Ohtani made an error! OMG 1-0 Marlins 1-0! Did I say 1-0?
Nothing happened in the second inning.
Jared Walsh walked and Go Urshela doubled him in to make it 1-1.
This was 1-1 even at the fifth inning.
In the fourth, Jacob Stlallings singled. Xavier Edwards singled. Jorge Soler walked and Luis Arreaz singled to score Stallings. 2-1 Marlins.
In the fifth, Zach Neto was struck by a pitch and then Mike Trout walked. Shohei Ohtani grounded into a double play. That ended the inning.
Fhe Angels appear to have lost this one. So moch for the sweep.
Rex Fregosi Photo credit dudes!
Would love to see Kenyon Yovan get a call-up.
He’s got some true grit coming back from a blood-clot in his throwing shoulder in 2019.
Not sure of the exact story, but I read that Yovan converted to pitching in 2022 or 2023, being a positional player before then.
He seems to have a raging fire burning in his belly when he’s on the mound.
We can use some of that in the bullpen right now.
We have called up the Right Arm of Ben Joyce
https://flic.kr/p/2oDpMUE
The Right arm of my dreams
As long as it’s not the right hand of your dreams 😜
Yovan must be on somebody’s black list. With his impeccable numbers and his 0.46ERA at Rocket City you would at least think he would get a look. He did go 2 innings last time out.
His Ks/9 are the greatest but you can’t argue with his success
We need more than just Joyce. ts time to give this guy a shot too. https://www.milb.com/rocket-city/news/kenyon-yovan-may-2023-rctp-feature
Todays Lineup:
Moniak
Trout
Ohtani
Drury
Walsh
Urshela
Thaiss
Ward
Soto
Sandoval
Halo Power Baby!!
Glad to see that Renfroe is not in there.
He’s been stinking it up lately ..
But Renfroe has done his job defensively even during this slump. Now if the rest of the team we can just go a whole game catching the ball and touching the bases we can actually win one today.
I am assuming Neto has his schedule day off. Somewhat worried that he got hit by pitch for the 9th time this season. I was screaming my head off, “What are you doing to my Neto, papa of my multiple birth children!” At this pace, he will have been hit for a total fo 27 times. Yes, I am a math major.
Given that he is on fire, shouldn’t Urshela hit fourth?? He can be the steady guy behind Trout and Ohtani.
The Moore injury really hurts the Angels. He was very productive.
BTW barring a total eight inning gem by Sandoval, the Louper almost has to be used today. Ugh.
Not necessarily. if Sandy gives us 7 . We can use Devenski in the 8th and estevez in the 9th.
What I am hoping. Sandoval did pitch well 7 2/3 inning against Cleveland and his high school teammate even though he lost (another game which we should have won). His last outing was due to him being under the weather. I don’t have to see Ben Joyce today.
No Ren Bros in the starting line up?!
Is that like, “fun(Rengifo), fun(Renfroe), fun(Rendon) till her daddy takes the T-bird away?”
Moore oblique strain = moore loses, moore Loup, moore falling in the standings.
1 of 2 reliable arms in the pen, one of the few reliable/consistent pieces on this team.
Let’s see what Joyce has to offer, ready or not. I’m sure he will pitch today, probably forced fed into Moore’s role, and probably not ready for that. He’ll throw a ton of pitches, and struggle with command…….but that is normal for all of our pitchers….except Moore and Estevez.
I’ll assume Moore’s oblique will be slow to heal, misdiagnosed, and slow to get back to is old self….trAditions.
I blame Arte, I blame the off day, I blame the shitty defense and fundamentals.
.500 baseball is stupid.
Abdominal muscle strain is tricky. Cannot perform surgery to fix it, just need to let it heal. There is not anything that will make it heal faster. Steroids may remove the inflammation slightly faster and new method platelet rich plasma might make moderate difference, but it sounds like voo-doo to me. It depends on the severity, and they might utilize MRI, but 4-6 weeks are quite likely, so Angels may have to prepare themselves for 2 month absence of Moore.
Wow, that didn’t take too long. I guess I did not drink as much as I thought last night. No hang over.
Shohei Q&A :
Q: Did you use more sweepers than last outing? If so, why?
