At some point the Dodgers bats were going to heat up. Kyle Hendricks throwing 85 MPH fastballs was that point.
Shohei Ohtani led the game off with a triple. Mookie Betts singled him in. Then Will Smith crushed a ball to the outfield pavilion to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead before most fans had found their seats.
But these pesky Angels fought back. Taylor Ward got the team on the board with his 29th home run of the year in the 2nd.
Luis Rengifo later hit a sacrifice fly to score Yoan Moncada and cut the Dodgers lead to 3-2.
Nobody scored in the third inning, but the Dodgers put 2 more runs on the board in the top of the 4th to stretch the lead to 5-2. At this point it seemed like the momentum from the first 2 games had shifted to the other dugout.
But Zach Neto doesn’t know how to quit and he cracked a 2 run single in the bottom of the 5th inning to make it a 5-4 ballgame. The Angels ultimately left the bases loaded, leaving a chance to tie or take the lead on the table.
The score held at 5-4 through the 7th inning in large part to this absolutely incredible play by newcomer Bryce Teodosio.
Bryce led off the bottom of the 7th with a squibber he was able to turn into a double thanks to his speed. Already in scoring position, he decided to attempt to steal 3rd base and was called out. That baserunning mistake took a scoring chance off the board and kept the Angels trailing by a run.
Brock Burke has quietly turned into a solid reliever. He pitched a clean top of the 8; punctuated by striking out Ohtani looking to end the inning. Really, all in all the Angels pitching did a good job of keeping the Dodgers off the board after the rough 1st inning.
The Dodgers bullpen has been shaky lately but held up well in the middle innings. All 4 of the Angels runs to that point were scored off Ohtani who only lasted 4 and 1/3rd innings.
However, when Justin Wrobleski went out for his 3rd inning of work, he walked Mike Trout and Taylor Ward before he was pulled.
2 on, no out, bottom of the 8th, down by 1. Has this series been great or what?
A failed attempt to bunt the runners over led to Trout being out at 3rd and Moore taking 1st base. Jo Adell laced an infield hit to load the bases. Luis Rengifo struck out, and the tension increased.
Then Logan O’Hoppe stepped to the plate, put the team on his back, and delivered.
Kenley Jansen then got to face his old team for the third night in a row. This time he did not have to face Shohei Ohtani. Kenley got Betts to fly to left and Freeman to bounce to 1st. When Will Smith flew out to left the game was over.
l
Light that baby up! Father’s Day is June 21st next year. The Dodgers better buy us a card and something nice.
SWEEP!!!!
Still basking in that Season Sweep Glow!
Good times! Drinks on me!
https://x.com/Super70sSports/status/1954581711649755587
It wasn’t good times for the guy in this video wearing the City Connect Trout jersey — like getting kicked in the head by a horse. Shows what low lifes Dodgers fans are ….
Leave it to the New York Post to find this stuff :
Borgen on X: “Oh my goodness they killed my boy here @Angels https://t.co/JD1yPLU3J2” / X
Unbelievable.
Sucker punch from guy in black shirt and then a kick. Bitch moves completely.
Anyone surprised that the fans of the Dodgers would try to steal a hat from an Angels fan and his wife then hit him followed by a kick to the head followed by a playground slap to the head. The Dodgers had the best fans in the game through the 1980’s but started being inviting to a bad gang or three that has .10 cent peanut brains and because they are in a croup everyone is fair game. wearing Angels gear. While the Dodgers may claim that they were just fans that bought tickets the truth is these gangsters need to be caught and prosecuted and barred for life. Wild men like this guy needs 3 year minimum sentence to teach something about been someone’s Daddy. Jail Time is over do for this. fool.
The DSL Angels won their 15th straight today. The Padres have the next-closest streak at 7.
They are looking increasingly secure for a playoff spot, but need to win two more to mathematically clinch with certainty. Four games to go – the season ends on the 19th.
I simply CAN’T be the only one that finds “DSL” humorous…
AZL, AFL, ACL don’t mix them. I’m serious.
Oh Hell yeah!!
Rio Foster had a 5-for-7 night last night at Tri-City, extending his post-June torrid streak in High-A ball. (Unfortunately I was scrambling to replace a projector for a sold-out event at my theater, and missed both the Angels comeback and the Dust Devils 19 run ‘nailbiter’.)
