Ah, Mother’s day. A day to celebrate with mom. Usually filled with a bunch of pink and flowers and chocolate, sometimes breakfast in bed, and many a burnt things on the stove. For those of us fortunate to still have theirs, it is a time of appreciation. And for those that has moms as baseball fans, it is even sweeter.
The Angels play theirs in Cleveland this year, a fate I wouldn’t wish on most people. As such, when most halo moms wake up, they will be able to see the Angels on tv! That is, if they did not choose to sleep in, as the game time was at 8:35 AM. Even on the least coast that is BEFORE NOON. Who’s idea was this?!
And that is if you are able to find a way to watch on Peacock, as this game is on that service today. Yet another frustrating service to setup for a one time thing unless you need it for something else. At least it has Gubi this time, unlike Apple.
The Sandy man was on the bump today, looking to get that series win in Ohio. He went 7 and 2/3 innings of 1 run ball, which was caused by an error. 5K, 1 walk, and 5 hits. Very good outing for the Sandy man indeed.
Meanwhile, the offense was going up against an Orange County rookie. One that was Sandy’s old teammate in High School. And one that went through Cleveland’s SP factory. Oh no… The Angels got 1 hit by that guy in his 7 innings. At least they finally got him for 1 ER in the 8th.
It was a pitching duel Bullpen Game. But hey, at least Tepera is gone. He cannot hurt us anymore.
Sadly, even the mighty Estevez cannot stop Josh Naylor and the Angels lose on Mother’s Day.
Highlighted Recap
Cleveland struck first, scoring in the 2nd on an error. Yeesh.
Then the Angels proceed to get no hit until the 5th, when Neto gets one. Which is nullified by a stupid GIDP that has Drury lean enough for 2nd to get tagged out on a bad throw.
But the Angels finally scored in the 8th!
Sandy was pulled in the 8th, Estevaz was to get the (hopefully) last 4 outs. Unfortunately, no one Angel pitcher is safe from Josh Naylor.
However, these Angel bats do not quit, and Ohtani drove in a run to make it a 2 run game.
After Ohtani stole, a groundout scored a run, but got thrown out. Another groundout and Angels lose 4-3.
Upcoming
The Angels are now 21-20 on the season. Baltimore is next, again an an odd time Monday at 3:35 PM. At least it isn’t before noon again. Well, time to serve my mom Mickey Waffles and strawberries. Happy Mother’s day, Angel fans! Stupid Angels ruining it…
Sorry Grandpa but No Fletch For You! https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1657957544298520577
This is an intriguing development. The move indicates that Rendon will certainly be on IL; we just do not know how long. Does anyone know what infield position Soto plays primarily?
The way hes been hitting this year? Left out.
I did not watch many Angels games last September, so I do not remember him that well. 0.574 OPS is not that impressive. Is he being moved for defensive purpose?
I suspect so. I think Fletcher is still not 100% which is impacting both his defense and offense. But when Walsh is ready which could be during this next home stand it will trigger a decision between Phillips, Soto & Moniak being replaced off of the roster.
We have the wrong Fletcher
Dominic ?
BTW-Good call on Drury. baseball 101, always turn to your right. Dumb mistake, we all make them, spurn the page!
The Tepera issue and the bullpen in general exemplifies a breakdown via management. Tepera was an aging mediocre reliever coming off a good year when he was acquired. He was basically the type of veteran that you bring in during the sixth inning or other odd situations to get a few outs. Loup was and is a spot lefty that can get a lefty hitter out or maybe throw an inning (ideally the seventh). The Angels brought those two in last year as the 7-8 combo to get to the closer. They were never that. Further, with age comes inconsistency. So neither is performing this year. At their best, they weren’t worth the contract prices. The was apparent to those that watch the games.
The events of the last two days were management playing out the string. No one that had watched the games goes to Tapera in the eighth on Saturday. They pulled Detmers early, Devenski got two outs, once it became 6-2 they could have allowed him to get a couple more, Wantz could then pitch his one inning, and you basically have made it to the closer or won the game without needing him.
