The Angels started a weekend series against the rarely-seen Miami Marlins. Reid Detmers faced off against former Oakland pitcher Jesus Luzardo.
Nobody scored in the first inning, but three straight Marlins singles in the second inning gave Miami an early one-run lead, driven in by former Angel/Greinke trade bait Jean Segura. The Angels attempted to answer back by loading the bases with 2 outs, but rookie sensation Neto not so amazingly struck out, leaving 3 LOBsters.
In the third, Miami’s Jorge Soler immediately launched a LONG ball to centerfield for his 16th homer of the season. 2-0 Marlins.
The pitchers didn’t allow any runs from this point until the bottom of the third when the Angels finally got on the board thanks to a hot grounder past 2B Arraez by Wallach, followed by a wild pitch and an RBI single from Mr. Trout. 2-1 Marlins.
Not content with being down one-run, Detmers’ wheels fell off in the 6th inning with another cluster of singles, 4 in a row to be exact, including a cheap Segura roller that wouldn’t go foul, hitting third base. Nick Fortes’ single to left made the score 3-1 Marlins. Bases still loaded with no outs, Detmers gave way to Jacob Webb, who immediately got one out on a grounder to Neto who threw home for the first out forceout, and followed up with a strikeout and a grounder to end the inning with no more runs allowed. Solid work by Webb. That’ll play.
Luzardo’s night was also over after 5 innings. Bryan Hoeing took over and nearly gave up a Renfroe double if not for a diving stop by Segura. That turned out to be pretty big when Drury oppo homered next. Instead of being tied, the score was now 3-2.
Urshela did his best to continue the rally by getting a hit and stealing second base, but another pitching change to Andrew Nardi stopped the rally.
Webb’s previous inning performance didn’t carry over to the seventh. A single, followed by a De La Cruz homer gave the Marlins a larger lead once again. 5-2 Miami.
In the 8th inning, top prospect Sam Bachman made his major league debut, striking out his first batter Nick Fortes. He’ll remember that forever, and hopefully it’s the first of many to come, as well as the beginning of a successful bullpen overhaul. However, on this occasion, a couple singles and a walk resulted in another insurance run. Then the Angels got a big fat zero in the bottom of the 8th. 6-2 Marlins going into the final frame.
Bachman was back out for the 9th and gave up a leadoff hit, but it was erased by a double play. A couple more singles followed, but a strikeout ended the top of the inning with no runs allowed.
But the Angels went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Game over. Solid 3-4 performance by Urshela and a decent debut from Bachman, but the Marlins win 6-2.
Want to know FRIGGIN EVERYTHING about “the sweeper”? Here is a YouTube video that will assplain the whole thing to you in a not too dry/boring way with a cool history of how pitch tracking tech led the way…. plus a hint at why Garrett Richards never took off.
Thanks – great video.
Ben Joyce the last 3 outings including last nite for RC:
5 IP 2 hits 1 BB 7 K’s 0 ER’s
So I don’t think it will be long before he be joins Bachman in Anaheim.
Eric Torres, on the other hand, got rocked in his AAA debut:
0.33 IP 3 hits 2 BB 2 HBP 1 K 5 ER ( BTW that calcs out to a 15.00 WHIP and a 135.00 ERA) So maybe his problem isn’t those Schweddy AA balls. He may just have a case of the good ol’ fashion Yips.
Does anyone know if Joyce has pitched two days in a row yet? I know that’s a goal for him.
Nope.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=joyce-000ben&type=pgl&year=2023
And considering last night was a 31 pitch 2 inning affair, I doubt it will happen tonight
We have Devenski, Moore, and Estevez well rested and ready to go, too.
We also have 8 straight games after tonight ( and then 13 straight after the next off day) so either we start blowing out our opponent early in every other game or we will need high leverage contributions each night from someone other than the big 3.
You and I would not mind “stress free” games where we score first and maintain late inning more than 5 run lead (5 because in case Loup gives up a grand slam homer) sprinkled here and there. It is healthy for our blood pressure if that happens.
I think this may be the perfect time to just come out and announce that I am ready to go when the Angels give me the call.
Well dont spend too much time waiting by the phone Gitcho
How good of shape you in? Send you out there and you’d probably Bundy it.
I have a lot of those paper bags you find in the back pocket of airplane seats. I used to travel frequently by plane and collect them. I can send some of them to my dear Gritcho-sensei.
as long as a busted shoulder 50MPH fastball and 40MPH change aided by an also destroyed elbow will get it done, and I don’t need to run, field or hit, we will be fine. Oh, and the catcher may want to walk the ball back out to me after each pitch. also oh. I may drop dead after the game.
But other than that, ready to go baby!
And THAT is exactly why Bachman was brought up. We’ll see pretty soon how he handles the stress… Last night was not a real test since he came into the game when we were already behind by a couple of runs …
A few thoughts. Bachman has good stuff. He’ll be fine.
The Angels were due for a stinker. We’ll get em next game
Need a reliever named Drive.
