The Angels are in trouble. Losing 3 in a row, and going 5-10 in their last 15 games, the team had to salvage something. On top of that, Rendon was injured when he was actually playing well, meaning that it actually was going to hurt.
That placed a ton of pressure on young Soriano, who had to pitch as deep as he could, knowing the middle relief was terrible and getting any support was dubious at best. And while things looked good through 5 and 2/3 innings, an error and a missed catch by inches meant that the Angels were in a deep hole yet again late.
To his credit, Soriano went 6 innings, giving up 3 runs (0 earned) on 3 hits, striking out 7 and walking 3. If only the Angels offense wasn’t so bad. Or the defense. or the Bullpen. Is this team’s strength, err, least terrible part the starting rotation?!
Highlighted Recap
Things began painfully for the Reds as the SP Montas was hit by a line drive by Ward and had to leave the game in the first inning.
This meant the Angels would face a bullpen game. Great news for the run scoring. Right? Right?
Yeah, instead the Angels were shut out through 6 innings. At least Soriano was pitching a shutout as wel-
Of course…
And just like that, the Angels were down 3-0 despite facing a bullpen game against the Reds. In Cincinnati. A place that has been a hitters paradise for years. Ugh. Is there any actual Angels highlight of this game?
Alright, how about an OFFENSIVE highlight?
NOPE! You get NOTHING good DAY! Angels get shutout, swept, and humiliated.
Upcoming
The Angels go home and face Baltimore. Again. Because the Angels are in the eastern time zone or something WHO MADE THIS SCHEDULE?! Their first game against a team not in the eastern time zone is Friday against Minnesota. Who plays in the central time zone. In fact the first game the Angels have vs a team in the Mountain or Pacific time zones is MAY 31ST at Seattle. The Angels are in the AL WEST.
A few weeks ago Nolan looked like he needed to be sent down to retool and now he is raking ( in his own soft contact way) with hits in 4 straight and 2 of those multi hit games.
Can Neto see the same fate? Definitely a tougher fix as Zach’s approach is to try to hit every pitch 450 feet out to left. Maybe someone can break through to him to flatten out his bat path and work through the ball to hit lasers all over the yard.
Winnipeg v Colorado, bonkers NHL playoff action! Still with another game to go tonight
Love NHL playoff hockey! Kings tomorrow night, need to beat those Oilers.
Went to 5 of the 6 Kings home playoffs games the last 2 years… hoping my NOT going this year will be the winning ticket. McJesus & Draisaitl were ridiculous good.
No kidding, I’m in awe of those two. Even rooted for them in the Cup which they lost. I hated the fact the Kings got a first round match-up against Edmonton. Kings will give it a fight, Byfield has been playing better lately. PL Dubois can right the ship with an impactful series. He’s been dreadful this year and I’d like Blake to get shitcanned but his buddy Luc will protect him.
Wow, here I was thinking I was by myself being a hardcore Angels and Kings fan. Most people think I’m strange assuming if I like the Kings how could I not be a Dodgers fan, and if I follow the Angels, how come not the Ducks. Must be the letter ‘D’ cause I hate the Ducks and Dodgers.
I grew up being a solid Kings and Angels fan.
Wow hockey.
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And Dos Equis is not gonna cut it.
Stay coughing, my friends.
So I’m a little confused why adell isn’t getting max ABs if he’s on this roster.
What are we even doing
Well, that ‘s sort of the conundrum. We don’t really have a chance to win, but we’re not using the season to evaluate the youth on our roster so we’re essentially wasting the opportunity. The people running this show are idiots. There is no other explanation, and I am not referring to Wash and his staff. I wouldn’t care if we lost every game this year if we had a long term plan and we were executing it.
Washington makes the game line ups. If he is not playing, that is on Washington.
Well yes, but if he has not been given a plan by the people he works for to play the youth then apparently they’re all collectively responsible but Wash doesn’t decide the organizational path forward so they are idiots for not instructing him to play the kids if that is the case.
I think they were idiots for hiring Washington in the first place, so yeah, idiot people will do idiot things.
Just out of curiosity, who would you have prefered?
Joe Maddon!