Today was harder in that Sandy had pitched well but it was later in the game. The lack of lefty options in the pen didn’t help. But the franchise isn’t helping things.
The rest of the league knows having multiple power arms late in games is important. The Angels have been trying to do it without them. Joyce hopefully can help. Losing Quijada hurt.
I get that considering their age the expectation that Loup & Tepera would regress in 2022 was a safe bet ( Actually Tepera’s 2022 season was not that bad) but I think what complicated the Loup & Tepera signings was the lockout. After 3-1/2 months of no contact everyone was scrambling to build the last pieces of the roster and Angels bullpen cupboard was bare. It’s hard to blame Perry considering the roster and the timing leading up to both of those ill-fated signings. I think this year he had a plan and struck early but at the same time made some key acquisitions late negotiating from a position of strength.
Ryan Tepera was signed late in the 2022 FA offseason and Perry made the move to snag him along with Bradley. After Cishek, Claudio, Sleggers and Hoyt…Tepera was absolute necessary. He had a string of good years. Just did it work out and I don’t blame Perry on this one. The guy had more proven credentials that his teammates. Loup was a guy Perry jumped on early after career year, , I blame Perry on this one.
Hot steaming eye bulging teeth gritting hatepen update:
Angels are 2nd in MLB with 14 saves.
Angels are also 2nd with 22 save opportunities. That is eight blown saves.
Seven of the other top 13 pens in baseball have eight or more.
Or pen is tied with Tampa’s for eighth best WHIP at 1.21
Even with Tepera’s magic inning we have given up the second fewest HR with 10.
We are eighth in bullpen ERA.
Our overall record is 13th in the MLB and 8th in the AL.
The only pen arms we have left with sub-100 ERA+ are Herget and Davidson in the 80s. All the other bad apples are gone. Those two can crack 100 with with 1 and 2 flawless innings respectively…. might be possible.
Behold the horror and tremble. Seer your eyes with the mismanagement and feel your soul wither with shame.
The starters…. ungh. Let’s just say that Suarez needs to go away and just about all of them need to be better. Though both Detmers and Anderson are about 2 quality starts away from getting into the positive again…. actually, so is Canning because of few IP. But the starting staff needs Coleman Crow or Silseth and a hot couple weeks.
If Perry’s gonna make an early trade that probably becomes possible in two weeks.
Nooooo! Be gone with your facts! LET US RAAAAAAAAAAGE.
So what is it? According to your data, the pen is fine. Is it the starters lack of depth or is it inherited runners that score and boost the ERA of the starter, but is really at least half of the issue the BP? Is it defense? Offense? Or roll the dice and it is one of six defieciences every loss, or maybe that’s why MLB teams lose. Shit, IDK, 21-19 is certainly not the worst that we could be.
Max, it’s been a combination of factors. The starting pitchers have underperformed versus what was hoped for and/or expected. When the starters pitch well, the pen sometimes does fine and other times does not. They tend to do well when reasonable decisions are made. They struggle when poor decisions occur. Meanwhile, when both the starters and pen pitch well, the hitters don’t hit.
This is how you have a talented team but the whole is less than the sum of its parts. They find ways to lose various games.
The problem’s not really the pen at all. In general. The starters suck right now. Add to that our collective team of professional baseball players has too many guys failing to do their job at a given time when we lose.
There’s no magic villain here to rage at and blame. From Ohtani down to a guy like Rengifo or Suarez, there’s always someone failing just a little too hard at any given time right now. Is there a magic manager or coach out there who can fix that for sure… I don’t know, ask the sad donkeys, they seem confident there is.
At least it looks like we may lose Rendon for a while. That should help, I’ve heard he’s the problem and is also a cancer in the clubhouse.
Losing Rendon would suck, we all can see Gio dropping like a rock
As I have noted above, the losses include a combination of factors. Giving the manager a pass is wrong though. The decisions made on Saturday were awful — you could see it in advance. That game was lost by the manager. There have been others also.
I think the pen is being overused, it seems to me the starters are not going very deep into games the 5th inning seems to be average and the 6th inning the normal, that is causing us to use 2 or 3 guys (sometimes 4) every game, with the way they are trying not to pitch guys more than 2 games in a row, that is causing us to go too deep into the bullpen.
