Hey all! This is the postgame for game 2 of the Angels/Nationals series. the main guys were all in the lineup today. The Angels sent Jhonathan Diaz back down to Salt Lake City and brought up Bear Claw.
The Nationals came up in the first inning and scored first on a Josh Bell Homer. 1-0. The Angels could not follow suit in their half of the inning.
In the second inning Yadiel Hernandez hit another homer to make it 2-0 Nationals. Lorenzen basically got off to a rough start today. One run per inning is not a good trend when the other team is doing it. Again, the Angels were unable to score.
The Nationals went three up three down for the third inning. I guess these things always happen in threes. At least the Angels got a hit. It was still 2-0 Nationals.
In the fourth, Lorenzen issued a couple of walks and a base hit to Keibert Ruiz to load up the bases with one out. A Maikel Franco base hit then drove in two more runs. Michael Lorenzen struck out the side; just not in order. Then Jared Walsh did this:
Max Stassi walked whereupon Brandon Marsh homered to make it 4-3 Nationals.
The fifth inning began with a nice play by Anthony Rendon to throw out Cesar Hernandez. After a strikeout and a single, Lorenzen was replaced by Elvis Peguero who faced Nelson Cruz. Cruz promptly hit a two run home run. 6-3 Nationals. Andrew Velasquez singled. Taylor Ward struck out while Velasquez stole second base. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani made outs two and three to end the fifth inning.
Elvis Peguero gifted a four pitch walk to Kiebert Ruiz to start the sixth inning. Maikel Franco drove in Ruiz with a base hit to make it 7-3 Nationals. Joe Maddon finally pulled Peguero and brought in Bear Claw who got the necessary three outs without giving up any more runs. Jared Walsh singled to knock out Josiah Gray. Enter Cishek, who struck out Max Stassi and walked Brandon Marsh. Unfortunately, David Fletcher made out number three to end the inning.
Juan Soto singled to start off the seventh inning and stole second base. Josh Bell advanced him to third with a fly ball out. Kyle Barraclough struck out Nelson Cruz. Andrew Velasquez and Taylor Ward were quickly out to bring up Mike Trout with two outs and nobody on. He got a single to bring up Ohtani who also singled. Anthony Rendon hit an unimpressive fly to left to end the inning.
I’m sorry I can’t embed any more highlights, but there aren’t any. Jimmy Herget came in and got a couple of guys out, so I guess that’s something. Dee Strange-Gordon got a two out hit. Victor Robles bunted for a hit and once again the Nationals were in business. Luckily Herget was able to strike out Cesar Hernandez to get out of the situation without any further damage. The Angels went three up, three down. 7-3 Nationals.
Jimmy Herget came back out for the ninth inning and quickly retired Juan Soto. He also got Josh Bell to fly out to Taylor Ward. He gave Nelson Cruz his fourth strikeout of the game. David Fletcher wasted no time grounding out to go ofer. Andrew Velasquez hung around for a while hitting foul balls but finally struck out. Taylor Ward hit one to the warning track but it wasn’t far enough. Game over.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Good line up today, lets get it on.
2nd Rd #72 2018 MLB Draft Cincinnati Reds
Sorry, but I’ll take this guy over Jeremiah Jackson at #57 any day.
😠 😠 😠 😡
I keep going back to find those posts from the day when you suggest drafting the player. Never can find them. Hmmmmmm
(Also, Gray is having quite a start to the season, but not better than Suarez last year – so projectable?).
Gray was also part of a trade in which the Nats sent out Trea Turner and Max Scherzer. He was not drafted.
Though Max is no longer with them I think the Dodgers for the time being won that trade.
We’ll see how Ruiz and Gray look three years from now….
He was drafted – by the Reds. Then traded to the Nats, and then the Dodgers.
The point is – 2002 seems to want us to have drafted Gray instead of Jackson. I find the ‘logic’ behind that (the guy is playing well this week) farcical (at best).
Duh. I know he was originally drafted dude. What I meant (and think you know I meant) )is that he was not drafted by the NATS. He was acquired via trade, as I stated.
That kind of undermines 2002 I think. Don’t be so argumentative and disingenuous.
Every team in the league is guilty of passing over amateur player who have turned out to be stars. Every team.
but Keith Law said that we were pretty awful back at HH.
Not Perry’s fault either, since he just got here in 2021.
He Keith Law is so smart how come no team has hired him by now?
the Reds are so brilliant at drafting that they chose Mike Leake (at #8) ahead of Mike Trout. Leake was ok, if you like 4+ ERA.
I blame Jeff Fletcher. How dare he take a couple days off after a 7 game road trip. His weekend replacement is some Doyer sycophant who obviously cursed this team after their wondrous completion to the dirty Sux road trip.
Unfortunately he came back today with some interesting news.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1523353474527744003
Elvis, seen enough of that guy, he gone…..maybe Mayfeild?