Anyone but Washington. Bring up a AA guy or AAA guy. There are dozens who would have jumped at the chance. Washington is a joke. A guy who walked out on his team mid season, because he is a Coke head and apparently frequented prostitutes and had “girlfriends”, in his 60s? Yeah, and that is the guy you are going to put confidence in to make the right choices? Hard pass for me, I don’t care how popular he is with the players, or anyone else.
But Adell is clearly better than Hicks so not only would Wash be playing the youth but he also would be giving us the best chance to win. So it’s A double whammy of malpractice on the FO and Wash. #tradition
I am not sure why we have Hicks in the lineup – he is batting .150 and blocking ‘the youth’. What is the upside there?
It’s baffling. outside of a hot second half last year and some fluke Yankee band box generated power 5 years ago, Hicks has consistently been a below average big leaguer. So it’s not like there is any upside to tap into there.
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
this made me laugh…I shouldn’t be laughing but what are ya gonna do?
3B Anthony Rendon (left hamstring strain)
Expected return:Possibly late May
May 2025
Didn’t he miss some time in ST for the same issue? These things tend to linger, especially as you get older and/or DGAF about keeping your body in tip top shape for something you’re super passionate about. Also, how was he safe at first on an infield hit unless it was Angel Hernandez as ump at 1st.
https://www.mlb.com/video/anthony-rendon-singles-on-a-ground-ball-to-shortstop-elly-de-la-cruz
They misspelled August
And they misnumbered 2025.
Not like he is producing anyways, stick Sano or Beefo there. Blessing in disguise.
You cannot win if you don’t score. The players not named Trout need to come through.
Trout isn’t coming through right now either
Is it just me or does it seem like once he was told he couldn’t spend any more money Perry just gave up. He’s been very quiet like he just doesn’t care anymore. Not even any positive spin.
He’s stuck with the team he built – I’m not sure what else he can do at this point other than try to trade. However his hands are tied there too; there’s not much to trade unless it’s “your underperforming stuff for our underperforming stuff”.
He’s probably focused on the draft right now and is letting Wash run the team. If Wash asks for something of Perry, I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to meet the call.
I agree, they are what they are and at this point there isn’t anything they can do, But I’m not optimistic about the draft either based on Perry’s previous performance, and apparently there isn’t even a commitment to finding out what they currently have.
2024 draft is not nearly as good as 2023, per the guru’s. Id love for a good bat to fall to No. 8.
Soriano deserved a better fate, much like Anderson a couple of games ago.
Not sure I care that much about wins and losses, I just want to see what players should be on the team next season moving forward. Happy to add Soriano to the list. Good stuff.
No opponent from the Western Time Zone until 5/31. Makes sense.
Tell me what the league thinks of the Angels without telling me what the league thinks about the Angels
What’s going on with Trout? No big deal, he’s missing by the closest of margins and the hits are soon to follow? Or is it something else. The strike rate out has decreased.
I’ve been following on Gameday and it’s most often “Trout lined out sharply to rightfield” so it sounds (reads?) like he’s hitting the ball well and, if so, they’ll drop in soon.
The K-rate decreasing is an encouraging sign, maybe he’s just a tough luck BABIP victim right now. Maybe the stat people can give more insight.
But those FBs from Sims earlier? He shouldn’t have any problem hitting one of those out.
His BABIP is just .236, which is 100 points lower (more than really) than his average over the past decade or more.
So, yeah, this is ‘unlucky’ Mike.
Yes, I am encouraged by the K rate too. Best since 2019. If we could bring the walks back …
Sano is our biggest threat at the plate at the moment. That sums it up for me. The pitching has deserved better. At least in this series.
Sano is our threat at the moment. That’s sad.
Early season #1 problem is the lack of offense. Besides the Rengifo daily butchery with his glove.
A better offense will go a long way in covering up the other weaknesses. Someone else or
2 or 3, at least 4 will need to start driving in some runs/getting on base. Score more runs and help relax the team. Still looking at a win total within the 70’s range.Pitching still is weak, but better than the past years. 2024 version is better team than last year….maybe. I hope.