Of course I could be wrong, I am too GA to look up the numbers, it just feels like we are not getting much length with our starters, they are throwing to many pitches too early.
Ummmmm………….okay
This team is still exactly oatmeal. Neither poisonous nor delicious.
Too GA to read all the comments, but I already know what’s down there. “This one’s on Nevin, he so stupid. Why did pitcher pitch. Why didn’t other pitcher. Pinch hitter. I mad.” There’s gotta be at least one guy declaring “We have to be worst in the MLB at (enter shidt).” Plus some “coaches so stupid” from some dumbfk fan who knows almost nothing by comparison and probably some whining about Arte.
This loss sucked ass just like yesterday. The team still has fight in em, just like yesterday. The team still needs to be just a little less screwy. Just like yesterday. The team will also win some games. OATMEAL.
Tepera’s gone. Good, this was exactly when to do it. Loup’ll get fire tested too if he holds up in his “rharb from ouchness”. If he sucks he knows he’s gone and so do we. MiLB arms are just about ready to at least get spot call ups. Walsh is soon to come back. It’s May 14 and the team is oatmeal. We’ll see if we can avoid being put five games under 500 by the Orioles and Twins, then we’ll see if the Angels can add some flavor to this bowl of mush. Am I sure they will? No. Am I sure they can? Yes. I have Frost level certainty that we have no idea how things will break at this point.
So, what you are saying is to breathe, relax, and eat oatmeal? I guess we need to loosen our collective anal sphincters. It is good for our peristalsis. Wakarimashita, Gritcho-Sensei. 😅
for how horrible we’ve been playing we’re now 1 1/2 games out of the 3rd wild card spot. As in “go 7-3 at any point” and we’re an actual contender.
talk to me in 2 months when we’ll all be singing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUODdPpnxcA
When I use my Lylin Eyesomiter and zoom out over the whole season a pattern emerges. The team is, generally, not good enough to bludgeon a team to death with offense. It also can’t choke a team out with pitching most of the time. So it sputters along. I see, with my Lyles, many great plays, many solid innings pitched, many hits and walks, some positions where “next man up” actually has worked fairly well. Nice.
But from the first game against Oakland, you know, way back when the season was “over” for the first time cause everything was the same as it’s ever been? There are huge dips and coughs and sputters. Sudden bad pitching from just about anyone. Sudden crap hitting from the heart of the order. Errors for everyone. Sometimes we overcome this. sometimes we get losses like the last two. Generally we are almost never just plain getting our asses kicked.
Loups gone. Tepera’s gone. Suarez should be gone. Those were the biggest pooped cylinders. We should get slightly better now. Everything else is simply a matter of just about everyone on the team doing slightly better a little more often. Then we will win one of two games like this weekend and even bludgeon and strangle for stretches. It’s just not that far fetched an idea. From management to coaching to roster construction the team has a fairly strong engine, it’s got to be tuned up a little better. They can make the wild card if they do. The team’s just not all that bad and no one out there is really all THAT good either.
Oatmeal cookies are delicious, just keep the raisins out….
Know what’s awesome? Oatmeal cookies with Raisinettes.
What a grand idea! Combining chocolate covered raisins in oatmeal cookies. It almost sounds too good to be true. It borders on being illegal or criminal. I gotta try this before tomorrow’s game. If eating oatmeal cookies with Raisinets is wrong, I do not want to be right.
You will not be wrong…. you could get fat
merrily going nowhere but team is very capable of going on a 10-game run.
The boys will hit and score runs. Starters are good enough and if each just has two good turns in a row and a little luck, we can have a good run- some sugar, some chocolate and cream, oatmeal is definitely something good to work with.
It’s good for your poop too
Horses eat oats. They are buff as fk.
love the raisins but hate the cranberries . (The dried fruit that is. I’m ambivalent about the band)
Oakland just tied Texas in the bottom of 7th. Help me sleep better tonight, A’s!
followed by Texas batting in the top of the 8th and scoring 8
I guess I am not going to sleep that well tonight. Oh well, tomorrow’s Angels game does not start until 3:30 pm our time, right?
