Angels get blown out in Houston, again

I hate Texas. Seriously, honestly hate Texas. When MLB expands finally, getting way fewer games in Texas will be a relief.

Until that happens, however, the Angels will have to face the Astros in Texas a lot more times. Even when the Astros were bad in 2012, the Angels have struggled against this team.

So Patrick Sandoval needed to be practically perfect to give this team a shot vs Houston. Yeah, that didn’t even come close to happening. He went 5 innings, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits, striking out 9 and walking 2.

Meanwhile, the offense did almost nothing at all, with Taylor Ward ensuring there wasn’t going to be a shutout being the only highlight.

Not shut out!

Seriously, that and Marsh’s double were the only hits in the game for the Angels in the first 8 innings. Two hits vs the worst of the Astros’ starting pitchers. Pathetic. Rengifo got a single in the 9th too… yay…

The Angels lose and see the Astros in the morning for a morning Sunday game at 11 am. Yeah, may as well sleep in, it will suck.

127 Comments
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Twebur
Legend
2 years ago

@JeffFletcherOCR
·
17m

Phil Nevin said the #Angels are going to stick with an infield of Stefanic (2B), Rengifo (SS) and Villar (3B) for now. Velazquez will likely go in for defense late.

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago

Angels lineup

Villar 5, Trout 8, Ohtani DH, Ward 9, Rengifo 6, Stefanic 4, Stassi 2, MacKinnon 3, Harrison 7.

Suarez 1

KingsHalos10
Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Twebur

Lineup has hope of upside for once.
Hopefully this means Wade and Velasquez are far from an MLB lineup.
Over/under 9k’s today.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  KingsHalos10

Wade can get as close to a MLB lineup as he wants it just won’t be with the Angels

FungoAle
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  KingsHalos10

Upside? MacKinnion, Harrrison, Rengifo, Stassi, Stefanic?

rosstrade
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Twebur

Finally will try something different.

It may be a bandaid. But, can’t keep doing the same thing….

FungoAle
Legend
2 years ago

Plumber, finally…let’s hurry up and shit this guy out of our system. He along with MacKinnion, Wade, Rengifo, Mayfield are simply waiver wire trash who would not be rostered on other teams. While it does feel good to see a new face, won’t change the narrative that the GM and the organization is failing.

Why did we go into the regular season with such a middle infield hole and shallow depth? It’s been over a month, and no acquisitions to fix that problem. Sometimes you got to trade prospects to not tank another season.

bradllee424
Trusted Member
2 years ago

Goodbye Tyler Wade. That is one down and several to go.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Wade’s world! Wade’s world! Party time! Excellent!

I’m sure he’ll be back. I wonder what Shohei’s mom has to say about this?

Last edited 2 years ago by Twebur
JackFrost
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

The Death of Ikeman.

Sportsdominator23
Trusted Member
2 years ago

Saw the score that it was 8-1 Houston, had to do a double take that it wasn’t yesterday’s game and glad I missed the game. Angels are too much of an all or nothing team on Offense. It’s either Home Run or Bust with all the Strikeouts. What happened to working counts, going the other way, choking up on the bat with 2 strikes and put the ball in play? They need to change their Offensive philosophy. Bullpen pitchers do what they do best, allowing runs. Might as well let the young guys play. No more Wade, no more Velazquez. Play MacKinnon, Stefanic, Adell to platoon with Marsh. Detmers back in the Rotation. Any arms in the Minor Leagues, bring them up and test them in the Bullpen to see if we have anyone that can help in the future. This Season started out Promising and it’s looking like a lost cause yet again. I can’t remember the last time the Angels made the Playoffs. Was it the year they had 100 wins or over 100 wins with Teixeira as a rental player?

GrandpaBaseball
Legend
2 years ago

2014, got blown away by the Royals after leading the league in wins and runs scored etc.

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago

Actually Teixera was an Angel in 2008. Another 100 win season. Lost to RedSox in ALDS.

But the compensation pick the Angels received when Tex signed with the Yanks became Mike Trout I believe.

2002heaven
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Then Aaron Judge came into being a few years later.
Either the Yankees or us couldah wouldah shouldah had both Trout and Judge in the same outfield. Would’ve been the modern day version of Mays and Mantle in the same OF!.

UtahAlumnus
Trusted Member
2 years ago

Thought exercise:

Take our players send them to Houston. Send Houston’s players and send them to Anaheim.

Full player swap. Same coaches same organizations.

What happens?

Mia
Legend
Mia
2 years ago
Reply to  UtahAlumnus

Well, Houston pays for player development personnel so…

GrandpaBaseball
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Mia

Houston has a hands-off owner, full scouting dept. and real pitching and hitting coaches, and draft better. Move along please, nothing to see here………

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

Alleged hands off owner. At least thats what his lawyers argued to the league ( and subsequent lawsuit plaintiffs) during trashcan gate.

