“I Blame Perry” (8-5 Loss)

Game one of our series with Tampa Bay we had Walbert Urena versus Nick Martinez.

The lineups were as follows:

Tampa Bay went up 1-0 on a lead off homer by Yandy Diaz. The Angels struck back in the third inning with a run on a Zach Neto double, a sac fly, and a single by Vaughn Grissom. 1-1 tie.

In the fifth inning, a Jose Siri double plus a wild pitch and a Zach Neto single put the Angels up 2-1.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Zach Neto committed his ninth error of the season. Neto giveth and he taketh away.

Walbert Urena got out of the inning without giving up a run, earned or otherwise. He did hit Ben Williamson bad enough that he had to leave the game and get X-Rays.

Ryan Zeferjahn came in for the bottom of the seventh and walked the nine hole hitter on five pitches. Then Yandy Diaz hit another homer to put the Rays up 3-2. He should have struck out, but the Angels didn’t challenge a ball call that should have been a strike. Then Zeferjahn decided to groove one to break the hearts of Angels fans everywhere.

Jonathan Aranda got a pitch that was right down the middle and he also homered to make it 4-2. Junior Caminero singled. Then a groundout advanced him to second. Then Brent Suter came in to pitch. Vaughn Grissom chipped in his third error of the season to put men on first and third. A bunt single made it 5-2. Richie Palacios tripled to make it 7-2 and then Nick Fortes sacrificed in another run with a bunt. 8-2 Tampa Bay.

In the top of the eighth, Hunter Bigge came in to pitch. Zach Neto walked. Mike Trout walked.
Vaughn Grissom doubled to make it 8-3 in favor of the Rays.

Then Kevin Kelly came in to pitch. Mike Trout scored on a groundout by Jo Adell. 8-4 Rays.

Wade Meckler got an RBI goundout to make it 8-5 Rays.

Brent Suter managed to get through the bottom of the eighth inning without giving up any more runs. Bryan Baker came in to pitch in lieu of Kelly. He struck out Nick Madrigal. He walked Logan O’Hoppe. Jose Siri got a base hit. Zach Neto struck out. 🙁 Mike Trout worked a great walk to load the bases for Vaughn Grissom. Grissom popped up to end the game. The Angels lost 8-5.

Photo credit: Rex Fregosi

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MarineLayer
Legend
13 days ago

Time to pull the plug on ZepherJohn experiment. Another Minasian failure.

AngelsFanInHell
Trusted Member
13 days ago

I guess that I’m going to be this mode for the rest of the season.

Boy, are my arms going to be tired. Buh-dum-bum 🎶.

25194
Roy Hobbs
Super Member
13 days ago

Still basically a 3 man team with Neto, Peraza, and Trout the only players above 100 OPS+. Those guys are 3 very solid players, we just need 6 more. Even under the optimistic of circumstances, with CMo, Guzman, and Rada becoming regulars, they still need 3 more players, or certainly at least 2 since Schanuel will likely still be around, although maybe not with Perry gone. Trout would need to DH for all 3 players above to have a position unless one of them DHs. Going forward we really need a Catcher, a 1B, and at least a RF. If the 1B and the RF were able to hit 3 and 4 in the lineup, We might be able to field a team that could at least be competitive. Our two most valuable trade chips are Neto and Soriano. Hate to trade either one because they’re both really good but that’s what makes them your best trade chips. If you keep them you have to buy 2-3 players son the open market. It will be interesting to see what the new guy might do assuming there is a new guy.

GrandpaBaseball
Legend
13 days ago

Neto and Grissom had good nights in the Batter’s Box which was nice to see.

HalosFanForLife
Super Member
13 days ago

Lot’s of upsets in College Baseball yesterday. Congrats to St Mary’s. I’m sure UCLA was not thrilled with getting that matchup being the #1 seed. Every year it seems CA Mid Majors have someone that makes a statement. And I thought I knew just about every D1 team, but I’d truthfully never heard of USC Upstate who beat OK State.

DowningDude
Legend
14 days ago

I see the Buccaneers scored a TD in the 7th quarter.

Turk's Teeth
Editor
Legend
14 days ago
Turk's Teeth
Editor
Legend
14 days ago
Reply to  Turk's Teeth

Slawinski ended up striking out 10 in five innings tonight. He surrendered a couple earned runs in later innings, but was also facing the ACL leading Royals club (16-4) in a pachinko parlor.

It’s only five starts, but I’m bought in. He’s looking like a first round talent. That he’s already touching 95-96, with extreme vertical break and a highly successful changeup is pretty promising.

FungoAle
Legend
14 days ago
Reply to  Turk's Teeth

Sweet, behind Seth, Johnny was the No. 2 best prep arm coming out in 2025 in my draft notes. A long way to go but feels good thus far. If drafting Bremner allowed them to swoop up Slawinksi, this keeps me from going nuclear for missing out out on Hernandez.

Looks like he has added some velocity.

Turk's Teeth
Editor
Legend
14 days ago
Reply to  FungoAle

I’ll be forever chapped that they didn’t pop Anderson and Eyanson in the first three rounds, but there’s solid value up and down the draft class after the top two rounds.

grichmanpoorman
Trusted Member
14 days ago
Reply to  Turk's Teeth

I am buying what you’re selling here.

Turk's Teeth
Editor
Legend
14 days ago

As a nice grace note, Johnny now leads the ACL in strikeouts. In fact, unless I’m mistaken, he leads all the complex leagues in strikeouts.

And, with none to date, has the lowest walk rate among complex league starters.

steelgolf
Legend
14 days ago

The mighty blowpen strikes again.

steelgolf
Legend
13 days ago
Reply to  steelgolf

Correction : The Rodent Pen.

Senator_John_Blutarsky
Legend
Reply to  steelgolf

Steerpen. They’ve all been neutered. Eunuch’s one and all.

FungoAle
Legend
14 days ago
Reply to  Charles Sutton

It was a bad game. Had only given up 1 home run to date. I still go back and look at his stats, opponents have a hard hitting him. K-rate equals 11K’s per 9 innings pitched. 25-innings total with 17-hits allowed. The issue I have is that he’s got the base-on-balls disease every other bullpen arm has.

Jim Atkins
Super Member
14 days ago
Reply to  Charles Sutton

Zeferjahn’s meltdown was when I stopped listening.

Roy Hobbs
Super Member
14 days ago

Per Banned, neither Zeff or Suter should be brought into a winnable ballgame.

Eric_in_Portland
Legend
14 days ago
Reply to  Roy Hobbs

Theoretically every game is winnable thus I agree with your premise

GonFishin
Trusted Member
14 days ago

Sick bullpen Perry.

I liked Zeferjahn at times last year, but this season, he is not an MLB quality pitcher.

WallyChuckChili
Legend
14 days ago

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