Happy Easter and Passover! Anthony Rendon is still back. He singled in Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0 Angels.
Hunter Renfroe then homered to make it 3-0 Angels.
Not bad. Ren bros in da house!
Not to be outdone, the superstars stepped up in the bottom of the third inning. Mike Trout singled and Shohei Ohtani hit a blast to make it 5-0 Angels.
Are you starting to believe? Terry Smith called this series an early season barometer. How do you like the pressure? Rendon walked and Renfroe singled. They didn’t score that inning, unfortunately.
The Blue Jays didn’t really do anything in the fourth inning. The Angels did though. Logan O’Hoppe homered to make it 6-0 Angels. They’re dangerous one through nine! Go ahead! Throw ’em some lollypops!
Next, after the supposedly hot Blue Jays again did nothing in the fifth, Shohei singled right up the middle. Anthony Rendon hit a fly ball out and Iggy Pop came in to replace Kikuchi on the mound. Regrettably, there was no further scoring that inning.
So, in the top of the sixth, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs on a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch. Matt Chapman hit a grand slam. 6-4 Angels. I’ve been doing a lot of crowing. Am I going to need to re-write this article? I hope not. Andrew Wantz came in to pitch. He started off by committing an error. Kevin Kiermaier tied it up with a triple.
Ryan Tepera came in and hit Bo Bichette with a pitch. Vlad Guerrero got an opposite field bloop to send Bichette to third in the top of the seventh inning with no outs. Matt Chapman singled to shallow center to make it 7-6 Toronto. Whit Merrifield singled in another run. 8-6 Toronto. Tepera did not have a good day.
Aaron Loup came in and gave up a bloop hit to make it 10-6 Toronto in the top of the seventh.
In the Eighth Brandon Drury chipped in a homer to make it 10-7. The Blue Jays did nothing in the ninth.
Guo Urshela got a hit to lead off the ninth. Logan O’Hoppe struck out. Taylor Ward walked. Mike Trout struck out. Shohei Ohtani got a walk to load them up against Anthony Rendon. The Blue Jays closer hit Rendon on the back to drive in a run. 10-8 Angels. Renfroe then got a hit to tie it up at 10-10. Holy moly! This is one hell of a game!
In the tenth Kevin Kiermaier hit a ground rule double off of Carlos Estevez to score Cavan Biggio from second. George Springer then singled. 12-10 Blue Jays. Not cool. Vladdy Junior hit a single to advance runners. Matt Chapman struck out thankfully.
Luis Rengifo earned his golden sombrero. Gio Urshela got a hit. Logan O’Hoppe also struck out. Taylor Ward walked to bring up Mike Trout with the bases loaded. A ball four bounced in to score a run and put Trout at first. 12-11 Blue Jays with bases loaded and 2 outs. What can Shohei Ohtani do? He grounded out to first. The Blue Jays win 12-11.
Adell had 2 more dingers today to make it 6 days in a row going deep. Tough loss today but was fun watching them tie it in the bottom of the 9th
He’s not going to get a chance with the club at the MLB level, trade him while he’s hot.
Honestly, if anyone starts calling about him this early, although I doubt anyone will, I agree we should fetch a reliever for him. That would be a “win now” move, if the FO really thinks we’ve got a shot at playoffs this year.
Trades aren’t happening in April or May. Injuries happen. Renfroe is on a one year deal. If nothing else, maybe just enjoy a cool story while it’s in progress
Yeah, the addition of Renfroe made it kind of difficult for him. He is more or less blocked… He may still turn out to be a good MLB player. He has raw talent and the skills can be developed, especially defense…
And you may be correct Bluto that trading him is the best option right now; if we can get a good, promising young arm it would make sense..
Dustin Ackley and Mark Appel are still good players too, as long as they’re not old enough to be a Pope.
💪 💪 💪
Yeah but can he pitch?
This punchline is very GA
Can he scout?
We just got in and I turn on the computer hit a couple of buttons and wha-la, I read the recap twice to completely get it straight and disappointment washed over me, and just like a bar of Ivory soap stinging my eyes this loss stings. As it is late on Easter night I will digest this loss that is the third loss by the Blowpen.
Angels are spending $24-25 million on Tepera, Loup, and Estevez. It’s unclear any of them are quality enough right now to hold a solid job. These guys per the money being paid are all supposed to be extremely reliable. Perry???
Solid point. That’s dead money though. Nothing to be done about it. It’s another reason why signing bullpen arms to big FA contracts is a questionable strategy. Better to build those within the system.
When they are not good FAs to begin with, agree.