Nope. Elvis is still in the building.
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1523379809455288322
Joe with his love of music, must think hes the real Elvis…….
Hope this is explains Fletcher’s hitting issues.
I think Elvis is a Perry move. After all, Perry traded for him. He must think there’s something there.
But Joe doesn’t have to use him.
So Elvis is The Imposter? That would definitely mean the wrong Elvis.
I’m good with a true defensive OF with wheels as a late inning replacement or pinch runner. Get rid of Rojas.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT9EjoQc138PgHpkkleBo3LuKaX2v-FVmSoWA&usqp=CAU
Nationals aren’t a good team either.
Is that a picture of your new residence? Hopefully you didn’t pay too much prices are starting to peak.
Oh I almost forgot, the Angels will win today, lots of laughs.
Happy Mother’s Day to you Mom’s, have yourself a special kind of day. GrandmaBaseball will be having her special day with family, a lot of family today down the hill at a special place with a lot of positive vibes and lots of love and respect. Have a great day.
Lastly, I would like to address those who are here not for being a Angels fan, not here for the fun, humor, knowledge of learning or even teaching some insights of the game or team, but solely to make every comment something negative about the team, a player, manager, or a play. Your Rederic becomes old, tearing down the game or players is tedious and just does not play well anymore.
While everyone is welcome to express displeasure at times, if you abuse the rules you need to read them again. Try using humor to make a point or offer a suggestion to make a point. If things about the team are so bad, find another team to root for and will accept your negativity. Having 5 or 6 posters who are always down on what is going on every night wears others down to the point that they make it difficult for the good guys to return.
I love and respect the core posters, writers, editors that are CTPG, and how I am tolerated with me optimism and optimisms and to some that maybe much to take, but as Red calls them, the Debbie Downers, are getting old, especially when it is in every comment.
Rendon is our best option at 3rd and we need him to return to form and soon. DI am not just sure of all the different health issues that our going on with him, so it is hard to empathize with him. Yes it was a mistake to sign him, and pay him 36 million a season, and it is frustrating to watch him at bat, but we have no other option right now or in the future so let’s pull for him and hope he recovers soon.
PS, Joe drop him another spot down and take some pressure off of him.
Agree that Rendon needs to be dropped in the order. One good game in Boston is not sufficient reason to move him back to the cleanup spot. Rendon needs to be batting no higher than 5th, but really 6th. I think I was the first person this season to say that he should not be batting either 3rd or 4th on this team. Until he (hopefully) turns things around we can’t have him protecting Shohei in the order.
I am not tearing Rendon down to say he either needs to go back on the IL to more fully recover from the hip injury he admits hasn’t fully healed or at least be dropped much further down the lineup as you say, so he doesn’t automatically kill every rally with his league leading hitting into double plays, strike outs, and warning track power. Walsh should always hit before him, maybe Stassi. It’s less about the player and more about the repeated overpay of 30ish players to overly long contracts.
It also concerns me to see so many automatic outs at the bottom of our lineup because it puts extra pressure on the studs at the top. It is the pain we have when we failed to sign one of the top end SS’s, even though most of them are off to slow starts or injured.
Totally agree about the bottom of the order. Fletch and Squid are killing us as both guys are sub .170 BA. If you recall those teams of around 2009 and 2010 had guys who could actually get on base at a good clip! Aybar batting 9th comes to mind. Imagine if we had a ss like Aybar batting 9th for us and hitting .280-.290 !!
As far as Rendon goes, I was not aware about the DP numbers. But that does not surprise me. A few weeks back I jokingly called him the next Pujols, but maybe that is not far from the truth, especially if he ends up leading the league in GIDP.
I fact checked myself, he’s actually just in the Top 10 with 5. I still think it’s a problem.
Anthony is not a guy to feel pressure. I’d drop him down if we had anyone to take his spot. Mayfield…no. Stassi…no. Maybe Walsh? I still think Anthony is the guy. More of an accomplished hitter than the guys below him.
I know he is sucking. Give him until June and see if he picks it up. We are not losing games as a result.
I started out the season not really caring for Maddon thinking he had gone over the deep end with crazy line ups, trying Adell in RF while Caveman was used in LF. Sitting Lefty and inserting Duffy at 1st and batting him 4th. Still believe Suzuki played to much though and Trout to little. But we are atop of our division with only 2 hitters really hot, although Lefty is now looking to be out of his slump.
Joe Maddon did not lose last nights game, pitching lost the game. The pitching used to have games like last night consistently if you recall, now the exception to the what once was. If in September we are now in the race, I am not sure that Joe will be at fault as injuries will probably take there toll if that happens. The Angels player’s seem to respond to Joe’s ways. Joe give everyone a lot of rope to screw up before he is done using a player, so give Joe a chance.