Bachman turneds over2 Drive
There has be to a reliever candidate with name Turner, which has to be fairly common name to complete the trio (or quartet, assuming that Bachman has a brother or two)
Does Bachman have a walkup song?
Takin’ Care of Business would be awesome for a reliever.
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet could go both ways ….
Just Takin Care of Business. thats what you want your bullpen to do.
Is “Could go Both Ways” a BTO song? I dont think I know that one.
Detmers would be the first person to tell you that he threw a dud of a game last night. Here is a song that would uplift his spirit as well as mine this morning.
https://youtu.be/QUQsqBqxoR4
Maybe he should be a little more brave and throw more F’ing strikes. Less sad Donkey. Stop walking everyone, more 1-2 counts, less 3-2, less 2-0. Quit trying to K everyone.
I had similar thoughts. Detmers started the game 0-2 against the first batter. His next three pitches weren’t close. He was fairly wild. I thought he was supposed to have quality control. With the Angels, he has increased velocity and decreased accuracy. Is that helping? He has zero wins this year.
Yeah. I’m neither Detmers nor a pitching coach, but to my Lylin Eyes he looked like he’s trying to sell the strike out. Both when he gets 2 strikes early AND when he’s walking guys. Too cute. Trying too hard. Can’t just throw a good pitch in a good spot and trust his stuff…. he has to get the swing and miss.
This means a lot of hard work and wasted pitches unless you are Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson.
Perhaps the no hitter that he had last year has had negative impact on his mentality that he feels like he needs to strike out every batter he faces. Somehow if he learns to induce weakly hit grounders, he will be more economical with the number of pitches and easily lasts through 7th or even 8th inning.
Detmers a week ago vs last night
Against Twins: 12 strike outs, 24 swing and misses, 3 hits allowed
Against Marlins: 5 stoke outs, 11 swing and misses, 10 hits allowed
Nevin mentioned that his breaking pitches were not as sharp yesterday.
He used to be the second most hard luck Angels pitcher after Canning, who seems to have reversed his momentum at last outing. Now he has replaced Canning for the depressing place. Detmers should have had at least 2 wins in April if it weren’t for Rengifo and Rendon’s errors and miscues.
If Angels keep the current rotation, Detmers’ next turn is the first game of Houston series. That would be a good place to start turning his luck around.
I went to the game tonight; the first one in four years. Here are some random observations:
The scoreboard in right is sweet. The picture is clear and crisp…really nice.
The food and drink options are strong but I ended up going with old reliable – helmet nachos and beer.
It’s amazing how many Japanese fans were there. The Ohtani factor is real and Arte will definitely feel it in the pocketbook if Sho-time leaves.
The bathrooms are awful and so outdated. I felt like I was in the Oakland Coliseum.
How can we bring hockey fan etiquette to baseball games? Specifically, you only leave your seat or go to your seat during a stoppage in play. Baseball “fans” are so oblivious sometimes.
Can we retire the rally monkey or at least get rid of the ridiculous skits? It’s so cringey.
All in all, it was good to be back to the Big A. However, I still prefer watching the games from the comfort of my home.
The movement of fans at critical moments pisses me off to no end. Some idiot standing up to grab his wallet fishing for a buck spending 30 seconds blocking my view of a GD Ohtani at bat. Sit the F down dawg and fish thru your pockets while seated! Wait until a pitch is thrown before getting up again or before returning to your GD seat!
My opinion re Angel Stadium (for what it is worth) is as follows. All scores out of 10.
Safety – 9
Baseball experience- 6.5
Knowledgeable fans – 4
Views – 7.5
Food – 6
Old school baseball feeling – 4
Beverage selection – 7
Cheesiness factor* – 9
Value – 7
Overall – 6/10
*cheesiness factor includes non-baseball things designed to keep the interest of average fans like the rally monkey, video truck races, find the Angel ball, kiss cam etc. For me the cheesiness factor is a negative.
Less Cheese is more ’71?
Im little confused so we get a 9 because we don’t have too much cheese?
You know your “Knowledgeable Fans” ranking would be an 11 if you took all of us to the game next time.
More cheese is always better…add cheese please to my burger. Burritos, extra cheese. At the Olive Garden, do you you want some parmesan cheese on that pasta? Of course I do!
I have learned to add some melted Italian cheese to white rice and now addicted to it, which would have been considered an act of blasphemy in Japan.
Uh oh. Asian fella admits dairy is delicious. Will they even let you back into the country?
That might explain why Government of Japan has not given me visa to visit my birth country. I always thought it was my passport picture with mohawk.
Nope. It’s the cheese.
I could adjust the cheesiness factor to be a low score means most cheesy. In that case I’d give Angels Stadium a 1 or very cheesy. Cheesy is bad as far as I’m concerned. I miss an organ and a live player.
As for knowledgeable fans – my rating was not for the participants on this site. It was for the folks who go to games and spend their time on their cellphones etc. Or the ones who only know Trout and Ohtani.