My three questions re: Rio Foster
More than any other split, that last one shouts reserve bench bat vs LHP to me – but his 2024 stats at lower levels didn’t show as significant a platoon tendency.
One wants the magic to continue – though the caveats are numerous.
Rio !!!!!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nTizYn3-QN0&pp=ygUPcmlvIGR1cmFuIGR1cmFu
RIO WILL NOT BE STOPPED
Thanks for the breakdown as always 😇
Heading to a minor league park in Sacto has the potential to be a bit of buzz kill after all of the crowds and energy these last few days. Hopefully they have their heads on straight and do what they need to. I like the team energy and think TEO is huge addition defensively and on the bases despite the third base CS last night. He’s been good with the bat but we won’t know what’s sustainable for some time.
I checked the weather 95 Friday and high 80s for the other two games. Balls will fly but at least they’re south of 100 degrees.
I think there’s a little short-term Kyren Paris magic in Teo’s bat at present, but the speed and defense are durable, enough for a fourth OF profile.
The question is how long they’re willing to wait to test the unstoppable Nelson Rada in Anaheim’s CF.
I love that Teo gives them a good reason not to rush Rada.
True – though with a .500 OBP and a wRC+ of 169 vs guys on average 6-7 years older than him in AAA, the temptation to see what the team has right now might be tough to resist.
The main test was really AA, and he was already on an upswing when he was promoted.
Probably the best move is just to subtly message to him that, performance contingent, he’s going to be first in line when rosters expand on Sept 1.
If the Angels were playoffs bound, filling those extra spots with BP arms like Southard and Bachman would probably be the move, but I’d personally like to see the impact of Rada’s and Guzman’s defense on the club, even as late inning replacements.
Oh yeah. He’s way over his skis. But I’d be stoked if he can hit .250 and draw some walks for a full season. He’d likely have 50+ steals and give us hot D.
That description sounds like Vince Coleman. Coleman walked a bit to offset the lower BA, something Teo has yet to do in his MLB career.
maybe Rada gets a cameo too now; but next Spring it will be head-to-head competition to see who starts in Anaheim in April that’s the next milestone check point.
Just like Jo and Mickey the previous two years.
Enjoyed the Dodgers post game show on Spectrum listening to those idiots like Garciapara rant about the loss. I did not hear them give credit to the Angels at all. Instead it was about what the Dodgers did wrong, complaining about this pitch – that at bat. Avoiding the word Sweep. Of course continuous highlights of Ohtani striking out Trout. Then it was all about Padres in 1st and Dodgers resetting for that series. Live interviews the same, why didn’t someone ask Ohtani his feelings on losing to his old team?? Finally Betts asked if Angels had their number this series: his crap answer “I don’t know, you know them better than me”. Fk the Dodgers organization, refuse to accept you got beat down by neighbor you’re supposed to be superior to.
I know. I got an alert from ESPN on my phone that lead with Ohtani striking out Trout twice in his return. Nothing about the sweep, big plays, clutch hitting, better pitching, or even losing 6 in a row to the Halos. The Dodgers were humiliated.
I heard Ohtani called Trout after the game and told him “you’re still my b#@ch.”
Yep. Trout did what I was afraid of and was like “I’m cool too asshole” and swang as hard as he could with rage tears in his eyes blinding him.
I would have loved it if Trout hit 400 against Tungsten last night, but I loved it even more that the “beleaguered” homegrown yutes beat the big bad mighty – Neto chasing O’Doyle in the 5th (because his manager was so selfish in wanting that first W to be against his former team), and that was made possible by Logan and Teo getting on base before him. Teo’s HR robbery. Adell legging out that infield hit in the 8th that loaded the bases, and of course, Logan’s 2nd hit of the game against a 103mph FB.
Underrated stat of the night: O’Doyle striking out against Hendricks, Chafin and Burke.
You gotta love the LAA Twitter, lay it on thick guys! This is our World Series parade!!!
https://x.com/Angels/status/1955854928880263608
This is petty and gives off major “I’m not over my ex” vibes.
But I don’t hate it lol
FUCK THE DODGERS
The Angels’ homerun dependent offense reminded me of Earl Weaver and his philosophy. From a SABR.Org article:
Weaver preached his prescription for winning: “pitching and three-run homers.” He explained, “Pitching keeps you in the games. Home runs win the game.” That formula developed with experience; in his first seasons with the Orioles he called for more sacrifice bunts than the average AL manager, but he came to believe that “your most precious possessions on offense are your 27 outs,” and “if you play for one run, that’s all you’ll get.”