A: I note some types of pitch work better than others and they change every time I go out there pitching, so I try to correct those that was not effective previously. So, I am going to try to improve on pitches that did not work out today at my next turn.
Q: You looked frustrated at your last at bat, how do you feel about your batting lately?
A: I thought I was swinging at pitches which were in “difficult” location, and that led to disappointing results. I feel like I have been tracking pitches well, and I need to work on swinging when the pitch is in my hitting zone.
Q: What is your thought on your pitching today?
A: It was neither good nor bad. I feel good that I at least pitched 6 innings, but I feel like I could have done better in the 1st and 5th innings when Marlins scored.
Q: Is there anything that you changed in your pitching routine?
A: No. I have doing the same preparation for the past 2 seasons.
Q: You tend to allow lead off hitter in inning to reach base.
A: I am aware that it is important to prevent each inning’s lead off hitter to reach base, but more than that I need to work on not giving up a walk regardless of out count.
Q: You could not take advantage of Trout lead off single in the 9th inning.
A: We should have walked if off in that inning. I feel that I should have at least advanced Trout to scoring position.
Q: What type of pitch that Gurriel hit for Marlin’s first run?
A: Slipped split.
Q: How do you feel about your splitters this season?
A: I like how they move, but I need to work on locating them better.
Q: You said your pitching was neither good nor bad today but you had 10 strike outs. What do you think was the reason for that?
A: I guess I am that kind of pitcher. But, I strongly regret that I gave up 3 walks today.
Q: What do you think Angels are lacking in regards to inability to win a game like today?
A: I am just a player. I do not construct lineups or decide when to change pitcher. That is manager’s job. I feel that I need to continue to work on what I can do as player and if I do that, I believe that the efforts will pay dividends in terms of teams win.
Thanks! That was interesting to read
You are most welcome!
I am glad the reporters asked him some tough/good questions instead of lobbing soft balls… In particular calling Shohei to task about the lead-off hitter problem as well as his tendency to issue walks…
If I were interviewing I would have added his tendency to put runners on and give up a score in the 1st Inning of games he pitches.
In his first 3 outings, especially in cold climate, his first inning performance was not good, but he was effectively wild for the opponents, and somehow got 2 wins and no decision on the opening day against As that we should have won. Shohei usually seems to be still searching for effective pitches in the first inning for that particular day, which may explain why he tends to allow runners/walks in the first inning. If Gurriel did not hit that “slipped splitter”, we might have been talking about Shohei’s first no hitter today.
According to yesterday’s announcers, Angels have won 8 out of 10 games that Shohei started counting from last year. I am sure that’s more important for Shohei than him getting his individual win and certainly the same thought for us avid fans.
A question. I am aware that NBA requires their players to talk to media after media if requested and penalize if they do not conform. Do MLB do that?
Good question. I would assume there is at least some minimal requirement. It is part of the job.
I’ll answer that question for you Mr. Shohei………We aren’t really that good. Unless you think .500 is good. It appears we lack that thing that make you gritty, clutchy, a winner. More times than not, we do the things that makes it harder to win, face more hitters, throw more pitches, more chance to expose our shit defense, more chances for something bad to happen, 2 outs is a bad thing, and well, that’s a bad thing. We love the Meltdown inning, it’s how we roll.
Our offense isn’t good enough to carry us. How it’s in the top ten in runs scored needs to be studied, it must be some kind of optical illusion, and basically meaningless.
You bring in an intriguing point, which leads to another one. I noticed that Shohei was involved with just one walk off hit in his Angels 5 1/3 year career. I may be wrong on this, but I don’t think he had any in Japan, either. Yes, he hits all these extra base hits and homeruns here and there but does not do them when they really count. You and I have witnessed countless occasions where he failed to come through. Therefore, I conclude he is NOT a clutch hitter.
It has been those side kicks, like Neto, Wallach, Thaiss, and Drury, who have been clutch this season. Not so much from Trout and Ohtani.
Trout did have the go ahead HR in 9th inning of game at St. Louis. That was a game the Angels went on to win.
Good memory! I guess we expect so much from Trout and Ohtani that when they don’t come through, that makes me remember the bitterness which lingers in my mind.
