Fans watched with bated breath as Bryce Harper stepped up in the 8th. The bases were loaded with a 6-2 Angels lead, a full count, and Iglesias coming in early to shut the door. This was the moment of truth. Either they’d lose one of the most heartbreaking games of the season in one of the worst possible ways right here, or they’d finally have relief from whatever bad juju has clearly been affecting them. In the end, none of the listed options happened. Harper hit his grand slam and crushed the Halos faithful’s spirit, the Angels took another lead, Iglesias got pulled with two outs in the 9th, and the Angels lost anyway.
The majority of positive action on the day would transpire during the 4th when 5 runs were strung together in the strongest inning of the road trip. A single and double from Matt Duffy and Shohei Ohtani would have two men in scoring position with no outs for, I swear to god, the first time in Angels history. Mike Trout would fail to get out before Jared Walsh laced a 2-run single to right. 2 more singles and a classic Wade-bunt-turned-error later and the gap between the two teams was 5 runs wide.
If one were to assume a victory knowing this, they might not have watched the team over the past two weeks. Like clockwork, Patrick Sandoval would leave early after running into trouble in 5th and allowing 2 runs. It was up to the Angels bullpen to hold down the fort. And well, we already know what happened.
Tomorrow, the Angels will face off against crippling depression in to try and end the worst skid in probably over 25 years.
https://twitter.com/Angels/status/1533671900341104640?s=20&t=vSrs1vKyRoGAgtIvmeoLkQ
Get your red on!!! Come on out to the Big-A and watch the Halos take on the Red Sox and make it 12 in a row..”
So, was there a game today?
Fire. The. Pitching. Coach.
To the doubters, there’s already been two team meetings…..
“Trying to do too much?” Seems to me they haven’t been doing enough. Not even close.
Come on – we all know how putting pressure on oneself leads to unforced errors. Thor said he felt tight in his last start – and it went badly. You can see Trout trying different things trying to loosen up his approach.
Losing sucks. They all want to just get a hit, score some runs, put together a win and take off the pressure – and the more they lose, the harder that gets to do.
Rather than trying to do more – they need a break, blow off steam, do something to get out of their heads.
This coming from the guy who started the collapse with his throwing error
Need more cowdung!
Told my wife about the record 11-game losing streak and that it started the day after the stadium sale was cancelled. Her response? “You sure they’re not losing on purpose to make a point?”
War Of The Worlds BBC TV series Victorian Era England
There is only one answer…..
I had to leave to go to a dance recital for my grandkids before the final 3 run shot by the Phillies but I heard it in the car. I nearly got in a accident when it happened because I entered the intersection when only the left turn light had turned green. Then I got lost because I missed the street I was looking for. 🙄
I was stuck in stop-go traffic on I-80 in Berkeley on May 14th, bottom of the 9th against OAK in the first of a doubleheader.
3-1 Angels. Iggy gets Brown and Murphy to fly out. Laureano works a long AB, then doubles. Then, maddeningly, he walks Bethancourt. I figure he can get banjo hitter Barrera to seal the win, but Barrera hits a 3-run walkoff, and the Angels were going so great then, I thought, “Sometimes you have a really bad loss.” But it was unnerving.
The Angels won the nightcap 9-1, and I thought all was fine. That seems like 5 years ago now. Angels haven’t won since May 24th, a 5-3 win over TEX. 11 game losing streak that feels to me like 50 days have gone by. Oh! the humanity!
I think the anger/frustration phase was around the 8th loss. Honestly, I would rather know now rather than get heartbroken in August. They will eventually string some wins, look good while doing it, but realistic expectations have been set. Just enjoy the rest of the season.
Ahhh…the 8th straight loss: Taillon has a perfect game against us in MFYankee Stadium. Walsh breaks it up by getting an infield double. Marsh moves him to 3rd with 1 out. Still 0-0 game. The Suzuki singled to left and the Angels went up 1-0. Ruined perfecto/no-hitter/shutout. Surely we’d win a game after 7 agonizing losses.
But naw: Ortega comes in bottom of the 8th, gets a guy out, then Andujar doubles, Kiner-Falefa walked. Ortega’s WP moves the tying runner to 3rd with one out. Kiner-Falefa steals 2nd. Ortega walks Hicks. Jeez. Still only 1 out, bases crammed.
Joe sends in Archie Bradley, who strikes out Gallo. 2 out. Rizzo PH for Higashioka: 2-run single. AGONY!
Top 9th: Velazquez and Ward K’ed, and grounded out. But then Yankees close Holmes walks Ohtani, HBP to both Trout and Walsh: bases crammed: tying run at 3rd, 2 out!
Rengifo grounds to short: ballgame.