Detmers, Anderson, and now Soriano are dealing pretty well. Canning had a strong start too. If we stack Sandoval against other teams 5th (or 6th, heal fast Silseth) pitchers, we aren’t doing too badly in the SP category.
The bullpen however …
Yep. Rengifo potentially cost us the last two games of Reds’ series with his butchery early on Saturday in 1st and then late yesterday to open the flood gates for Cincy.
And yes, you are also right on target about the offense. Rengifo notwithstanding, the piss poor offense caused the sweep. It is not like those Reds pitchers are unhittable — it is just that somebody other than Trout or Ward has to come up with a big hit. Those two guys were incredibly hot for two weeks…. you knew it couldn’t go on forever.
That is the way baseball is… when your best hitters cool down the secondary players need to step up and produce. It has not been happening with this team.
Only 2 games back of 1st place.
That’s an indictment of the weakness in the AL West.
It’s only a 10th of the season, we’ll eventually be 20 games out.
I’ve already achieved $2 seats this year, much earlier than expected, are you saying I could get in for $1 seats (yes after fees)??
Or the parity around the league. Unless you are counting Houston out already at 7-16 (White Sox look like they are done) – then everyone has a chance it seems.
I can hardly wait to go to tomorrow night’s game and see Hicks lead off and Rengifo error the team into an impossible hole to climb out of!
Don’t give up hope. This is the Angels, they could find a new way to lose.
With this offense, a hole is 2-0.
I’m encouraged that Soriano looks legit. But until they fix those gaping holes in the lineup and the pen, there are going to be a lot of days like today.
Nothing is being fixed. Perry is mailing it in.
As others have said, I’m not sure what Perry could possibly do now. If you were GM, what would you do? The offseason for free agents is over. Who are we going to trade for, and what do we have available to give up and then get better?
I’m still hoping this is all a precursor for selling the team.
It’s not about trading. I was responding to a comment about fixing things and I was saying nothing is going to get fixed this year. The team is what it is. You can disagree with me about Perry but I don’t think he’s doing anything, there is no sense of the team (Perry and his bosses) even trying. Honestly, I would have already quit, and you are right there is nothing that can be done now but Perry just seems absent. Maybe the organization is just fine with being terrible but it just seems like no one in the organization even cares. They won’t, but they could say, we have a young team and it will take some time for them to mature and develop and we’re all going to have to be patient. At least pretend like they have a plan and know what they are doing. I think it is a precursor to selling but I don’t know what Arte is waiting for.
I guess I don’t understand your critique of Perry at all. Specifically regarding him “not doing anything right now” or “being absent” or “not caring”. Again, I don’t know what he should be doing right now that would appease you. Should Perry call press conferences once a week to announce “I know our team sucks, but don’t worry, my plan is to ……”. I don’t think GMs really do that during a season.
I totally acknowledge that people will feel very differently about Perry’s offseason GM performance, of trading and signing players. I just don’t get what you would expect him to do now that the season has started. I feel that is all on Wash and the players.
I’m sorry if I have not communicated very well. I don’t need any appeasement because I have not suggested or requested that he do anything. I just said he isn’t going to do anything. Simba made a comment about fixing holes I said nothing is getting fixed this year which I think most of us would agree with. I do have a personal opinion that he has done a poor job and that I feel like he’s sort of given up because Arte didn’t provide the budget to put a competitive team on the field this year. I have no facts for this it’s just my opinion. I do not expect or want him to do anything now because at this point, the team is what it is. Even though i don’t believe he has done a very good job, I also don’t think it matters who the GM is as long as Arte is the owner so whether I think Perry has done a good job or not is somewhat irrelevant. I guess I’m a little complicated. Sorry for the poor communication.
Oh no problem at all, I was just trying to understand.
And I’ve had many times where I’ve written stuff and realized it didn’t come out clearly for others.
And then there’s the times I insist that I told my wife about something important, and she says no I didn’t, and that I’m having imaginary conversations with her in my head.
Not surprising at all – this team is trash.
Also, love Wash as a manager but Hicks @ leadoff? They need to DFA his ass so Wash stops playing him.
Time for another team meeting.
Time for Wash to have another meeting with the boys…..
It’s poo 💩 bot time