Had I predicted a 3 win and 4 loss road trip through Baltimore and New York last week, I think most of you would’ve taken it. And that’s just what we got, although not in a way many of us would have imagined.
Now the boys are back at the Big A for 9 games over the course of 10 days.
Starting off with a sweep in Baltimore, the prospects of a salvageable road trip looked bleak. But Angels pitching kept the ice cold Yankees bats cold for three days before fate and a horrible home plate umpire changed the narrative yesterday.
Pitching was truly the story of the 3 straight wins in New York. First Jose Soriano was electric with heat and his knuckle curve. This makes two dominant outings in a row for Jose.
And then the Professor taught a lesson.
Angels coaching worked with Silent C on a new changeup grip. He took that new grip to the mound and fired off a career high in K’s in NY. Credit Barry Enright and the staff on this one. Silent C’s new pitch looks quite deadly and should play up well against his sinker.
Obviously the 3 wins in New York will provide us with the Highlight of the Week. This week it comes from rookie Christian Moore, who made this dandy of a play to cut down a run at home and preserve the Angels lead on Monday.
Moore collected his first hit in New York as well, a triple. It was a big week for the Angels 2024 first rounder. The native New Yorker had over 40 family members and friends in the stands for his big game on Monday, where he collected that triple, scored the game’s only run, and made that fabulous defensive play.
All in all the Angels have gone 11 and 8 over the last three weeks and crept up close to .500 after their disastrous month of May. A huge reason for the recent success is the bullpen; particularly Hunter Strickland.
The better record also coincides with Jo Adell making a lot of noise.
As mentioned above, the Angels bullpen has done a tremendous job lately. And it could be adding a young arm fairly soon. Samy Natera Jr. had a couple of rough outings that inflated his ERA but that K rate and batting average against are really nice.
Of course the Angels will be bringing some notable talent into the organization at the 2025 MLB Draft. And the team is doing their due diligence.
I’m not on the Liam Doyle train and I’m sure the Angels have looked into others. But if we do land Doyle at #2 overall, here’s what they are getting.
From around baseball:
Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound this week. Ever the perfectionist he wasn’t happy with his performance but there were some reasons for optimism if you’re the Dodgers.
Rafael Devers joined the SF Giants and said he’s willing to play wherever they want him to play.
Yes, I’m fully aware of the reports ICE showed up at Dodgers Stadium yesterday morning. I’m also aware of the fact ICE disputes this report. I’m mostly aware of the fact I don’t want this comments section to turn into the swamp of name calling and echoing political rhetoric that the rest of the web has become.
I will say that if your complexion does not match that of a sheet of printer paper I pray you keep ID for yourself and any children in your charge with you at all times. Take pictures of documents that prove your citizenship and theirs and put them into a dedicated folder on your phone so you have backups as well.
Back to fun…
If you’re following the College World Series, you’ve had a good week. LSU walked off Arkansas in an absolute heart breaker for the Hogs to advance to the finals against Coastal Carolina.
A good comp for Coastal Carolina baseball is Gonzaga basketball, except Coastal has actually won the Big Dance once. CC is a mid major program that has eaten at the big boys table for over a decade now. I thought they deserved higher than the 13 seed in the tournament.
LSU is pure baseball blue blood and absolutely stocked with power relievers. Look at their velo and you’ll think this is AA or above baseball. They play well, they play with passion, and they are a buzz saw right now.
The biggest highlight of this year’s tournament will be Gage Wood’s no hitter. Here are highlights of his incredible day.
And, finally, welcome aboard Yorke Lee! Yorke comes to us from the same internship program that brought us Nolan and I can already tell he’s going to be a great addition to the masthead. Yorke is a strong writer who is just now discovering the joy of baseball. Read his intro piece and give him a warm welcome below.
Enjoy your weekend and link what I missed. I will celebrate both the life of a close friend and the college graduation of another friend on the same day. It is crazy how life works some times. Mostly, I’m going to soak up every moment I can with my wife and our growing too quickly son. Summers in OC are absolutely amazing.