Quotes from Trout after the game: bless him, or whatever we do if we ain’t got religion:
>“Things will start falling,” Trout said. “Had some good at-bats today, just try to take it into tomorrow. We’re in it, obviously, on a losing streak. But we’re not going to just come in here and put our heads down. We’re going to keep grinding. Everybody is in here fighting.”
A native of nearby Millville, New Jersey, the nine-time All-Star finished the series 0 for 11 with four strikeouts against his hometown team and is 2 for 20 with seven strikeouts in five career games in Philadelphia.
“It’s obviously good to be back,” Trout said. “I want another outcome, but it’s good to see some people I haven’t seen in a while.”
The Angels are on their longest losing streak since an 11-game slide in August 2016.
“It’s baseball,” Trout said. “There’s going to be some good times and there’s going to be some bad times. Right now it’s just a bad time.”<
“We’re in it” –says Mike TrOUT. Mr. 0-for-road trip. Yeah sure, pal. You’re not “in it”…
Cowboy26 kicked around the idea of bringing MacKinnon up, moving Walsh to the OF until Ward comes back….those in favor say “Aye”..
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1533550564004331520?s=20&t=1pMQ97XuO6YK4FJFiiqQyw
My devious plan to cut Ikeman and bring up The Plumber has been put on hold.
https://twitter.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1533556134438506496?s=20&t=1pMQ97XuO6YK4FJFiiqQyw
In favor of eliminating Lagares from the organization. Little uncertain how well Walsh can man the defense in LF and I hate to lose Marsh from receiving full-time ABs. His defense and speed is an asset.
Walsh replacing Adell. He’s played some OF. Hold the fort down until ward comes back. He’s going to make the routine shit routine, throw to the correct base. Adequate and getting a bat in the Line up and maybe the rookie can surprise at 1st. At this point, Marsh maybe could use some AAA time.
Interesting idea, but I’m not buying:
https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2022-06-05/angels-anaheim-stadium-sale-harry-sidhu-city-council-losing-streak
It did something to this team but I don’t think it would cause an 11 game losing streak.
If it did anything to the players, no way does it cause every SP to suddenly suck, our previously strong BP to look like the worst in the majors, Ohtani barely hitting, Trout in his worst slump of his life, etc, etc, etc. I mean, why would it matter to your play if the owner and mayor caused the FBI to get involved? Ball players don’t give a shit about such things.
I find it difficult to imagine how it could do anything to the players. Players don’t give a crap about such things. And the cursed Indian burial ground thing is okay for those who are still looking for Bigfoot or think aliens from Zeta Reticuli are choreographing all of human history, but I’m not one of those people.
It is a story in the Fake News LA Times. There may have been some initial disappointment in a few players but nothing to cause this disaster. The reason they are losing is because the pitching and hitting have sucked for nearly 2 weeks now.
Yeah but HR/9 inning and hard hit ball % has been high since late April early May. Due to winning and offense that has been overlooked. Now with the offense sucking and pitching imploding it’s even worse. I think Wise may have to go.
Arte is working with Andrew to ensure the team loses so he can move it.
He’s pulling a Georgia Frontiere?!?!
But soon, everytime the Angels win a game, they will be able to pull a scrap of clothing of the standy of a naked Andrew.
Sure glad joe gave away games throwing out bum lineups to rest players before off days
Still hugging yourself and rocking back and forth of that one game huh?
Momentum killers. Not his first time and won’t be the last.
I’d love to come on here to wine about somebody in particular but there are no literal words. The team is completely lost. Every highly paid player we have blows right now. I’ve NEVER seen anything like this. EVER. Come to think of it Loup did this! Yea that dude is pathetic. Another contract robbery in the book! Let’s go down the list of players with new contracts:
Fletcher hurt/stinks this year
Loup stinks
Tepera stinks
Iglesias stinks
Thor stinks now
Lorenzen is mediocre.
Anaheim continues to be “the place to get paid and rot”….
Fletcher had one solid season for us(2019)…two if you want to count 2020 and has been garbage since.
We signed Loup and Tepera based off of having one great season as relievers. Both of them were mediocre at best prior to 2020.
Iggy was solid for us in 2021 but the guy loves to give up homers and now we’re stuck with this joker for the next 3 seasons.
Thor was a gamble….dude is coming off TJ surgery and I think the Angels we’re hoping we’d get the old Thor but that hasn’t been the case so far. He’s had some great games and some really bad ones.
Lorenzen has always been mediocre. Another terrible signing by Perry.
Yeah. Why didn’t he just sign GOOD guys?
Ask him or maybe ask Arte.
Fletch hadn’t gotten it going offensively, but he was one of the best defensive players, if not the best, in baseball prior to getting hurt. If you look at how many runs he saved in 50-ish innings, the numbers are insane. Fletch EASILY paces MLB in DRS per inning played.
