Mike Trout might have had a home run in the first inning today off of Framber Valdez, but he got robbed by Kyle Tucker.
All three Angels batters, in fact his pretty deep fly balls that were outs.
A single, a throwing error by Gio Urshela, and a wild pitch by Shohei Ohtani put Jeremy Pena on third with Yordan Alvarez at the plate. Alvarez homered to make it 2-0 Astros in the bottom of the first inning.
In the third inning, Jared Walsh doubled to lead things off. Chad Wallach struck out. Zach Neto reached on a hit by pitch to put two on with one out for Shohei Ohtani who then struck out. Mike Trout also struck out. The Angels continue to have problems driving in runners who are in scoring position with fewer than two outs.
In the top of the fourth inning, Brandon Drury singled to lead off. Taylor Ward also singled to put runners at first and second with no outs. Hunter Renfroe lined out to center and Gio Urshela grounded into a double play. Same old same old.
In the bottom of the fourth the Astros mounted a threat with men at first and second with two outs. Chas McCormick singled to load the bases. Corey Julks grounded to first attempting to check his swing and the Astros were sent back to the field empty handed. Jared Walsh with the unassisted putout.
The Angels went down 1-2-3 on only nine pitches in the top of the fifth inning. Shohei Ohtani issued a two out walk to Jeremy Pena to bring up Yordan Alvarez again. Alvarez hit the ball to Gio Urshela who threw wide to second. The result was men at first and second with two outs. That was scored an infield hit. Alex Bregman lined a hit to left to score one run. The trailing runner was tagged out between second and third after the run had crossed the plate. 3-0 Astros.
The Angels did nothing in the sixth. For some reason they brought in Luis Rengifo as a “defensive replacement.” I guess Neto needed to go put his foot in some ice water. Chas McCormick got a two out hit and Corey Julks homered. 5-0 Astros. Martin Maldonado struck out to end the inning. Shohei got an un-assisited putout on this guy.
Taylor Ward came up in the seventh and singled. Hunter Renfroe hit an extremely ambiguous ball to left center that stuck in the padding below the homer line. I guess this is a ground rule double. We’ll take it. Taylor Ward went to third.
Gio Urshela grounded out and Jared Walsh followed that by walking to load the bases with one out. Chad Wallach grounded into a double play to end the inning without further scoring. Same old same old.
In the top of the eighth, Chase Silseth came in to replace Shohei Ohtani as the pitcher. Ohtani, of course, stayed in the game as the designated hitter. Silseth walked Jose Altuve. Yordan Alvarez grounded into a force out to put a man at first with 2 outs. Alex Bregman also walked. Kyle Tucker also doubled to score Yordan Alvarez. 6-1 Astros. In the bottom of the eighth, Taylor Ward singled to make it 6-2 Astros.
In the eighth, Phil Maton came in to replace Framber Valdez. Luis Rengifo singled toward right. Shohei Ohtani walked. Mike Trout hit into a double play. Brandon Drury hit a ball to third to score the Angels first hit of the night. It didn’t matter.
In the ninth inning, Jared Walsh struck out. Rengifo and Ohtani also made out to end the game.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
followed Jose Soriano’s minor league career with us since ’18. I was bummed when the Pirates took him in the Rule 5 Draft.
Pumped when he got returned back to us. Even more pumped to finally see him in the bigs !! His arm is ELECTRIC.
Sending Silseth back down to develop as a starter is the correct decision. His arm wasn’t playing up in the ‘pen. I will say, the more I saw of Silseth the less impressed I became. He needs a lot of work on stamina and pitch shape. Most prospects can’t be rushed like Neto, O’Hoppe and Joyce … and thats OK!
The problem with Silseth he doesn’t have the endurance to be a starter and Im not so sure the Angels know how to fix that or make him an effective bullpen piece.
More starter reps, way more.
Silseth turned 23 in May and was an 11th round pick for a reason. Let him start in the minors for the whole year and reassess after the season.
I think Sandy will be motivated pitching against his old team. It’s a premier pitching matchup
Cristian Javier in my opinion is even a better pitcher than Valdez. We need to score early and often while Sandoval pitches clean 6 innings so he can pass the baton to Devenski, Joyce and Estevez. Seamless defense and smart base running will be key to our victory today. (Sorry, Soriano, I hope we don’t need you today. Would love to see you tomorrow, though.)
One bad ball/strike call
cannot cost a team a season……
6/1: hold my beer
And in what could be considered the biggest game of the year, why did Phillip switch O and T in the order for the very first time in 2023? 🤯
Because he is desperate, feeling the sinister vibes of Valentine from Big A’s studio breathing on his neck?