It’s April 9th. If on May 9th we are 21 and 16 because the bullpen continues to suck then…. actually then STFU and lets continue “suffering” for a while….
I’d give it until the AS break but the pen was an obvious cancer spot before Spring started. Kind of stuck for now anyways and no clubs will give away good talented RP’s in April or May. Best chance to cure is for call-ups in July or trade some infield depth plus a prospect or two. Britton is NOT the answer. Angels just cannot afford to be demoralized, need to fight through it.
Some will blame Ohtani for not winning the game when he came up w / the bases loaded and all is needed is a cheap single to tie the game. But when the offense scores 11 runs, and the team still doesn’t win the game, it’s all in the pitching, both starting and relief. It has to get better. I’d like to think this is a glitch on Detmers, but can’t have the bullpen be consistently untrustworthy to hold leads and/or keep it tied.
5-4 means we lost 4 games out of 9. Seems like mediocracy. Yet it gets you to 90 wins and a playoff spot (likely)
It also means that in the young season our bullpen has now blown late inning leads in a 1/3, of our games . That ain’t good
Sooooo…. if our bullpen holds late innings leads in 3 of 9 games at some point in this season we are what? Champions of champiland? If we have a big problem now, then at that point we have no problem. Is that how this works?
I understand your perspective but I don’t think that perspective makes this bullpen any better. It’s the biggest weakness. We all know it. Would you want to go into the 7th inning of an important game up a run with Loup on the mound? Of course you wouldn’t. It’s a legitimate concern worthy of some venting particularly after todays loss. I feel like you are being Kevin Bacon in Animal House when shit is breaking loose and he’s yelling “remain calm – all is well!!” Things are not well with that bullpen.
Yes, for three out of nine early season games things have not been well in that bullpen. True dat.
I’m not saying anything is good or HOOORRRIBLLLE on April 9th. That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying you’re all over reacting. I’ll let them all stumble and fumble and shake out a little before I start cutting my inner thighs with a plastic toy a sharpened on my driveway. Same with the starters. All of them, including Saint Ohtani, didn’t look as strong second time around. We’ll have to see….
Chances are some guys are gonna get more stable. Some guys won’t. Since it won’t be LITERALLY WEEK FKING #1 OF THE MiLB SEASON it will make more sense to maybe bring a prospect up…. or Zach Britton… or something in a few weeks. But demanding that now? I’m supposed to back that?
I mean, even your argument for today stinks of panic. Would I bring in Loup? Maybe. He hasn’t given up a run in two appearances. Including today. In two months? Who knows? He could be unhittable then…. or in an alcohol program. I’m supposed to act like I have tears for blood over Loup RIGHT NOW!!!!? I just don’t. Tepera? Quesadilla? Barria? Estevez? Herget? Wantz? how many panic buttons do you want me to have? Looks like we should watch some guys and see what happens to me…. oh, and celebrate Tucky D…. then act accordingly. Instead of saying “Screw developing arms on the farm, it’s the third series of the season and CtPG guy has a rage boner lasting more than five hours!”
You seem to be assuming that I, as well as everyone else on this board that wants to see some changes to the bullpen, want to see them happen based on only the first 9 games of the season. I can only speak for myself but I am not worried about Tepera only because of the first 9 games. The guy is getting older. The stats show that. A slightly reduced fastball and the hitters can sit on his slider. When they can sit on his slider they can take the ones barely out of the zone which they have been doing. This year for example his O-Swing is 13%, last year it was 33%. The hitters aren’t chasing his borderline pitches. Is that obviously a small sample size? Yes, but it also matches exactly with what my eyes are telling me, which is that hitters aren’t having a hard time reading his pitches. If he was 29, I’d say great give him more time. But personally I’ve seen enough of him, Loup and Herget. You want to give them more time, great. I can understand that, but it is too much to expect for me to post that I am over them w/o being told I’m new to baseball and am crazy? I’m not throwing insults at you.
We are thinking along the same lines, just with a different sense of what’s realistic to want. IF those stats from Tepera’s first four innings of work this year continue he will probably continue to suck. This, if it were to happen for a longer period of time, would make it obvious to Nevin, PTP and, most importantly me, that this pitcher is washed and we need to do something.
Or, those Tepera stats change over the coming weeks. And CtPG guy finds someone else to complain about…. accept for the really stupid ones who just keep complaining about a fairly good relief pitcher, kind of like they did with Tepera last year.
But “I saw enough last year plus these four innings!” means nothing to me. With the exception of Loup all the guys “we’ve seen enough of” were meh to good last year and this year I have seen longer movies than they have been on the mound.