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=1&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=12,d
No one has any answers. A new manager won’t have any answers.
Most teams would luck into a win over an 11 game stretch.
Every single good player on this team has forgotten how to play baseball.
A different lineup won’t fix it. Different bullpen usage won’t fix it.
We are just royally f*cked. Until one day the players decide to wake up.
Until we rip off a few in a row, I think I’ll just stick to following box scores.
Truth spoken.
That’s the most aggravating thing–I don’t see how firing Maddon would fix anything. I wonder if there’s some other stuff going on in the clubhouse that has completely destroyed morale or team chemistry, but who knows?
No way to know unless someone decides to betray the privacy of the clubhouse and speak. Fat chance.
Dream Ersty would. I mean sure, I can’t recall him ever doing it while a player. Maybe he said something like “we suck, we need to do better…” at some point.
But DREAM ERSTY? He’d be naming names and weeping with anger over this streak. Then everything would be ok.
And he could bring Percy as pitching coach, just think of the G-R-I-T this team would have! They’d certainly win the World Series twice a year, and keep all those mean other teams that have lots of talent from beating up the Angels. Other teams would be TOO AFRAID to mess with our dynamic grit duo!
Joe was not resigned in Tampa, picked up in Chicago and made everyone say goodbye to cows and fires, but sadly wore out his welcome doing there what he is doing here. I will not cry if he is not resigned, but Joe Maddon does not have a history of pumping up the troops but does have a history of screwed up lineups and deciding who plays each day.
It is about changing the voice, the climate, the bouncing line-ups, plugging square pegs in round holes, overuse of the bullpen, and early removal of starters. Angels are in a 6-man rotation, need to
Let starters go longer. Will getting a new manager alone fix it, maybe. Changing the manager is a seamless maneuver. Might create a spark. We do know it will improve the those items mentioned above. Besides, Joe is in his last year and is gone for sure.
You are right about this being on the players to fix things. No amount of new coaches will fix what is broken and that is the player’s themselves.
While I would kind of agree. This team needs a reliable ace. Would Joe try to over-manage. Perhaps, but you need a reliable innings eater, which would give the BP some rest. The other would be adding a reliable arm to bullpen. Warren will come back but he’s young. So your BP would be Igelsias, Tepera, Loup, Bradley, Warren, Herget, Barria, Wantz, Quijada, Ortega, & new arm. From there you send someone down or trade.
There are (practically) no reliable aces in MLB, though, certainly not one that were/will be available to us. The only solution is not too different from what PTP did, ie put together a package of second best solutions and pray for the best. That the current combination should have fallen apart so completely is bewildering, but conjuring up a “real Ace” won’t be a solution.
Well said. You’re right, even godawful teams stumble and bumble their way to a win here and there. This streak is otherworldly.
There isn’t one guy in the pen you can point to and say he’ll get it done. There isn’t one starter who you can say will put a stop to this mess. Ohtani maybe but even he’s been slapped around. Most of our staff is lucky if they pitch long enough to just qualify for a win. Or should I say if they’re allowed to go 5. Maddon loves wrecking the pen before summer.
The hitters…I’ve seen plenty of slumps over the years but these guys are taking it to another level. The strikeouts, the inability to get the ball out of the infield, top of the lineup going 1/12 in games. It feels like they’re going thru the motions hoping that at some point that ugly K becomes a double.
There is no magic bullet to fix this. Maddon isn’t a good manager but he put in his closer to get the team a win and it blew up in his face, he left the putz in to redeem himself and when he couldn’t, yanked him, that failed. He’s used up his pen and the one guy who said he was fine w/5 weeks rest shit the bed…again. Soggy sucks but when your alleged best pen arm is just a mess, not much you can do.
3-15 in their last 18? Is that right? Even if they’d win today and the Toronto game, 5-13 is still terrible.
They almost “lucked” into a win today, but “sucked” to a loss instead.
Pitching coach needs to go. The good teams in the league have caught up to the high fastball low breaking ball sequence, and the Angels aren’t adjusting at all. Watching the Jays and Yanks hammer us on high fastballs was maddening. Also, I thought Madden’s best feature was his ability to rally the troops–what’s happening?
11 game losing streak is bad but … Since May 15 we have gone from 24-13 (11 games over) to 27-28 (1 game under).
3W-15L. Yikes.
3-15, just how crazy is that? Shut ‘er down now, these boys need rest and relaxation as the fans that are brave enough to call themselves wait with bated breath to see if Arte’s handpicked manager is still employed and in charge. I do believe he should hang by the yard arm, but he will probably stay to drive us and the team nuts, but that’s a short trip.