On a positive note , the under achieving pitcher Jack Kochwan#%*$ made his first AA start today and got the win today 5 innings 2 hits 2 BBs 2 ERs no HRs 4 Ks . This is encouraging start for someone who has gone through a lot in the organization.
On another note Eric Torres ( who would be great situational LHP to back up Moore) pitched another scoreless inning in May today. He has 20 Ks in 10-1/3 innings this year but melted down in April trying to grip the slimy ball. I guy like that would have been a great alternative against Naylor today if Moore wasn’t viable and Sandy had run out of gas.
Oakland bases loaded no out in the bottom of 5th inning. Two down against Texas. Let’s go A’s!
games that start at 8am on Peacock 🦚 aren’t real and don’t count
Ha, ha. This was the second time this season that Angels started early in the east coast. If you remember, Angels had to play Boston in Fenway with rain delay which forced Shohei’s start limited to few innings. Angels ended up winning that game, but I still think that Boston was manipulating the game time start to affect Shohei.
But that was for the annual Patriots day game. But This was for some Idiot NBC executives new programming idea.
I have a feeling that Shohei Ohtani being on Angels has something to do with it. But, I am still miffed with MLB catering out to Apple and Peacock and ignore MLB fans especially MLB.TV subscribers.
Every Peacock game has an early start on are broadcast from East coast stadiums . Im sure our visit to Cleveland was a no brainer to televise for this game.
I just looked ahead. Angels have three more Peacock games, all of them being in East coast starting early. Texas has one, neither Houston or Oakland has any. That is significantly unfair.
couple that with the Patriot game start thats a total screw Jon from the Manfrauds.
Our players look asleep for most of the game.
I am usually not a conspiracy theory person, but I have to wonder if this is a maneuver for MLB to attract Shohei to east coast teams if he does not re-sign with Angels.
Correction on Houston. Astros play Mariners in a Peacock game in August.
Seattle lost! Let’s go White Sox!!
Ok, Angels still lost. The only time the competition W-L record means anything is at the trade deadline and the time to look over shoulders is September. Angels just need to take care of business.
Or June…or July.
LMAO…those wrists are too small to be Perry’s
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/56c31a78-6b9c-4058-9793-df24a7644780
So close for White Sox! Umpire behind the plate called the obvious ball low and outside the zone a strike, which would have been a walk and a chance for White Sox to walk off, but unfortunately was followed by a great catch of a liner by Houston central fielder.
Would’a, should’a, coulda’ism…..if it weren’t for the 2 recent miracle come from behind 9th inning wins, we’d be 1-8 in our last 9. Not seeing the way we play baseball as an ideal template for a successful baseball season.
It feels as though the team should be better than 21 – 20.
I know the Halos have lead in a majority of the games they’ve played in.
The bullpen isn’t to blame: they’ve performed better than most of us thought possible.
What sticks out to me is Nevin: he doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, or to make adjustments based on recent performance.
And it’s not that his game critical decisions are random. If they were, he might be right 50% of the time.
It’s even worse, he seems to choose the absolute worst possible options that consistently snatches victory out of the team’s grasp.
Sure, there is no chance that Nevin gets a mohawk and gets canned on the same day – but, damn, I would give up wine for a week to see Benjie take the reins….
The margin for error is thin for this team. A lot more ways to lose games than win them. Most of the time the starting pitchers aren’t going to win you a game, best you’ll get for them is keeping it close. Always leaving it in the hands of our bullpen with 4 innings of work everyday. Defense is a detriment, base running bad, fundamentals bad, coaching bad. Offense is more times than not sporadic.
Don’t know if they keep track of “Shit The Bed Innings” “STBI”, but if they do we definitely are among the league leaders.
I agree, thin margin.
But, damn, I like this team.
We have a lot of good pieces.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Frustrating…
and if wasn’t for all the other stupid moronic mistakes we’ed be at least 6-3 or 7-2 in the last 9.
Winners dont do this shit.
Amen, Brother….
