Today’s pitching match up featured Michael Kopech versus Shohei Ohtani. Kopech’s number 34 is twice as much as Shohei’s number 17, so let’s hope the Angels score twice as many runs as the White Sox.
Shohei did his part by hitting a home run in the first inning. 1-0 Angels.
In subsequent innings, several Angels walked. Other than that, nothing much happened. Eloy Jimenez did hit a double that proved to be pointless in the second inning. In the fourth inning, Luis Rengifo scored on a David Fletcher ground out to make it 2-0 Angels. The White Sox challenged the play at first but they were unsuccessful.
In the seventh inning Eloy Jimenez singled and Yasmani Grandal walked. Clint Frazier came in to pinch run for Grandal and Jacob Webb came in to pitch for Shohei Ohtani. Jake Burger grounded into a force out that removed Jimenez at third. Gavin Sheets then singled to drive in Frazier and send Burger to third. 2-1 Angels.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Shohei Ohtani homered to make it 3-1 Angels. That was number 28 folks! Thank you Touki Toussaint!
Brandon Drury walked to be replaced by pinch runner Andrew Velazquez. Velazquez stole second base. Mike Moustakas single to center and Velazquez scored. 4-1 Angels.
While Taylor Ward was batting, catcher Seby Zavala tried to back pick Moustakas at first only to make a throwing error. Moustakas ended up on third. Ward walked. Hunter Renfroe was out on a liner to third. Luis Rengifo then struck out to end the inning at 4-1.
Chris Devenski came in to pitch. The numbers 1-2-3 White Sox batters made three outs in a row. Chad Wallach came up and grounded out to third. David Fletcher also grounded out to third. Mickey Moniak added a bit of variety by striking out swinging.
Eloy Jimenez doubled to left off of Carlos Estevez. Andrew Vaughn singled to drive in Jimenez. 4-2 Angels. Zach Remillard singled to send Vaughn to second. Obviously, this is not one of Estevez’s better games. Jake Burger singled to load ’em up for Seby Zavala who fortunately struck out. Elvis Andrus grounded into a double play to end the game.
Shohei Ohtani struck out ten and hit two homers. The Angels won, though it was a nail biter.
Photo Credit: Rex Fregosi
Halfway through and we can all do the math to figure out we’d win 88 at this pace. But we see how tight it is with contenders. We’ll need to win 90, I think, and thus go 46-35 from here. Some team, us, Skanks, Jays, Cheaters, will do that so why not us?
It looks fine to say we are close to being on pace, however, one key element is not being considered : THE SCHEDULE. We have had a relatively easy first half schedule-wise … We failed to clean up on the bad teams, though we did take 2 of 3 from Washington we only won 5 of 7 from Oakland who was pretty bad at the time we played them ..
Before the break we have three against the Padres as well as three against the D-Backs, who are the kind of team capable of sweeping us. Then we finish with two at the Dodgers, and everyone knows how tough they’ve been on us… Let’s say we split the next two with Chicago… Then in the last 8 prior to the break I could see us going 3-5 (2-1 vs the Padres, 1-2 vs the D-Backs and losing both to the Doyers)… That hurts us a little …
THEN, just take a look at our opponents coming out of the break :
Astros for 3 (H), Yankees for 3 (H), Pirates for 3 (H), Tigers for 3 (R), Blue Jays for 3 (R) and Braves for 3 (R) … That is a REALLY tough stretch… I’d say three of those teams are capable of sweeping us (Astros, Jays, Braves) and all three would be favored to win the series.. so 3-6 in those games is a likely outcome.. The Pirates are a sneaky tough team that beat the Dodgers in a series and swept the Reds earlier… And even the Tigers are not a pushover as we saw them beat the Rangers on Monday…
So, in short, this stretch could knock us out of the race VERY quickly if we are not careful… I think coming out of the break a record of 8-10 or 7-11 is very possible … If we are unlucky enough to get swept by the Braves or Jays we could be worse…
We need Neto back, we need everyone else and all hands on deck come July !! By the end of that Braves series we should know if we are in it for the long haul or are out of it for good …
Shohei Q&A session:
Q: As pitcher, you had 10 strike outs and splitter seemed effective.