I hope that Ohtani and Trout do the traditional 1 and 2 hole roles, such as taking a lot of pitches and possibly getting walks rather than swinging aimlessly and erratically. I think Nevin should use small ball strategies, bunt, steal, hit and run, to shake things up. I would love that if Ohtani and/or Trout bunt to advance runners to third so Drury and/or Ward can bring the runner home.
If we are to lose to Asstros, I would rather lose by trying something drastically different than do nothing at all.
Good chance we are 9.5 games out in the AL west after tomorrow…and falling behind in the WC.
When are we allowed to open up the Shohei trade rumor mill?
Because even if we lose all games to Houston, Texas, and Dodgers, we still have Cubs, Mariners, KC, Rockies and White Sox for the rest of the month and 15-12 is quite doable? So, it may not be June.
Still early. We can do it.
Today’s starting lineup:
Ohtani DH
Trout CF
Drury 2B
Ward LF
Thaiss C
Renfro RF
Walsh 1B
Rengifo 3B
Soto SS
This is a winning pattern when Urshela replaces Rengifo in late innings. Go Halos!
Also the Angels called up Jose Soriano all the way from AA and sent down Chase Silseth . Soriano has been dealing for the Trash Pandas llately especially after they moved him to the pen.
Thanks for the update!
I think it’s much harder for these young starting pitching arms to transition to a bullpen role at the big league level versus starting this in the minor leagues. Bachman still seems uncomfortable but hopefully he’ll get the hang of it.
Ben Joyce thus far looks spectacular. Bachman if he learns to deep breathe and relax, he will be fine. I would love to see Soriano perform well today or tomorrow.
I’m interested in Soriano. A victim or arm injuries but had electric stuff. Why not!
Soriano should get ready to pitch tonight, pen guys usually do first night up.That will interesting to see. Maybe more of a 1 inning guy like Joyce? Give backTucky D the shitty inning mop-up role.
Silseth can use some more seasoning. Still think he going to be good.
Gives me a reason to watch…
What’s wrong with Urshella besides his glove?
I checked Baseball Reference and he has played as many games as Ohtani this season. Especially after Rendon being on IL and Urshela was the best batting average hitter, he was used heavily. (He played 10 complete games in a row as of yesterday.) Perhaps his miscues (I consider them errors) in the past 2 games are due to exhaustion? He also had that pivotal DP with 2 runners on with one out to let Valdez escape yesterday.
Im more confused why Moniak isn’t playing today.
Lefties are over 200 points higher in OPS than Righties against Javier this year (.748 vs .533) . Even if the Angels want to leave Wards hot bat in the lineup and don’t want to give Ohtani a desperately needed day off, I’d sit Hunter Renfroe or even the GOAT to get his LHB in the lineup
Him too
The only guy with any real success in todays lineup against Javier is Shohei. Hes 4 for 13 with 2 HRs. The other batters are a combined 3 singles in 31 ABs with 20 strikeouts .
Wardy is 0 for 6 with 6 Ks. I guess all he can do is go up.
I thought that Nevin might rest Trout today and Ohtani tomorrow because Monday is off day. (That way Shohei gets 2 days off.) I am also surprised that Nevin did not use Moniak to replace Trout since Moniak has not had too many at bats lately.
Already ruining the Mickey Platoon. This is the 2nd or 3rd game he hasn’t been in against a righty.
I wonder if the funny valentine would make the same mistakes.
If it’s wanting to get Ward back, got it. Trout, Shohei, Renfrout,
all could use some time off.
Free Mick
Nevin is really icing Mickey.
Thanks alot Phil.
Good points.
I am glad that they put subtitles in because their Japanese was so shitty that I failed to understand them.
Angels online fandom is hands down the most toxic environment I’ve ever been apart of lol
Mind you, during my senior year of college I had 2 deplorable roommates recreationally pop Xanax daily amongst various other substances.
😂😂😂😂
I hope you are including yourself in that fandom…because you are.
Of course ! I bring toxic positivity 😇
You own it…vairy good!!
I’m not that obtuse haha
Fwiw I was referring moreso to Angels Twitter and other boards, not here at CTPG. Angels Twitter has been on one the whole season and really ratcheting up the nonsense in the last 48 hours.
This place is it for me…none of those other accounts.
corvaircenter.com is the only othe fan site I frequent.
I always consider the ability to laugh at and make fun of oneself is a huge mark of maturity. There must have been someone famous who must have made some remark regarding the awesome skill.
I’m reminded of “Politically Homeless” from yesterday.
That was classic phrase of Twebur. I will keep it under the tab of perfectly constructed phrase in English.
Someone was raging at Stassi in last night’s thread. Found it funny as i had made this image prior to his vanishing:
Who?
is on first!
What happened to Who?
Lanston separated at birth?
Who’s Lanston?
OOPS…forgot the g.
Even with the g I’m not seeing the resemblance.
