Wow, this game had no interest in pacing itself.
After a clean first inning on both sides, everything fell apart, or came together, depending on your viewpoint. The Nationals struck first with a pair of runs in the second, but Jo Adell quickly answered with a solo shot to right-center. 372 feet. No-doubter. The kind of swing that makes you sit up a little straighter in your seat.
The third inning? An explosion. Taylor Ward launched a two-run homer to left. Then Nolan Schanuel, not even finished watching Ward’s, decided to send one out himself on the very next pitch. Back-to-back jacks. Suddenly it was 4–2 Angels, and they weren’t done. Mike Trout and Luis Rengifo chipped in with RBI singles later in the frame to make it 5–2. The bats were alive, the vibes were high.
That lasted about ten minutes.
In the top of the fourth, the Nationals came right back with a three-run inning to tie it 5–5. But the Angels stayed hot. Zach Neto led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, and Schanuel brought him in with a clean base hit. Then Rengifo who’s been quietly one of the most consistent hitters on the roster came through again with a two-run single. The lead was back, 8–5.
Of course, that lead didn’t last either. The fifth inning brought another Nationals push, and by the time the dust settled, it was tied again at 8–8. So, naturally, the Angels countered again.
Mike Trout drove in Rengifo with a sharp single in the bottom of the fifth, and a would-be double play turned into a defensive meltdown for Washington, scoring another run and pushing the Angels ahead 9–8. It wasn’t exactly clean baseball, but the Angels weren’t in the mood to be picky.
By now, you’d think someone would blink. But the sixth inning had more to say. A sac fly from Washington tied the game yet again at 9–9. Nine runs, thirteen hits for the Angels, and we’re not even into the seventh. This one’s already a classic. We’ve got bombs, back-to-backs, botched double plays, and a scoreboard operator begging for mercy.
The Nats broke a 9–9 tie in the 7th with a Bell run off House’s double. The Angels threatened in their half, but stranded two.
In the 8th, another Washington run scored on a double and groundout. The Angels couldn’t answer, Schanuel struck out looking and the bats stayed cold. They trail 11–9 heading into the 9th. Just when it looked like the Angels might keep it within reach, the Nats kept pressing. The hits keep coming, just not for the Halos. After Adams drove in another, Young laid down a bunt to perfection, plating Lile. It’s now 13–9 with still no outs and the bases still loaded. What started as a slugfest is turning into a meltdown.
The wheels are off. The Nationals tacked on two more with a bases-loaded single from García Jr., making it 15–9. The top of the 9th has become an avalanche, and the Angels are buried under it.
What started as a back-and-forth slugfest turned into a meltdown by the end. Despite early fireworks and multiple lead changes, the Angels couldn’t hold on, as the bullpen unraveled in the 9th. A tough one to swallow after such a wild ride. 15-9 Nats.
Trout is up to .230/.342 though the slugging has been absent for about two weeks. I’m not going to jinx anything by predicting a Trout homer (or two) but, the power drought won’t last forever.
It’s easy to start believing we can and will have the best OF in baseball the second half. It is crazy but if
JoJoJune continues
Trout does what he always has done 3x MVP version
Taylor gets consistent
✅ ✅ ✅
it’s not the best at defense but these three can hit the ball.
and I like Gus as OF4.
Ever notice how many lead off the inning walks we issue? Base on balls given up has for years haunted our pitchers. Relying on the breaking ball, pitchers do commonly issue more walks than control fastball pitchers, while our starting pitchers are averaging 5.1 innings, we have Soriano with the most walks issued at 45 in 97 innings for first place in BB, #3 is Kikuchi, Silent C in 5th place, Tyler Anderson in 16th place with Hendricks doing well in 40th place in the AL. Our Pen is even worse, so if we draft a pitcher, please find a control pitcher Perry.
You are rignt Grandpa ! Soriano in particular is a culprit with the lead-off walks ! This happened on Friday night again, a couple of times I think. It also happened against the Marlins… This is the “mental” part of his game I referenced earlier this year that he needs to clean up…
Among other things he needs to stop falling in love with new pitches like his splitter and instead go with the tried and true, which for him are the sinking fastball and four-seam fastball…You can mix in the Knuckle Curve which is a core pitch for him, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
I get the feeling that he enjoys being “creative” and gets too cute trying new stuff. The HR he gave up to Bell on Friday night was some sort of off-speed pitch. Not sure if it was the splitter or knuckle cure, but the point is that he was blowing the fastball by him and then all of a sudden decided to get cute and go off-speed. If you can strike a guy out with a fastball just do it ! The second time you face him you can show him the curve OUTSIDE THE ZONE, but if you can overpower him you should.
RIP Dave Parker
Yep, RIP.
I remember late in his career when he had a short stint with the Halos I went to week night game against the White Sox. He was on the team at that time…the Angels were down a run and he a hit a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 9th to win… I was surprised and really excited with that victory.
I remember him throwing out Brian Downing out at the plate in 1979 All Star game in Seattle.
RIP to the Cobra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PH6XJypKno
Bad memory.
My bad memory with the Cobra was how excited I was when Radar brought him in. Radar and me both thought he was the missing piece but he was washed.
Definitely was the best player in baseball a few years (by far).
Was the catcher Gary Carter?