Trout has a career OPS of .999, that falls to .921 with 2 outs RISP and to .882 when the game is “late and close.” In terms of OPS, I think it is fair to say he has been worse but still very good in clutch situations. This season Trout is .841 with 2-out RISP, but an incredible 1.007 late and close. Trout is really giving it his all to win close games this year.
Ohtani has a career OPS of .883. That increases to .944 with 2 outs RISP but falls a lot to .750 when late and close. This season Ohtani has been particularly bad in the clutch with .616 2-out RISP and .710 late and close. If he wants to get to the playoffs, he needs to do better.
Very informative, thank you. It would be also interesting to see these numbers and divide them into one when he is pitching and another when he is not. I still recall the beautiful bunt hit that Shohei dropped against Mike Piazza led Team Italy in WBC, which sparked multiple run rally for Team Japan. I was hoping he would do something like that yesterday. He appears to be pressing this year instead.
I think this is a big part of it… The expectations are higher for them.
Kind of like LeBron in the NBA. People think he is “not clutch” but the actual numbers refute that assumption..
LBJ actually has more game winners in the last 2minutes of close or tied games than Kobe did in his career.… And I believe his % in those spots is better career wise than Jordan.
One thing that Shohei can definitely work on is efficiency. Yes the K numbers are nice but it also doesn’t help the team in general if he’s regularly at 80 pitches by end of 4. It stretches the bullpen thin.
Thus, the question of negative impact of his batting and running around the bases have on his pitching. He would improve his efficiency and last longer as pitcher if he does not bat as DH.
It is entertaining to witness Shohei pitch and hit in the same game. However, he would be still considered two way even if he stops being DH when he pitches.
Last night’s game can have way to many fingers being pointed in to many directions to too many players, but the truth still remains, Nevin is either the dullest pencil in the box or behind the scenes PTP is calling the shots wrong. Silseth getting hammered with no control with no one warming up, jeez.
My take on the Thaiss issue is Thaiss felt something blocking his foot, a cleat that was in the dirt was touching the plate. His foot did not move when he pushed off to make the throw because it was touching the plate with a cleat.
One thing seems to be clear, the ’23 version of the Ohtani on the mound is not the ’22 version of Ohtani on the mound. Might be time to stop calling the pitches. Concentrate on pitching with no distractions other than making the pitch.
Do I believe that holding Moniak out of games is the reason his good time mojo raising is over? Yes your honor I do.
If Mike Trout is just a station to station player now, get him out of the number 2 slot in the batting order. How I hate watching him decline in ability at such a young age. He also no longer can player CF at an elite level.
Stop the sweep. Today I can’t wait to see the dull pencil’s line up and who rests. To me Renfroe needs a rest, he is in a slump.
Ranting session is over, later.
Two points you made that could benefit Angels going forward:
Angels to DH Trout when Ohtani pitches next time. No longer needing to bat, Ohtani can concentrate on pitching (especially against Houston/Javier) and place probably quicker Moniak in CF. It also provides batting opportunities to both Ward and Moniak.
I think Shohei not hitting on days he pitches is definitely a good idea.
Shohei is .378/.440/.578 with 6 RBIs in games when he is pitching, so I think taking him out of the lineup when he pitches is definitely a bad idea.
My thinking was not so much that he can’t hit in those situations, but rather that HIS PITCHING will be improved if he can focus solely on that.
We are looking at it from pitcher’s perspective, and the only way to find out is actually taking him out of DH and see if that would improve his pitching performance, not that it is awful. I guess that’s the dilemma of being a unicorn.
Having him almost hit for cycle twice probably skewed the statistics somewhat, but in both of those games, Angels won.
Shohei did meet with Japanese media last night. I don’t get to watch the actual Q&A session, so I have no ideas as to whether he looked angry, frustrated, or unengaged. Since the game was rather long and started late, I could not stay up to read the newspaper last night, and I am still working on the translation.
Because of loss on Friday, to change things up, some of you may have noted that I did not post my prediction for starting lineup before the game. Besides, just about every regular participant of this site could have predicted yesterday’s lineup accurately. I should be commended for restraining my urge to post my estimation. It took the utmost mental and intestinal fortitude on my part to not post especially those R-rated cheerleaders photos.