Last edited 2 years ago by Cowboy26
Senator_John_Blutarsky
Legend
Reply to  UtahAlumnus

Talent > coaching

2002heaven
Super Member
2 years ago

Need a equals=symbol not a >
Because Hewstin has both and we have neethir.
 😠  😣  💩  😢 

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  UtahAlumnus

It’s definitely a thought exercise and speculation. If it includes Houston’s minor league system, and player development and scouting and strength and conditioning and Baseball Organization- I think the Angels might do pretty well under those circumstances. But if it is just a MLB coach and roster swap, it’s less clear.

Great Baseball Organizations are not marketing-centric. They are filled with and run by baseball people at all levels – reporting to a President of Baseball Ops. I think any team with Houston’s baseball operations (regardless of roster) would be quite competitive within a short period of time – maybe a couple years.

2002heaven
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

What!?!!!
We have a substandard process at all levels plus underfunded as well. I have to be polite and euphemistic instead going full blown foul language tirade here.

rosstrade
Trusted Member
2 years ago

It’ll be nice to see The Plumber in action at the big league level.

It’s about time.

He is a real blue collar, bootstrapping, hard-working, hard nosed stud….

We need this kind of grit…..

A blood and guts kind of guy.

Senator_John_Blutarsky
Legend
Reply to  rosstrade

Smells like desperation to me….

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

Not sure if you noticed but we’re circling the drain.

rosstrade
Trusted Member
2 years ago

I’ll take crumbs at this point….

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  rosstrade

comment image

2002heaven
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  rosstrade

The guy is a butcher defensively.
We already had his same league henchman Jose Rojas (Vanguard Univ) up here who was a baller in the minors but not so in the MLB show. A real life “Crash Davis” and nothing more. Remember nobody picked him up either in Rule 5 so what does that tell you?

DowningDude
Legend
2 years ago

I have a novel idea … how about we all set expectations at 100 losses and then when we don’t hit that mark of futility, we party.

Set the barrier of expectations a bit lower, folks. It’s much more enjoyable this way. I don’t like losing, but what can we do?

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  DowningDude

100 losses or bust tour 2022

Where do I get my T-Shirt?

h27kim
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  DowningDude

We are not gonna get there. Every time we wish that the team would tank so that we’d get a really high pick, they always buttercup us by falling to 10-15th pick range, ie just below middle of the road (or, slightly above middle of the road). It’s been that way since 2015.

clover_black
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Our last dream will finally be crushed.

DowningDude
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  clover_black

injured on first play?

WallyChuckChili
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

If all else fails, the toilets at the Big A will flush better!

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Free at last!

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Golly gee no Jo Adell??? Shucks, the Angels could sure use his bat and his “expertise” in the OF.

Oh well, guess the Angels decided against that. Since Adell is a basically a strikeout machine like the rest of this lineup…

Last edited 2 years ago by cuda440
DowningDude
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

bah humbug

rosstrade
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

It’s about time……

El_Duderino
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Do we know who they’re optioning?

Last edited 2 years ago by El_Duderino
Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  El_Duderino

Considering how stubborn Perry is, I suspect they’ll option McKinnon back down to AAA instead of just letting Uncle Rico go. but I’m not sure what the 40 man roster move will be.theres still plenty of candidates.Maybe the Duffman gets moved to the 60 day IL?

Last edited 2 years ago by Cowboy26
MarineLayer
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Rengifo, Velasquez, and Wade are an immovable monument to the stupidity of Arturo and Minasian. Their Mount Rushmore.

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  MarineLayer

Dillion Thomas. Again? Maybe Mayfield off the 40, redundancy, one bearded dude for another?

As Cowboy pointed out, plenty of candidates.
https://www.mlb.com/angels/roster/40-man

El_Duderino
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Twebur

I was hoping for Wade. Because we can’t have both Velasquez and Wade in the same lineup, and Squid at least plays nice defense.

MarineLayer
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  El_Duderino

Except when he doesn’t. Neither belong on a major league roster. Since they play for the Angels, they’re not. Bada bing.

h27kim
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  El_Duderino

Wade is the one being let go, it seems ….

jcstein
Trusted Member
2 years ago

Cleveland supposedly intends to trade from their surplus of infielders. I don’t see a lot there that I feel are game changers, but some look promising. Maybe we shift some of our younger minor-leaguers for a guy like Owen Miller, or Tyler Freeman.

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago

28 Angels batters have struck out in the past 2 blow-out losses in Houston. That is atrocious.

How is it possible that the Angels’ hitting coach hasn’t been fired yet???