For any who enjoy having a little action on the game/s, tonight is a slam dunk for the Nationals to WIN. The line has moved in their favor twice now. It started at Anges (-125) and is now down to (-120).
The Nats play up to their competition and the Angels play down to theirs. Plus Hendricks is due for a bigtime regression to his Mean. I say put all the Ippei Bucks you can on the Nationals to win!!
The Angels are now one home run shy of the HR lead in the American League. (NYY is the current leader.)
Meanwhile, they’re worst in team strikeout %, and second worst in team walk % and OBP.
This really is the most exaggerated Two True Outcomes offense I’ve seen in some time.
Not sure if this is hilarious or tragic.
Additionally, about every 5 hits is a home run for this team. I guess this team leads in LOB because they either hit a single or a home run. Then again, Stanks are much better. Every 5.72 hits is a home run. Just the nature of the game now.
Yanks strike out a ton too.
Main differentiator is they also lead the AL in walk % and OBP, so they have more runners to cash in.
Oops. That was supposed to be, “Stanks aren’t much better..”
These type of games will happen even with the best of teams.
What’s the scoop (rumors) why Wash walked away for the entire year? Hopefully not the Big Casino or something cynical with old demons. Prefer Wash at the helm than his sidekicks.
And it will happen to not so great teams as well, like ours.
What I read was that in the NYY series he was fatigued and frequently “out of breath”. When the team returned home, he was checked out by his docs and then it was decided that he would take leave “indefinitely”. I guess the time out did not improve his health, hence the extension for the entire year.
He’s 73 and the oldest manager in the majors. I suspect the travel and high-pressure job just wore him out. I think he’ll retire in the offseason.
Hey y’all. Fun game to watch yesterday. Even a baseball hater would have been captivated.
There are some good/fun things happening here. I doubt they are sustainable for 162 games but they provide a glimpse into the future. There is young talent here at multiple positions and that is super fun.
Can I just ask for a little more patience from the Org? And from all of you? Don’t throw away prospects to rent a player or two or three at the deadline. Things are happening and if you build on it in the ‘25 draft as well as obtain some more young talent by trading say Anderson and Jansen and Rengifo, we could be rooting for a home grown contending team which is the most fun thing in baseball. Way better than buying a bunch of free agents or renting a few players.
I agree, but in 2027 we will have to buy a bat or two because there are none in the organization.
I think at that time moves can be made based on apparent need – like signing Appier and Sele before the 2002 season.
Hey, we had a bad day yesterday for sure but thru 7 we were still in it and the pen got walloped, the starter gone beat up, and we had our share of lobsters, but tonight we just have to return to return the favor on the Nationals, and I believe we will too.
So, we have lost Wash for the season, and we may see our injury prone SS back in action soon. Adell is still hot, Schanny has turned the corner of late and O’Hoppe’s bat is warming up. .500 and above seems always in grasp but slips away at the last minute, but who thought that we’d be fighting for a winning record by July first, certainly not me as the Halos are making this season fun, and tonite we will win. 😀
Damn – that was a good ol’ fashioned pitchers duel not seen since the days of Ryan, Koufax, Palmer and Gibson.
Way to go Enright!
What a Baseball Day yesterday turned out to be with one game had fans seeing 34 hits, p walks along with 30 runs scored, I mean Yikes-Stripes! A double-digit scoring day it was with games totaling 30 runs, 24 runs, a 17, 16, two at 13, 11 and 10 game. On the other hand, there were 4 shutouts, three games that the loser scored only one run, two close no hitters and one where the pitcher threw a complete game shutout. All in all just a crazy Baseball Day.
Fun season? Not when we continue to lose games to last place teams like this.
So it might be too early to print playoff tickets?
this has never looked like a playoff team.
It’s looking improved, so with a little luck we can get in.
We have multiple players having career years and have had very good luck with injuries and we are not even .500. We will need to improve just to be this good next year or we will likely regress.
Last I seen it was 9-9
That’s when I said first to 10 wins. Unfortunately the Halos didn’t reach that number.
Friendly reminder to Angels executives:
Before you think about being buyers around the trading deadline, watch Nationals-Angels 6/27/25 and 6/4/25 Angels-Boston game.
Soriano, supposedly one of our better pitchers, was given 4-run lead in 1st inning in Boston and promptly gave up 5 runs in next half inning, en route to giving up 7 runs in 3-2/3 innings. Last night, had 5-2 lead in 4th inning and gave up that lead, en route to 8 runs in 4 innings.
Inconsistent starting pitching, bad relievers, average hitters, below average fielders = sellers by the trading deadline.
Amen. You know what the esteemed Tony Reagins said: “Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice, strike three”
Good Senator, this is the full, accurate quote…
Both teams failed to reach the end zone .Angels come up short in a battle of field goals, 15-9.
Hunter Strickland remembered he is Hunter Strickland and got rocked for a few runs, but it wasn’t going to make a difference with the Angels 9th inning flailing .
Oh well, urine the page!
Reset tomorrow.
Entertaining through 5, then the Angels stopped scoring – had multiple opportunities though.
Welcome to the Angels, Yorke.
This game was as great as Patrick O’s game calls.
I go to one birfday party and they give 15 to the nats!? Typical…