I am in a dilemma. It’s like searching for an offending cause for allergy. You remove all possible factors and reintroduce a single item at a time. So, I will go after who should be in lead off spot today in multiple choice format. Marlin’s starting pitcher is righty Eury Perez.
Hopefully, I will be done with the translation of Shohei Q&A session before 1pm.
I did not expect to lose that game because of Moniak.
Although I guess the game doesn’t go to extras if Ohtani makes a good throw in the 1st.
I know. If Thaiss right foot were still on home plate when he caught that errant throw by Barria before his throw to first base, if Marlins 3B did not catch one of 4 hard hit balls at him, a lot of should’ve, could’ves. It is frustrating, but let’s stay positive. Don’t have to wait too long today (Game time 1:07 pm local time) for Angels to avenge last night’s loss and keep the have-not-been-swept-in-series pattern intact.
2-18 from the top four in the lineup won’t win many games. The Marlins starting pitcher was not Cy Young.
Agreed. As with many games that Angels lost this season, if we had one additional factor going our way, we would have been discussing a victory. To remain positive, I point out few reasons for optimism.
Urshela: What else can we say about him? He has been the most clutch Angel player and one of the smart off season acquisitions by Perry. (MFYankees fans have often lamented absence of Urshela on their roster.)
Thaiss: That single he hit last night as a pinch hitter putting us come back from behind 3-2 was uplifting and exhilarating. Saw numerous “Thaiss is nice, baby!” comments.
Wallach: He has been a solid and ever improving catcher as Shohei’s designated backstop. I noticed there were no WPs for Shohei in the last 3 games that Wallach caught.
That is because Chad has been excellent in preventing Shohei wild pitches from running far from him.
Season long positive pattern: Angels are the only MLB team who have not been shut out AND not swept in series. Having a no-longer-under-the-weather Sandoval is hugely positive today. Let’s go Angels.
Most of them become Cy when we face them, especially at home.
Nevin and silseth get the L tonight. Chase has had really bad control so far. He got bailed out quite a few times last game.
The Angels 10th inning:
Stupid Langston blaming barria!!!
The 10th inning was a complete failure of basic baseball fundamentals.
Fundamental 1: On a fly ball you extend your glove and even use two hands to secure it. Moniak attempted a basket catch which is fundamentally unsound.
Fundamental 2: when there is a force play at home (or really any base) the first job is to ensure your foot is on the base when you catch the ball. Thaiss never had his foot on homeplate. He acted like that play was the old ‘neighborhood’ play at 2B while turning two.
Such glaring failures in fundamental baseball happen but 2 in one inning, particularly extra innings, leading to 3 runs is brutal.
^ This^ So much this.
Breaking News:
Ben Joyce is called up. Matt Moore is going to be on IL because of oblique strain.
Missing Moore tonight clearly is one of the main reasons why we lost today. If Moore were available, Devenski for 7th, Moore 8th, and Estevez 9th would have won us a game, Silseth would not have pitched today. But, I am more concerned about how the loss of Moore will affect the Angels for next few weeks with 2 sets of 4 game series with Houston and Texas. Our thinness of bullpen strength will be fully exposed. At the least, Angels need to split those two series or will fall significantly behind those two teams and unless three teams in AL East slump together, the third wild card spot is going be further and further.
Wait is this actual news?
It’s real.
Give me all the heat.
I heard it during Nevin’s postgame conference on MLB.TV and post game show on KLAA. My wife tells me I don’t hear too well any more, so when I heard it twice, I was more confident that I heard it accurately. Apparently, it happened on Friday, and obviously Nevin did not want Marlins to know before yesterday’s game.
14 hour turnaround to hopefully salvage the series.
Today’s loss was really frustrating. As someone mentioned, last year’s 14 game losing started on this day last year, so it is essential that we win tomorrow to save our sanity or soul.
There have been so many games in April where something happened in early part of the game, be it Angels error, or mistake in base running, or loss of challenge because of earlier one that Angels should not have, spelled a bad omen for the rest of the game. Today, it was Shohei’s errant throw to the first base in the first inning, which resulted in Marlin’s first run eventually. Something sinister hang around despite Angels coming back a few times. This was a really tough loss.
just a bump in the road
That was one heck of an ugly loss at the end.