A: I threw many effective pitches for third strike today.. I really wanted to finish the 7th inning, but I was helped by my bullpen teammates.
Q: You had many fans yelling “MVP! MVP!”
A: I appreciate those fans yelling for me. That motivates me to do better, so I hope that they continue to cheer for me even louder. (He said the same exact thing to Japanese audience in WBC after he won against Team Italy in Tokyo Dome.)
Q:Are you at best condition as two way player?
A:As far as my hitting is concerned, I feel that I am pretty close to the ideal.
Q:How is your fingernail?
A:It was actually little cracked to start with.
Q:Is that going to affect your next outing?
A:We have not discussed when my next outing is. I would like to make next start as usual, but within reason. But, I will be prepared to pitch whenever I am called (by Nevin).
Q:This is the first time you hit two home runs on the day you pitched.
A:The second homerun was timely, and I thought the additional runs we scored after my homeruns were really important to assure the victory today.
Q:We noticed Ippei wore Kabuto instead of you.
A:I thought he was not wearing it correctly, and by not wearing in the correct manner, he managed to interrupt the good mojo we had. (LOL)
Q:What is your plan for Homerun Derby?
A:Since I do not know when my next turn to pitch, and with cracked fingernail, I am not certain at this point.
Q:What is your impression of the first half of the season?
A:I feel that Angels are currently in a great position. We love to continue this momentum all the way for the remaining games until ASG.
Q:It appeared that you did not want to come off the mound in the 7th inning.
A: I really wanted to complete the inning. But, my bullpen teammates were excellent in cleaning up the mess I left, and I felt exonerated by hitting the second home run.
Q: Did you have satisfaction in hitting those homeruns?
A: Yes, I did. The timing was pretty close to being perfect in hitting them, and I thought they were results from having ideal batting form and stance. I hope to continue to do the same tomorrow.
Q:Why did you not wear Kabuto after the first homerun?
A: I had to get ready for pitching for the next inning.
Q: Angels being in competitive position for postseason has beneficial effect on your performance?
A: I think it does. Everyone appears to be fired up in the clubhouse. All of us seem to be more motivated to work harder both offensively and defensively. It has provided me the mental focus required to perform.
Q:Are you predicting and reading the pitches well in batter’s box?
A:Rather than predicting well, I feel that I have been swinging my bat in the correct radius
Even I am little ahead or late timing wise, since my swing is in the right radius, I am able to contact the ball with power.
Q:Did the cracked fingernail affect your command?
A:I felt that I was able to execute the pregame plan, and I had firm control of of the game, but as the breakage worsened, the ball started to slip out of my fingers, resulted in walks and my command was not as good any longer.
Loved the technical stuff and then the Kabuto explanation. Thanks for these!
Just love the crack off of his bat. The first home run was hit far out to the crowd in the O-H-T-A-N-I-L-A-N-D section. Classic.
Dude, that might have been one of the best games played by a single player ever. Whatever Ohtani does or wherever he goes I’m glad we had him. So so cool.
Just made this. 🙂
Phil has a unique way in motivating the team
If Shohei went to Arte (though I know he’d never do it) and said I want Phil gone he would be out in a HEARTBEAT.
Unbelievable game by Ohtani.
I took my son. Just him and daddy. He’s learning the game through Ohtani. He knows the top of the lineup because Ohtani hits. He’s grasping three outs because then Ohtani can hit. Two strikes, Ohtani needs to get one more.
To watch this game with my little dude at this stage was simply priceless.
don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before (probably have but I’m an oldie) but this makes me happy because it reminds me of the joy my Dad must have gotten when he took me to the games.
Thanks.
Seriously the best thing ever.
I had not though of that until just now, thanks for the reminder, those are very happy memories for me. 😀
Shohei is flatly not human. That being said, good to see Fletcher getting his uni dirty doing vintage Fletch stuff.
Lodge clearly implied yesterday that Rendon & Moore are likely remaining on IL until after the AS game. Make sense, I suppose.
Neto and Moore both suffered oblique injuries. Didn’t that take out Matt Shoemaker during the stretch run? He was out a long time.
Yea, but breaking your pelvis? That’s truly an Angels move. Good one, Gio!
I think so (Shoemaker) didn’t he miss 6-8 weeks that year?
