It is the final Angels game vs the Oakland Athletics. Not just for this season, but FOR-EV-ER. Last time was the final game in Oakland, this is the final Angels game vs the Oakland A’s. They will just be “The Athletics” next year, playing in Sacramento. It is a sad situation. So, how did the Angels do? Well, it was Jose Soriano today, and he went 2 and 2/3 innings, giving up 6 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits, striking out 2 and walking 2. That’s horrendous. And I blame Drury for that.
It was a bullpen game now, and the offense had to do the heavy lifting to even have a chance. The offense certainly gave it their all, taking the lead in the 4th, in large part due to a GRAND SLAM by Taylor “BLAKE” Ward. And the bullpen kept the lead, showing again that SP was the weak part of this team as of late.
Highlighted Recap
The A’s scored first in the 3rd on an error by Drury on what should have been an inning ending GIDP.
And then 3 more scored thanks to a double later that inning.
And another hit meant another run in a disastrous 3rd for Soriano.
Pitching change and another double. COME ON!
Jeez, why show all this if it is a straight blowout? Because it wasn’t. The Angels scored in the 3rd!
Ooo, 1 run, that is still pretty bad. What about 2 more?
Now it is a game. But can the bullpen keep it that way? This is a bullpen game now.
Taylor Ward has been in trade rumors, and he helped his cause by hitting a Grand Slam in the 4th!
They loaded the bases again in the 5th, and the Angels scored… on a HBP.
That held until the 9th, when the new Angels closer came out to close this game, and the Oakland A’s out. Luis Garcia was chosen, and he shut the A’s down, salvaging a single game yet again. Angels win.
Upcoming
No game on Monday, next series vs the Rockies at home to end July on starting Tuesday. What was your favorite memory of playing the Oakland A’s? Will they stay in Sacramento, or actually eventually move to Las Vegas after all? Should they have stayed in Kansas City? Philadelphia? How sad are you that they are moving? Comment below and we can say bye to the Oakland A’s FOR-EV-ER.
https://x.com/hgomez27/status/1817758517874298923
😥 Sorry to hear
I hope Luis Garcia also nets us someone very helpful for the team’s future.
FYI-Earlier in the week when I mentioned Jackson Holliday being passed by another prospect, it was Coby Mayo-He’s Baltimore’s new darling.
Can he pitch?
Pillar and ward may have just put themselves back on the trade discussion board of a few teams.
I was thinking about Pillar after he got 3 hits today.
Funny how a hot streak near the deadline can “Increase” your value, likewise, a late season stall can do the opposite.
Well it certainly does at this place and you know all the GM’s and front offices constantly monitor the site.
Good one Cowboy. 😆
Pillar is definitely a guy you should try to and likely would get something back for.
Ward on the other hand (as we have talked about previously) is not somebody the Angels need to trade. You could argue about how many years of productivity he has left in his bat (I suspect he’s got at least 3-5, which is more than acceptable) but he is not an aging vet and is not on an expiring contract. Since the Angels have control of Ward for two more years ( he will first be eligible for FA after the 2026 season) there is no reason not to let him go to arbitration where you will only have to pay him a fair and reasonable price.
So, let’s be very clear; the Angels do NOT have to trade Taylor Ward like so many mainstream media outlets and fly by night blogs online are shouting from the rooftops. It is propaganda.
In addition, Ward is a key cog in the middle of the Angels order (he leads the team in HR and RBI’s). He would not be easy to replace. I know you don’t think the Angels can competitive in 2025 or even 2026. I think that is closed-minded thinking. I don’t think they are that far away from being competitive (assuming they don’t GIVE AWAY all of their good players like Ward, Rengifo, etc..)
So, I say keep Ward. In trades of Pillar and other good but expendable role players we should look to fill SP and bullpen roles. With the Ohtani money off the books there is no reason the Angels could not sign a FA starter in the off-season. And as I have already stated the Angels can field a good if not great offensive ballclub.
Keep Ward !!
Keep Rengifo !!
Keep Anderson !!
I’m checking the forum continuously to see if anyone posted with trade news lol
Me too.
A narrow but obtuse victory for the Angles today.
Looking at the highlights and wow, I don’t remember seeing the Big A so empty. Good on the fans for finally saying they’ve seen enough bad baseball.
Well, that and letting go of our generations Babe Ruth I guess will do it too. Way to go Arte!
I would love a fire sale that would allow us to retool. Honestly, except for the young players and Trout, nobody else matters for the future. Next year will be interesting, although I think we may be better than this year and possibly ready to go in 26. By then we’ll need starting pitching and bats.
I don’t think Perry will do this, but my gawd please don’t trade Ben Joyce. He’s calming down and his pitches are more accurate, and then there’s that 103 mph thing. Jeez.
I think he has something like 18 innings of allowing ZERO runz.
Nah. He’s gonna save us about 15M a year on a closer for the next few years. We’ll need that money so we can pay Ohtani.
https://x.com/LAAngelsPR/status/1817691125194617091
Very Nice.
He’s gotten better each month and his July looks really good .294/.437/.485/.922.
By month his OPS+ is 71, 87, 105, 155. This month has been a real outlier so it will be very interesting to see what he does in August and September, and also seeing how he gets pitched to.
Yah. Love hot Shammy. But I’d also be interested to see, in this “track test year” if he goes through another round of scouting reports from other teams, struggles a little, etc. Can he adjust again? Cause he sure figured out the last section of everyone’s binder the last few games. It would show real lasting potential.
Trout still hasn’t started running…..
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40668396/angels-mike-trout-started-running-again-setback
Yep. When you do that, you start over from the beginning. Get treatment until there’s no pain and then progress through each stage until you’re back to where you were. The stages don’t have to be as long but you have to cycle through them. When it happened I figured at least a 3-4 week set back, but it could be longer depending on additional setbacks and how he progresses. I want him to be ok for next year so I don’t really care if he returns this year.
Next year! That’s the year! That one. The one Trout will play in. Can’t wait.
Who?
My favorite memory of playing the A’s was the 4 game sweep in Anaheim in late August 2014. Was there for all 4 games and brought sweep brooms to the final game. Oakland won 88 games that season and was a good team so a sweep was unexpected. The Angels won 98 games that season- seems a long time ago.
I remember following one of those four games on my cellphone while at an outdoor office party/bbq. I was supposed to be playing BINGO but all I wanted to do was follow the game. When we left the party, my wife said she had a good time but I was pretty oblivous to anything other than I was convinced the Angels were the best team in baseball (in August they were, but not in October).
A long time ago. And a Long way to go to get back.
My favorite memory of us and the A’s was 2002: OAK was in 3rd in the AL West, 4.5 back. Then they won 20 straight to win the division. We made the wild card, and the rest is history and all of wish it was more of a trAdition.
(But it so is not.)
it says here….
The Los Angeles Angels have been shopping around their top relief pitcher, Luis Garcia. Although several teams have shown interest in Garcia, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden reports that there may be a deal in place for the righty reliever.
“The Angels have a trade in place for Garcia that they like. It’s just a matter of when they want to close the deal and make the announcement, but he’s gone.”
Hopefully even though tomorrow is an off day, it will be a fun and entertaining off day.
Let the trading begin!
Let’s do some In-porting — Ex-porting
I hope it’s tomorrow. I don’t want Perry to panic and feel he has to make a deal, any deal, at the deadline
attendance announced at 27,000. What do you think it really was? It looked fairly sparse to me.
Under 10k?
remember, it’s “Paid attendance.”
Yea…we won!!
Ben ReJoyce
https://x.com/SamBlum3/status/1817693214582915129