But I prefer a more positive phrase, a squirrel sometimes finds a nut.
Luis Torrens cleared waivers and is available. We should sign him.
Why? because he owns shinguards and is still breathing?
His defensive metrics are terrible. PTP screwed the pooch on this one by not signing enough depth in the offseason ( of course not knowing what’s going on with Stassi doesn’t help) but why double down by signing more junk?
Id rather bring up Humphreys from AAA. he knows a lot of the pitchers already.
Because it’s better than that guy who’s currently on our roster. Apparently Wallach comes back tomorrow, so there’s that. But at least Torrens has been an actual major league player. How does it hurt? I do agree that Minasian has not adequately addressed the depth problems, including RP and C.
According to reports, Shohei was not comfortable throwing his splitters or even slider/sweeper because Okey had never caught him before last Tuesday against Houston. He never makes complaints about anyone, but by limiting his pitch selection, he was not able to keep Houston down in that 5th inning. He also admitted that his middle finger nail did crack. So, not having Wallach affected his pitching that day even if Shohei would never admit that.
Nah. So Ohtani falls apart every time he pitches in the Olympics? Or WBC? Or all star game? Or the Angels trade for a catcher?
Sure, it’s gonna be in the back of your head pitching to a new catcher, but you start each inning with no runners on. Hell, throw your craziest pitches more often to the first couple batters, let the new catcher see em. A pitcher might be a little antsy with a RISP, otherwise nah. Reports can eat a bag.
Reports are definitely all conjectures at best. Shohei is very protective of his teammates, sometimes to his fault, always putting blame on himself. I remember last Tuesday when he threw his first crazy sweeper, Okey could not catch it. After that, he did not throw any more sweeper. He did throw many sliders, but they were much more catchable for Okey. Overall he still pitched seven innings only giving up 3 runs, eligible for quality pitching. Angels lost that game because they could not do anything against Framber Valdez.
Yeah. They beat the “can I throw this pitch to this catcher?” fear out of you in high school cause most catchers suck and if you’re a good pitcher you’ll have about 8 of them in a season. The only adjustment that might get made is you don’t throw that knuckle curve for strike three till you have to cause passed ballz. But other counts? Hell, let it get by him. I mean, can you imagine how many sliders in the dirt wind up at the backstop when a pitcher is 16 or 17 years old? The pitch is the job. And then the next one. Even Tepera knows this, much less shohei.
What do you think of Shohei calling all of his own pitches? This is partly due to the pitch clock rule, and you can see him pressing the Pitch COM device almost right after he receives baseball back from his catcher so that he does not violate the rule. I am certain between innings he and his catcher converse and exchange ideas, but it is also possible that Shohei falls into certain pattern (like using too many slider/sweeper) and his catcher not able to communicate that during the same inning. Tyler Anderson is another Angels pitcher who calls his own pitches.
I say why not? I think managers will let pitchers who can do it well do it. I think if a pitcher isn’t good at it, or doesn’t do his homework and just tries to wing it, they won’t. But if it works well then why not?
It seems like every series now the Angels find another way to lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_B4PtwE-QA
This game was on Nevin. PH Trout in the top of 8th for Rengifo forced him to bring Okey in to catch in the bottom of the 8th.
It was obvious that Estevez and the catcher were not on the same page in that inning. I know Wallach is back on Monday but Okey should be no where near a major league diamond .
Naylor has struggled mightily against Lefties vs righties this year (.456 OPS vs .684 OPS) and even though the wind was blowing in the ball still carries better out to right field. I know he got Moore on Friday night but still the percentages might have dictated leaving Sandy in or bringing in Moore ( assuming hes available)
I was not thinking about Okey replacing Thaiss when Trout pinch hit for Thaiss. That may have been the reason why Estevez had to start with a clock violation when facing Naylor. If Thaiss or Wallach were the catcher, time out could have been called. Angels always seem to bite the dust when these little misgivings accumulate.
Or also why he was forced to groove a 2-0 pitch right in Taylor’s wheelhouse.
Estevez strength is up in the zone . He learned that over spring training. Okey Never set the target up there.