Expecting a GM and manager to react to these feelz you have isn’t gonna happen right now. I know this, so that’s what I’m working with in my little gray brain.
Dude you cannot translate 9 games into a 162 game season.
With a decent bullpen this team could be, perhaps, 8-1 and definitely 7-2. So the bullpen cost them at least 2 Gabe’s in the first 9. That does not bode well.
ya, we could/should be 7-2 or even better. Not denying the bullpen suckage right now, but there will be games we win when we shouln’t’ve. It’s 9 games, 1/18th of a season. A little tempering may be necessary.
It is indicative of a bad bullpen which we all knew. If you’re okay with running these guys out in close games- great. But they ain’t winnin nuttin meaningful with these bullpen arms.
So we’re concerned about the bullpen? You know, I said that many days ago. I win.
Dude, CtPG guy does not temper. That’s what’s awesome about being a fan. Did you know that that’s short for fanatic? Fun Fact.
But within a 162 game season I can state any number of things, and also state they’re tantamount and critical and key and what ever, and over 162 games I will be able to find instances where I am proven right for a while. So I can light my hair on fire about any number of things I want to be irate over, while also writing off things I don’t want to see as a big deal, and I can pretty much feel right about my 40 watt thoughts at some point this year.
Ultimate power is that we could literally lose a seven game World Series and I could still be a sad donkey about this entire season if I want. It’s like baseball makes having small dick energy into a superpower. It’s great!
It was a game where a 6-0 lead was squandered. And then the team came back and lost in extra innings. Gotta expect some venting. No need for snark.
When is it NOT a night for venting?
Oh yeah…. when we win by 11….
October 27, 2002
But did you see the home run that Washburn gave up in game 1? I can totally tell this team’s gonna suck in 2003….
🤣🤣🤣🤣 Don’t you know that the most successful people in the world were built off knee jerk reactions
Man … is everyone ok around here? Thought about you all today while watching that crazy game. Nuts.
Check back with us in about a week . Hopefully we haven’t fallen into a deep abyss by then.
Maybe each of us should start a gratitude journal.
I’m grateful for you. And tr-tip. Tri-tip is the bomb.
Grilled or oven roasted?
grillled usually (last night), I put it in the pressure cooker last time though, delish
Grilled…. both are good…. so is slow cooker… I’m also grateful for comfortable work boots…. and Japan…. and the Adobe Creative Suite…. puppies, yeahhh
Mine might be a little thin.
Oh. Hunter Renfroe? You work here?
Damn this offense has me feeling optimistic.
We likely won’t give up 10+ every night, and these guys are mashing.
Fun season ahead. Get Joyce and Bachman up and let’s roll. Maybe consider trading Jo for an arm too.
We’re gonna be ok.
Still no Walsh, Drury, Fletcher or Rengifo really…. may be able to get a little more horse power. It’s good to see the guys still plugging away even when the pitching takes multiple dumps in the bed. I think even if the arms we’re stuck with settle down to meh we will win plenty. Wait. See. Ung.
Wait, so you’re saying we may still have a chance?
Never had a chance. Let’s talk about it for the next year….
Mia – Who’s saying we don’t have a chance? Of course the Angels have a chance after 9 games. But, losing in the way they did today and 2 other games in the first 9 shows they have less of a chance than if they had a decent bullpen.
I think sunshine after today’s loss is misplaced. Similarly I think depression after the first 9 is misplaced. From a realist approach, it’s clear that the bullpen is the weak link. The team was up 6-0 and scored 11 runs today and lost. I mean there is a 500 lb gorilla in the room and I think it’s fair to fully acknowledge it. .
The problem is offense gets the chicks but doesn’t win championships. That’s pitching. And the Angels don’t have much of that particularly bullpen- wise.
I was at the game today, so didn’t get to see any replays…
My question is why didn’t we send Phillips home on Renfroe’s double in the 9th? He was absolutely screaming around the bases. With two outs and the tie secured, I don’t understand why you don’t send him and force the Jays to make a play at the plate.
Really good question. Just because you dont steal very many bases doesn’t mean you cant be aggressive on the base paths . is this a Perry theory that has handcuffed Nevin?
Yes. My freind knows a guy who has a friend who stocks the gum in the dugout and he saw the phone ring as soon as the ball was hit and PTP screamed at Nevin not to send Phillips home. Gotta protect that 1.3M dollar investment.
I was curious about that too in real time… you put him in as the PR for a reason. RUN.
We all knew the bullpen was going to be our achilles heel.
