he is overwhelmed by disappointment over the teams lack of success.
Eh. I don’t think he’s some kind of dramatic pussy. It’s just that hitting MLB pitching is very hard, and when your season just becomes kind of “workaday” then you can get worse at it.
it’s a sad state of affairs when the child abductors are getting strained.
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1443665020852703236
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1443665181737988106
FYI: the medical term is “adductor.” Grammar matters.
A google search indicates that abductors and adductors are different muscles. Abductors help move your legs away from the midline, and adductors help bring them back.
More pitchers have been used this year in MLB than ever before, we have used 40. Expansion is needed now so hitting the Baseball becomes a fad.
aw SHUCKS
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.