Squint and you can see the team is on the right track, but needs to work on getting more people on base to take advantage.
Problem with the Weaver approach for us is that we don’t actually hit the 3 run HR very often. We get a bunch of solo HRs, which is no different then playing for one run. The reason is that we still don’t get enough walks (was better in this Dodgers series) though in the second half we have been better than the first half.
I think it’s like you say. It’s more about the 27 outs than HRs in general or Hrs and nothing, which is what we do a lot. Also, they had really good pitching and we don’t. And, Weaver understood the value of platooning when it was applicable. Weaver was a saber metric guy without knowing before it existed.
Weaver was also a masterful in-game manger including BP management. We fall very short in those areas. He also had a really good defensive team, especially C, SS, 2B, and CF. The list just goes on. He definitely understood the value of playing for 3 runs instead of 1 as opposed to simply hitting HRs. He also understood the ballpark his team played all their home games in. We hit lot’s of HRs and we have a losing record.
Almost like that team had better players.
SP sure, but we probably are more than a little bit better on position players…. But coaching and management and culture matter ALOT.
Weaver’s Orioles were much better in those areas than Monty/Wash Angels. Our manager has cost us probably 6-8 games this year. That is the difference for us between making the playoffs vs not making them.
We have a HOF 3b?
Are you talking Brooks Robinson ? I am thinking more like late 70’s Orioles with Ken Singleton etc…. Yeah they did have Eddie Murray… but we have Neto, Trout, Adell, Schanny, O’Hoppe etc..
If anyone wants to see the statistics for the O’s team he’s talking about have a click. Clearly the problem we have is MontyWash, not that we simply don’t have the same pitching staff as Weaver’s team in 79.
Theirs was not a hard pen to manage.
Unfortunately the 79 Angels pitching staff wasn’t as good either.
I know. I actually underrated how good they were defensively with Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Davey Johnson, Paul Blair, Don Buford, and Andy Etchebarren, along with Jim Palmer and their other starters
Both the 70s Orioles and Reds were incredibly strong with their middle field defense. Bench, Morgan, Concepcion and Geronimo were as strong a group of fielders as I’ve ever seen.
What? Are you saying the key to being a good bullpen manager is having a huge pile of good pitchers in your bullpen?
I do not accept your science. I feel differently, I feel angry and I feel smarter than the manager.
That’s good start.
No Thursday links???? 😢
Season Sweep hangover.
Next week.
Hope your trial is going smoothly, though they rarely do.
There’s always the Stirrups Famous DIY Links when he was to busy to do links.
Stirrups. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.
Well that was just absolutely a wonderful baseball series. The last two games were outstanding. When Teodosio was called up, I expected he would be sent down in a week but his defensive range is really something and it is hitting.
His speed was causing problems for the Dodgers.
He has been a real sparkplug for us and was maybe the single player most responsible for the sweep, or at least in the discussion with Ward and Neto. It would be those three guys in some order…
Who said they don’t score runs in Tri-City?
https://x.com/jared_tims/status/1955877135903809920?s=42
OK. 6-0 against reigning WS champ. Beyond unlikely, well into Twilight Zone territory. Halos got grit.
Eat it Doyers! I hope traffic heading home is a nightmare!
Four out of Five donkeys on Yelp.
I get a little sad when I think of all the domestic violence going on tonight.
I laughed harder at this than I should have
In a season that seemed improbable, the impossible has happened!
Channeling the legendary Vin Scully.
I like it!!
note to team: do NOT let up against Sacto!
They always play us real tough.
Agree. Losing that series would be such an Angels thing to do after sweeping the big, bad Dodgers.
In short, they win when you don’t expect them to and likewise lose the games you don’t expect them to.
Looking forward to watching the Big Amish, Wilson is on the shelf. Angels should score runs.
After Hendricks, the blow pen gives up one hit and three walks. Nails.
Burke doesn’t get enough love.
I’ve become a believer. When he needs to he just dials up a triple play
Well. That’s the Baby Jesus that does that.
Thank you Baby Jesus. For the snuffing of the Doyers these past few days I shall pour out my finest wine and burn a delicious steak for you. The Doyers and their fans can huff the farts of my victory feast. I love you.
Doesn’t Jobu get any credit?