I dig the organ, etc. Kiss cam is old cheese too. Old cheese is OK with me. The new cheese is meh. Rally monkey isn’t a tradition, it’s just a gimmick that they won’t let die. Some of those are cool, like terrible towels, but the RM is pretty played out. Kinda like our uniforms, most of the music associated with the team, etc. It’s like time stood still in 2004.
Safety? Need a some hand rails in the stall?
And anyone 25 and younger went ape shit crazy when Zach Neto’s walkup song was played. Reminded me of this classic Chappelle skit.
https://www.facebook.com/ComedyCentral/videos/what-makes-white-people-dance-feat-john-mayer-questlove-chappelles-show/263292465064433/
It just occurred to me. Do the Marlins have any pitchers left after tonight? They threw a lot of guys out there.
They used 4 relievers last night and the night before (vs Rockies), 3 of them pitched two days in a row, albeit only an inning each.
Barf.
Gio. Good job bruh. Bachman, saw you with my face. Pitched 2 innings. Ok I guess. Webb, two for you too? Way to do the job. No walks is nice, just, ya know, less sticks on balls buddy.
No Moniak. Boo Fking hoo. I do believe he’s playing tomorrow. Do you believe Moniak just needs a shot against lefties? Do you also feel that, between the two of you, Nevin is the stupid one? Well, we’ve found the problem.
Trout? Two hits baby. Have some more hommie.
Otherwise this game was poop on poop. Turd the page.
But you can’t deny that they (Nevin & Ward) COULD be in bed together as Allen was saying in the gamethread.
Well, we all know who’s doing the sucking right now. Just because all the people MickMoaning are kinda stupid doesn’t mean Adell can’t get a quick look at MLB pitching again while Ward fixes his obvious minor injury.
If it were true….Nothing happened. Ward rarely reaches first base and most likely would strike out….If you know what I’m saying.
Thought the big moment was when Angels failed to score with bases loaded in the second inning. We were pressuring Luzardo really well, but Neto was a little too anxious and swung at pitches outside the zone and the count became 0-2 and Neto struck out. Had we scored there, the game could have been more competitive.
Shohei looked like the first year Shohei when he had problems with southpaws; he appeared clueless there. Again, I don’t know who the starting pitcher for Marlins, but I assume Moniak would play in place of Ward tomorrow.
Neto LOBsters were plentiful tonight. It happens. Turn page.
You are right. Perhaps it is a good sign that we did NOT win the first game of the series, which has not happened for almost a month. Think positive. We also saved Devenski, Moore, and Estevez for later, so if Shohei pitches at least 6 innings tomorrow, I like our chances to start a new win streak.
someone smarter than me earlier today on this site said we lose tonight and win the next two. I subscribe to this theory.
I remember that, but I thought it was you who said that. I am a little too lazy to check that out, but no matter. Can’t win ’em all. All of us will return tomorrow to cheer for our Halos.
Let me chime in with another brilliant piece of prophecy or two. We will lose at least one more game this year. And we will have to win a game after a loss if we hope to not lose all the games after that loss.
Deep. Thoughts. Gritpump.
Not sure who specifically said it but twitter’s afire with a report that the AppleTV MLB crew said that Tom Selleck is dead. Randazzo and D-Train – whoops! 🤣
Bryan Hoch ⚾️
@BryanHoch
“The Apple TV+ broadcast just issued a RIP to Tom Selleck, who is very much alive.”
It wasn’t well received, but I enjoyed Selleck in Mr. Baseball.
Strike 5!
On the bright side, Percival 3 innings, 0 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and the save, in his Angels debut
Cole right? Troy’s not trying to make a comeback is he ?
A day off and we become
When they released Reyes Moronta, they need to feed him before he went home. He took all the hot pockets.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12116999/Kentucky-man-shoots-roommate-buttocks-ate-Hot-Pocket-freezer.html
I was not happy with how Thaiss handled Bachman.
He called WAAAAAYyyy too many sliders. Didn’t use the fastball nearly enough.
Things would have gone a lot smoother had Thaiss had him throw that 97 mph heater more.
That was kind of weird. It was a slider fest for sure.
If you go back and watch the video I believe a lot of pitches were being called by the dugout . So maybe Phillip was the one demanding moar sliderz. I’m not sure why he needed to since the kids fast ball is pretty damn good .
Yep. My thinking as well… And the fact he threw so many and so many consecutively means those dudes on the Marlins had to be sitting on it. And it looked like they were…The only thing I can think of is that maybe our side had concerns that the scouting report on Bachman was “good fastball” so they thought they’d be looking for it ?
In any case, the fastball is the one pitch (when good velo and location) that is STILL effective even if batters are looking for it.
That’s a good guess, they were trying to bet that “rookie” would come in, try to keep it simple, and anxiously rely on heat.
You’e right Frosty. He had a couple 97- 98 mph fastballs right at the top of the zone and there was nothing the fish could do but fillet at it.
Is that Urshela?
I thought it was Sosh.
😂
It’s actually incredible that with 16 hits and 4 walks allowed we only gave up 6 runs.
You’re allowed to lose the first game of a series?
Now the 72 game win streak begins. Ohviously.
Bummer