The 8th is the new and improved 4th for our meltdown inning, at least for now. Josh Naylor really nailed us…..4 RBI last 9 games and has a .214 BA.
Then he has 5 hits and 6 RBI, in the last 3 games. I sure he’s disappointed we are leaving town. Lucky we weren’t swept.
That may the silver lining that we have never been swept this season . Another is that we have not been shut out this season, either.
It’s mid-May, time to turn the dial up and start winning 3-4 game series. Need a run going. While the front office fumbled two games, the Angels were battling. My memory goes back to the 2019 team that just melted down and players just said fuck it (aka Simba).
Unlike the Phillies last year I dont see a transformation or a Coach bump on the horizon. ( who would PTP even hire to replace Phil? certainly not his BFF bench coach)
Somehow the players need to clean this shit up themselves.
I know it’s incremental, but Phil did put Brett Phillips as pinch runner, which turned out to be huge on Friday’s game’s come back win. I think he is learning. As long as we can avoid the 14 game losing streak debacle last year before All Star break, Angels will be still around playoff possibilities. Task against Orioles is not getting any easier. Gotta win the first game tomorrow.
Which we have done last 4 series
True. But I still would love to win the first game of every series. That would increase the chance of winning the series, or even possibly sweeping them. At worst, it will avoid being swept. It is always good to set a high goal and dream.
also too lazy to look it up, but I bet the team that wins the first game of a series wins the series most often.
OK, have it your way. Don’t win tomorrow. That’s not stupid.
uh huh, lol
Nevin? Or shadow GM
I actually have no issue with PH’ing Trout. Game was finally tied after a really tough 7 innings with the chance to get ahead, you go for it. You worry and figure out the other things later.
From the recap yesterday at OC Register, this stood out to me:
It’s debatable as to whether Nevin should have gone to Estevez right away when Wantz was flailing all over the place last night, seeing as Estevez didn’t exactly have an easy outing Friday night. But we’ve all talked about “saving” your best player and then never having a chance to use them at all.
If the Guardians had walked it off at bottom of the 9th instead, and the game ended at 2-1, we would have all questioned why Nevin left his (arguably) best player on the bench when he had a chance to tie or take over the lead in the 8th.
That was on Nevin. If he really didnt want to be forced to use Tepera then why didnt he bring Devemski back to start the 7th? Chris was at 14 pitches and even though he came into a shitty situation and let 2 Inherited base runners score he looked dominant. if he comes back in the 7th and gets at least 2 outs, Wantz isn’t out there in the 8th at 40 plus pitches.
Yes I agree Devenski could have gone back out on a new, clean 7th inning. Don’t see any reason why he could have not, esp at 14 pitches.
But I don’t know why you keep insisting he let 2 inherited runners score. Kwan scored on Rosario’s double when Detmers was pitching, score was 3-1. Detmers gets pulled, Devenski in. Rosario scores on his wild pitch, score is now 3-2. Devenski then proceeds to K both Bell and Naylor, inning done.
My apologies. You are correct. I didnt realize Kwan had scored on the double. So I guess 1 out 1 inherited runners scored that inning putting Devenski at 50% for the season.
I think Estevez, Moore, and Devenski were great additions by Perry Minasian off season. Retaining Loup and Tepera were not good decisions as it turned out.
Giving two relievers with experience, good career track records, and contracts six weeks (or ten whole IP) to see if they can get it together just isn’t the end of the world. Especially cause no one’s trading anyone then and none of the 23 year olds are ready to go.
But now it makes a lot more sense to pay the bad men to go away.
Might be doing better than Maddon was at this time a year ago.
gotta be on record pace for allowing inherited runners in.
The silver bullet……….get him yesterday!!!!
Bob Seger?
It must be because I dont think Joc Pederson is on the Marlins.
I am disappoint – thought removing Tepera would’ve made a difference.
The cup still butters as it always has.
Lets just say that this is a step in the right direction. Turn a page and win tomorrow. Hoping that Shohei pitch perfectly tomorrow to redeem himself from that horrible blunder today.
did you just ask me to turn a page?