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago

Can anyone say Deja Vu? And then say it again. And again. I feel like you could take this thread and any of the last thirty days and apply it to any of the last 5 or 6 seasons. So-and-so needs to be traded. The GM is terrible. Arte is terrible. Junk pile players. Holes in the lineup. Bad bullpen. Wasting Trout. Its all the same narrative over and over and over. Year after year.

To me, when things get this monotonous – a change needs to happen. In the business I ran, monotony was poison – if we were not growing and evolving, we were stagnating.

The change in this team (to me) could look like any of the following things.

1. Arte sells the team (unlikely)

2. Arte agrees to create a baseball organization (not a marketing one) in which he is not involved run by baseball people with a President of Baseball Ops and an entire team of baseball people from the top down to scouting down to player development and strength and conditioning. (unlikely)

3. Arte raises payroll to around $235 million allowing his GM to sign guys other than Duffy, Wade etc. (possible but unlikely)

4.The team trades its most valuable asset in Ohtani and attempts to fill multiple holes with quality MLB players not to mention refresh the farm with quality players which the current farm does not have. (won’t happen if Arte cares only about marketing).

These are the only options that I see to replace the stale narrative that we have all repeated season after season after season. Unfortunately, I expect none of them to happen. Which means, in July 2023, 2024 and 2025 etc. these same stale angry and directionless narratives will be what we read on this site.

max
Trusted Member
max
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

I really loved the way things were going when Frank McCourt owned the Dodgers. Now he owns the Halos. Arte McCourt

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  max

Halo owner. Kim Jong-Moreno.

Troutstrikeout
Trusted Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Fansince1971

Who cares. Even though I shit on overrated declining fast trout, the fact is we did waste his prime. And now we’re wasting Ohtani. Whatever iteration of the Angels ends up competing and being decent, whether it be 2026 or 2030, won’t have prime trout or Ohtani and will be a bunch of as of now nameless faceless players in 2030 2035. Which means most the last decade of having trout and Ohtani was meaningless other than showcasing an individual talent that would’ve thrived without us. Each year has bled into the next and most the last decade has felt like one long indistinguishable season

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago
Reply to  Troutstrikeout

If TrOUT waves his NTC what team will pay the remainder of his 12 yr / $426 Million contract. Good luck with that……

Fansince1971
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

You might get a team to bite on that now. But every year that goes by the chances of that decline as Trout ages.

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago

**Angels Toilet Seat Night on July 12th**

The first 10,000 fans get a free Angels toilet seat when they return from their road trip to host Houston who completely OWNS them…

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

Not sure why you would fixate on a toilet seat night unless you’re one of them Coprophiliacs.

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago
Reply to  Cowboy26

Angels Stadium is basically a run-down toilet and it also fits the team well.

Aside from that, here’s an idea for you: Go sit and spin.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

Cuda be a little too anal about anal?

Twebur
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

“We all know where the bathroom is and how to use it, okay?”

-Dr. Rick,
Progressive commercial

DowningDude
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

Sounds like you’ve got a future in planning the giveaways. Brilliant. Where do I order my tickets???

max
Trusted Member
max
2 years ago

Man, I taped this game to watch after dinner, avoiding all info on the game. Watched to the bottom of the 2nd, down 5-0 had to take a peek to see if I was wasting my time. At least I didn’t get buttercupped.

DowningDude
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to  max

Please tell me you use a VCR to “tape” games.

rosstrade
Trusted Member
2 years ago

When the Angels play a team like the Astros, all of the glaring weaknesses become apparent.

The biggest problem for the Halos is organizational. They’ve done a terrible job of evaluating and developing player talent. And, they’ve done an even worse job of acquiring the appropriate mix of players that can perform well together.

This starts with Arte Moreno and filters down through the scouting ranks.

For the members on this board who suggest trading Ohtani, Trout, or Ward for prospects or young talent, does it really matter if the Angels organization doesn’t have the culture, discipline, and personnel to develop and use these new players?

Since Arte Moreno has come onto the scene, the Angels have been horribly mismanaged.

And this is why we suck.

YOUknowulovetheIE
Super Member
2 years ago

Villar starts tomorrow and the angels get the w.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago

He’ll be starting along side the plumber so it will be a double double.

Brent
Super Member
2 years ago

Just woke up, is there a game on today?

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago
Reply to  Brent

Go back to sleep loser.

Cowboy26
Legend
2 years ago
Reply to 

Theres no reason for such anger. You Cuda been nicer.

Did your boyfriend leave you again?

Guest
Newbie
2 years ago

If the Angels didn’t win 4 out of 5 in Seattle last week they’d be even further back than the 14.5 games and now in fourth place. It is almost difficult to fathom how the team has basically collapsed in the standings. But then again not really……

Brent
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to 

Deep analysis there.

Brent
Super Member
2 years ago
Reply to  Brent

Deep cut to go with that deep analysis.