Moore is already throwing. Hopefully that means he’s coming back.
But knowing us, yeah.
What is the word on Neto? Miss the canon arm and he was just starting to hit with power.
I’ve been scouring for news on Neto.
As far as I can tell he’s not engaged in any “baseball activity”. No bueno.
I saw somewhere that Neto was going to play light catch on Friday and then go from there. I don’t remember the source.
It was Jeff Fletcher. Indirectly through, https://www.fantasypros.com/mlb/news/406083/zach-neto-oblique-hopes-to-play-light-catch-friday.php
https://twitter.com/SpookyScioscia/status/1673912427421880321
Funny stuff.
I love Shohei !!’
I’m doing a stat dive later tonight, but at this moment he’s the most dangerous hitter in the entire league and he’s a top 10 starting pitcher that can also swipe 20 bags a year as a parting gift.
He’s a video game athlete.
Best baseball player ever, duh.
I maintain that he is the greatest athlete ever.
Saying best player ever doesn’t do it justice.
Contemplating a guy that is top 10 as a hitter & pitcher at this level is mind blowing when you consider the athletes in the MLB.
You are preaching to the choir in me haha
I’ll keep saying this, but this dude MUST get to the playoffs – I bet he dominates when the lights are the brightest.
The MLB should want this, too. They should *nudge* the umps accordingly.
Other sports leagues obviously favor certain players & teams.
perhaps use those leftover “Judge” balls
Shohei shined in the WBC, Trout no so much
Trout was solid in the WBC .. ?
WBC Ohtani…
Trout had a couple of 3-hit games but was 64th in OPS, hit.296. Trey Turner was the USA star.
As BannedInLA said it, I bet Ohtani will shine in the lights are brightest. Dude is amazing.
I would happily take .296 from Trout now. Haha
Shohei is leading both leagues in HR, RBI, Slugging & OPS. He’s also only one of 9 players in MLB hitting .300+
As a pitcher, he’s first in batting average against, top 5 in strike outs and around top 10 in innings pitched. In short, he’s a top-10 starting pitcher, possibly top-5 depending on how you parse the statistics.
He seems to perform better as the stakes are higher.
Amazing.
imagine if we can ever get fully healthy
C – Thaiss / Wallach
1B – MOOSE / Renfroe
2B – Drury
SS – Neto
3B – Rendon
LF – Ward
CF – Trouty
RF – Moniak / Renfroe
DH – Ohtani
Bench – Escobar / Rengifo / Fletch
#1 Ohtani
#2 Detmers
#3 Canning
#4 Sandoval
#5 Anderson
#6 Barria
Estevez
Moore
Devinski
Webb
Soriano
Bachman
Joyce
Loup
Add in whoever Perry adds going forward.
I’m optimistic. LTBU !
FREE Anthony Rendon!
I know the Shufflebot protocol is clear, but can we get an appearance in honor of Shohei’s brilliance?
Downing or Red need to find the one time the bot showed up and it wasn’t a 3 win or more night. I remember it happening just Too GA to find it
I’m on vacation so I don’t have my quick access to gifs right now…
And I’m in a different time zone so y’all are asleep right now anyway
Shohei Ohtani is incredibly unbelievable.
He should be the most discussed Athlete in team sports.
Can we sprinkle some fairy dust on Trout – it’s going to hurt my soul if he’s
done and isn’t able to contribute in a big way to this playoff chase.
Dear baseball Gods, if he he’s washed, let it be next year. We’ll settle for 80% of Peak Trout.
Shohei is so locked in right now, it’s unbelievable to watch.
he likes June. I think his 2021 June was like this
Not this good.
2021, 13 HRs in June, 23 RBIs, 1.312 OPS
2023, 11 HRs, 24 RBIs, 1.300 OPS with 3 days to go. Pretty close, I’d say
He’s pitched better this June, 3.00 compared to 4.94 in 2021
The pitching he’s done is what makes it so incredible.
Shohei Ohtani already leads the AL in offensive fWAR. You don’t even have to count his pitching. He’s literally the best hitter in the game right now while also leading the rotation and I don’t think my most bullish predictions ever considered this level of greatness from him.
Gee… I wonder who gets Panther?