It will be interesting to see if:
1) Nevin makes some adjustments
2) Perry gets the team some bullpen help
3) Some guys get called up.
The thing that I hope doesn’t happen is that nothing happens. Or, that Nevin keeps using Loup and Tepera and Estevez in critical situations because they are paid through the season.
Sure, we are only 9 games into the season. But we’ve lost 33% of those 9 games to bullpen meltdown.
My sense is that Perry sits on his hands hoping that the bullpen improves in the near future.
And that Nevin keeps plugging Loup and Tepera in critical situations because he believes in them.
Hopefully, the bullpen steps up and starts to hold down leads….
The pen sucked last year and it’s mostly the same, so it’s hard to be optimistic
Man I hope you repeat this same shit after every game lost by a bullpen pitcher. It’s gonna be awesome.
Since you asked nicely I’ll do it just for you.
If he doesn’t, what do you do?
4) Most likely, because this isn’t a video game, they are gonna see if the present collection of arms can make some adjustments, help itself, and win some more of some games.
Sitting on his hands, at game 10 of the season, is pretty much what PTP should be doing.
And yes. They will still pitch Loup and Tepera. At least for the time being. Again, because cycling out every pitcher who throws two bad innings every ten games just isn’t something we can actually do in real human body land.
Loup’s probably on thin ice, but a GM who would cut him this early truly is an idiot.
I wonder how Kenny Rosenburg is doing….
I suspect they’ll make small adjustments. Unfortunately their options are pretty limited. Only Wantz or Herget have options and everyone else is out of options or are free agent signings that are long ways form having any options left.
Ironically of all the minor league choices that have not shit the bed in this early first week of minor league baseball would be Luke Murphy or Austin Warren. I dont see the Angels bringing up Luke Murphy from AA before the more vaunted Joyce and Torres get the call. But Warren is a very likely candidate.
Exchanging one A & W for another probably isn’t much of an upgrade though.
Would the Angels go after Zach Briton? This would require them to dump one of their committed dumpster fires. Not sure Perry would do this this early in the season.
If Loup’s head is a mess and he continues to have problems I wouldn’t be shocked to find out he’s “hurt” for a little while. If we’re just talking about a 10 day then I would expect them to bring up who ever is rested and has a hot hand from AA or AAA.
I think it would be cool if they went after Britton (for the right price) just to scare some veterans.
I predict…yes to all three. 🤔
Trade Ohtani now and free him from this shit show
Yep, we’ve lost one of our first three series, yes it is sooooo over.
(Oh boy)
Free Iggy Pop
We are the passengers
And we ride and we ride
We ride through the shitty backslides
And watch the pen melt down tonight.
still on a pace to win 90!
Tepera is a eunuch.
Free King Tuck..see if he can get someone out other than in long relief.
Sometimes ya gotta F around and find out.
Time to unplug the Angels. Wait 1 minute and plug back in.
Eh. They lost an early season slug fest. I’d be more worried if they looked totally spent after the game got away from them, but they weren’t. The bullpen doesn’t even have to get MUCH better, just better, and we’ll hold up fairly well. We’ll have to see.
Oh wait. That’s the wrong IT Crowd meme.
The Trash Pandas bullpen had an all time meltdown last night in case anyone thinks thats the solution.
Keep on trucking, hope someone figures it out.
Like I said, tell Silseth and Bachman to come in for 2 innings at a time throwing 100% instead of with a starters mindset. I like those odds a heck of a lot more than Herget, Tepera and Loup.
Me too !
You’re kidding right? Or you’re from Yemen and new to baseball?
Cut all of the pitchers in Madison. They’re a wash. Sad Donkey out.
I gave up on it after it was 8-6 and let my brother turn it to The Masters while were celebrating my mom’s 92nd birthday. Work out the kinks, play ball tomorrow.
Turd the page.
Angels can’t wait to start making changes. Just use the eye test. More than one reliever that just looks like crap and the numbers aren’t deceiving, they are just bad.
Silseth and Bachman both seemed to be doing well in the minors. A lot of teams start there prospects out as relievers and let them get acclimated in a setting where they can throw 100% for a few innings. I would not mind this at all. We already have Canning as 6th starter, we need relievers.
Actually, much like Anthony Rendon CAN in fact grab a fan who is pissing him off, the Angels CAN in fact wait to make changes.
You also have power in this situation. There are 29 other teams out there. Via the power of the internet I bet you can find a team that’s dropped three pen arms in week 2 of the season and replaced them with AA ball guys. You can watch them for a while and enjoy being right. I’m sure it will work out great.