The criticism yesterday was not allowing Lorenzen to finish his inning, instead going to one of our worst bullpen guys who finished us off.
Look at us, things ain’t so bad…..
https://twitter.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1523038353762840577?s=20&t=3Cl5kZniE5NBFn8HF9ZBYQ
That was tough, Rendon needs to get it together, man. Let’s get ’em tomorrow! Also, silver lining, Pujols isn’t on this team.
It feels so great to say Pujols isn’t on this team. Man, so many years we wished we could say that!
Now we can say it about Rendon
I guess some people always have to have a bogeyman.
You can self treat your own issues. Leave me out of your We.
currently -0.2 bWAR
He needs to be benched or sent packing
We will win some games.
Even the Kentucky Derby has an 80-1 winner once in a while.
And they’ll lose some too. Like tonight..
18-11 is plenty good
But Joe Maddon is not.
Are we going to have to put up with this bullshit for at least 45 more times this season?
A 101-62 record? Where do we sign up?!
Angels are NOT going to win 101 games LOL. More like 85 if they’re lucky..
Well, I think you are right that they won’t win 101 games. But they WILL win more than 85 games, I can tell you that !
I have to agree. The bullpen is far better than in years past and Rendon can’t be this bad, can he?
They would, with your own prediction of 50 more loses (which you deleted). 50+11 is 61 loses and that’s 101 wins….it’s science.
No, it should be at least 60 more times because the Angels aren’t winning more than 85 games this season. Tell your roommate, cowboy..
If we lose 60 more times, we have a 91 win season.
If we play exactly .500 ball the rest of the season, we have an 85 win season.
Personally, I think we win a few more than we lose the rest of the way. Is that too optimistic?
He’s got this team at 18-11 despite Rendon, Ohtani, and Fletcher not doing much at the plate and a pitching staff that has endured various injuries and illnesses. There are some minor quibbles you can make with him, but he’s done a good job overall.
Every day we steer further away from God with Rendon not being DFA’d.
Oh well, get ’em tomorrow.
Yes Rendon really is Beelzebub
This is a childhood photo of Redon….and he does play on team that has a dude that looks a lot like Jesus…. Coincidence?
.
Rendon still has a chance to get a hit against his former team. And also a chance to fall below .200…….
Are the Angels worse than their record indicates or are the Gnats better than their record….
We have won 2 of 3 games (roughly). The Nats of won 1 of 3 games roughly. So, given those records, we should take 2 of 3 for the series (right?). If we win the next one, that is the score.
(Small sample size and all).
Also, one can’t prove anything about how good a team is based on one game (honestly, is that your real hot take?).
Here is the thing; first, we do need to win today. But ultimately we are not measuring ourselves against the Gnats. We have to outperform the Asstros. That is who we have to beat.
Right now Houston is rolling, and I can see them winning 9 or 10 in a row. We have to be careful that in a week’s time we aren’t 2 or 3 games behind them..
1) I was just replying the frame by cuda
2) Sure, we need to beat all of the good teams (often) and all of the rest (nearly always).
The Astros are on a hot streak – and they will have those. They will have cold streaks too.
We are doing quite well in the last bit – even with Ohtani hitting below his caliber, Rendon barely pulling his weight with the bat, a batless SS (and hitless Fletch), and a roving OF of AAA players (until we either find a solution or Adell finds his way). For all that, we are leading the AL west, and have the third best record in the AL. If Ohtani, Fletch and Rendon return to even average form – look out AL.
Hey, I agree that we are legit. No question. My point was that the Houston team we saw in late April was not real — they were injured and under-perfoming. Altuve was out, and others were not hitting. You can say they are on a “hot streak” now, but that is what they do. Just look at the last few seasons for them and the number of win streaks they have that are 5 games or more. It is alot. We don’t do that very often. We have one winning streak of 6 games this year, and other than that have not won 5 in a row a second time.
If Houston is winning 18 of 25 games and we are only winning 15 or 16 of 25 over the next big block they will pass us. And if they do that for two months we will find ourselves 4 or 5 games out of 1st place at the All-Star Break. That is what I am concerned about. We need to have more long winning streaks instead of just taking 2 of 3 from bad teams, or losing 2 of 3 like we did with Baltimore.
Houston has only had one 6-game winning streak too (they are on it now). They also had a 4-game losing streak in there (which we have not done).
You give them a lot of credit for past performance – but they are not the same team. They lost Correa and Springer and they are counting on younger (but less experienced) starters.
But sure, we need to keep up with them – they are a good team and will win games.
I do not see that as a problem – we have been playing well without firing on all cylinders. Looking forward to us doing that!!!
That four game losing streak came without Altuve. And to that point we have been relatively healthy with only missing Trout for two games with a bruised hand. We need to hope both Mike and Shohei stay healthy.
Of course that is true for any team and their big stars.
162, win some lose some. Love this team. Let’s win tomorrow!