How about I don’t repeat myself.
Mad props.
We have a problem. It will likely take days, even weeks, to sort it out…. or it sorts itself out… or it doesn’t… just gotta breath deep and see.
Now 1-3 in one run games
One run games tell the real story, as we know all too well. Better to be a slightly above average offensive team with a very good bullpen than a very good offensive team with a stinky bullpen.
Consider it luck to be in a 1 run game, 3 unearned runs in the 1st were ugly.
If it weren’t for the knuckle-dragging Jays LF’er staring directly into the F’ing SUN it wouldn’t have even been a 1 run game.
That was only one hit/play. What about the Jays having 4 separate seeing-eye bloopers that landed for key hits ??? Actually one was a linedrive that landed on the chalk, but somewhat lucky nonetheless… Why not mention those? Look, I was horrified with Nevin’s amateurish managing, but in addition the Jays were the ones who got lucky with hits, not us…
I think it’s pretty obvious that this team has a losing record even if it has a winning record and there’s just not much point for many of us to continue watching this season.
Not saying that at all. I don’t know why you go so extreme. The bullpen is awful- we know this. Hopefully someone up high realizes this bullpen ain’t going to cut it and does something about it.
Totally agree Fan.
And gitch is wrong about the preferred option of just waiting and seeing if things improve… We know what happens when you are holding crap and hoping it turns to gold. Nothing.
Yep, after another month or six weeks you’ll still be left holding a pile of crap in your hand. Hoping and wishing to unicorns and rainbows that things will magically turn around is a fools errand …
These early season games are very important.. Throwing a bunch of close games away, flushing them down the toilet when you know that changes need to be made is a disasterous plan, in fact, it is not a plan at all..
I am with you Fan. Changes need to be made, and sooner rather than later. Houston will get Altuve back and go on a run. We need to make hay now while we have the chance… The kids on the farm are still raw, but they are much better than what we have. Cut your losses Perry and save the season.
We have only played 9 games after 9 games in 2002 we had lost 2 one run games and 1 two run game. The 2002 team did not get over 500 for good until 5/7/2002 we had 3 other 1 run losses and one 2 run game. Were 15 and 16 on May 7, 2002 we had played 31 games. I think I will wait to hit the “eject” button until at least 30 games have played.
Please don’t use the 2002 team for any kind of argument, lol.
That team was a total outlier in Angels history. I always find it comical that people use that season in an argument that starting well is not important. That season was the exception that proves the rule.
Just look at all of the other times it did not work out well when we started poorly or underachieved in the first month of season …
Come on, yes that team certainly was an outlier since it the only angel team that won the world series, but how they started certainly does apply as how they finished certainly does apply. That team had iffy pitching going into the year and a great offense, what does that remind you off, this year the team seems to have decent positional depth and the offense seems to be pretty good, but the pitching is iffy, let’s get a few more games under our belt, before hitting the panic button.
Also no one is going to trade with us this early in the season for a proven or high upside reliever who is close to the bigs. Like most sane people there are going to wait until they have played more than 9 damn games (that is not even close to a full little league season).
You say that team had “iffy” pitching, but one thing they did have was an excellent bullpen. That bullpen obviously became great after Frankie joined in, but they were pretty good in the regular season. SO, the starters could be called iffy but they had a very good pen. That alone makes them alot different than this team …
Yep so I guess it is time for you to hit the “panic” button, hit the general quarters alarm, “eject, eject we’re going down”, put up a billboard with big red flashing lights “Angels Need Pitching Please Call: Call 1-800-Anxiety”
Lol. NO, no “panic button” needed. First off, a “panic button” does no good. Worrying about something one has no control over is pointless.
However, what I won’t do is pretend everything is fine and put my head in the sand like so many polyannas on this site. You seem to be one of them.
Have a cheerful day! 😊
No, I just don’t believe in making wholesale changes to the pitching, hitters, fielders when we have incomplete data, it just to early to make any snap decisions after just 9 games, I am not a polyanna, just want to the angels to do their due diligence.
I just don’t see the purpose of making rush decision this soon, not when there is time to let everyone settle into their roles (I don’t even think the bullpen has defined roles yet) and see how they perform, then after that if the sh*t the bed make the necessary changes. Changes made because you feel pressure to make them don’t usually end well.
Time for what ? For them to lose more games?
This is not new. We saw Tepera last year, AND we saw Loup last year !! How much more do you need to see?
This was Perry’s major blunder– he knew what we had (or should have) and yet he throws the same shit out there again for 2023. We don’t need “time” to assess.
We need action from Perry.