But Maybe the Secret Police is in disguise as Langston . When was the last time you saw them together huh?
Avoid the anger! OR ….
Arte’s brother
https://twitter.com/RhettBollinger/status/1664830786619441153?s=20
His Left Foot was not available for comment?
Ankylosing spondylitis……..
Scheduling with Dr Nick… “Tommy John Left Foot Surgery”. Will be in a wheelchair for months.
He can join Rendon in the Halo wheelchair brigade
Houston announcer noticed Neto chose to stay put with his left foot, obviously implying that he allowed the pitch to hit him. (I also credit the plate umpire to give Neto 1st base.) That’s another thing I like about Neto. He has that combat mentality when he is in the batter’s box. Unfortunate that he has to take today off so we have to see Rengifo at 3B.
https://twitter.com/NCAABaseball/status/1664740168715173891?s=20
Nice, but here’s the bestest catch of all-time. So good that Arte dumped a ton of cash for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCvCTR3o3g
Arte might want to sign him.
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1664807156225388544?s=20
That catch got a free agent contract out of Arte
Over $50 million worth of contract!
What a life!
Agree that this might very well be the best catch ever based on how he had to twist his body and the fact that he did not have time to set himself etc…Amazing.
Plumber could hit Framber.
https://twitter.com/slbeesradio/status/1664815944093552640?s=20
Nothing quite like a Colon-pounding.
That is why I love this site. It is so educational. I know essentially nothing about pre-Shohei Angels history. I had no idea Bartolo Colon pitched for Angels. It made me look at Baseball Reference and discover that he had two good years with Angels then did nothing after that.
Sigh Young
He didn’t pitch too many games in the last 2 years as Angels. Was he injured?
Did you know that Bartolo made an announcement to retire officially today? Is that the reason for the post?
I know it is only June 3 and I have not seen any news regarding Valentine taking over Nevin (Joe Girardi was fired on June 2 last year), let me start with a pretty safe assumption.
Angels will not win AL West crown.
Then, the only way Angels get to playoff is to have at least 3 AL East teams to collapse and Mariners to struggle. Here are some Angels friendly developments in the following teams.
Red Sox: Chris Sale on IL with shoulder inflammation, Kluber and Pivetta struggling recently moved to bullpen
MFYankees: Continues to struggle with starters including Cole and last year’s darling Nestor the nasty Cortes. Severino did not look so hot against the Doyers last night.
Blue Jays: Alek Manoah, ace, has 1-6 record with ERA 5.46.
Mariners: Brian Woo, just called up to start tonight in place of Marco Gonzales with forearm issue (euphemism for future TMJ surgery?). They got shut out by Texas with Luis Castillo.
Pretty good chance that all of the four above with Angels will be competing for the 3rd wild card spot.
My funny Valentine….,
Ohtani’s last three seasons after 12 starts:
2021 – 3-1, 58.6 IP, 3.7 ERA, 83Ks
2022 – 6-4, 73.3 IP. 2.9 ERA, 90Ks
2023 – 5-2, 71 IP, 3.3 ERA 96Ks
He’s also ahead of his 2022 offensive pace.
Sounds ripe for a DFA
Why is this scrub still on the team ????
Ohtani is wasting the Angels prime ! We would be a much better without him !!
🤣
Actually agree ohtani is wasting angels prime and they’d be better (off) without him.
Definitely – fat kid and unicorn are wasting my prime years of fanhood. FFS
It’s time to let Jo Adell, Reid Detmers and Michael Stefanic lead us to the playoffs !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyUa63NM1E
The PCL playoffs?
Alez, I’ll take “Clutch Hits” for a million.
Watching replay of yesterday’s game, I noted at least 3 glaring unclutchiness of Angels.
In contrast, Yordan Alvarez hit 2 run homer after miscue by Urshela, allowing Pena to be on base in first inning. Urshela made another miscue with Alvarez grounder by throwing inaccurately to 2nd base, allowing two runners on base, followed by clutch 2 out single by Bregman to score their 3rd run.
Angels=No clutch
Asstros=Definition of clutch
One consolation is that Angels got 7 runners (5 hits, 1 walk, 1 HBP) against Valdez yesterday compared to only 3 runners when faced him last time.
Time to use small ball strategies, Nevin! Use bunt, steal, hit and run to shake things up. I would even love to see Trout or Shohei bunt. We did not see any of them in the first two games.
“It’s an automatic”
“There’s no clutch”
Who are the Angels?
As I was reading Japanese news site further, I came across some excerpts from Nevin’s post game conference translated in Japanese. I did not watch Nevin’s postgame, so some of you may already know (disclaimer: remember this a translation of translation so there could be some nuance difference.)
Q: About Shohei’s pitch that Alvarez hit a homerun
A: It was a good sweeper, but the pitch before that was in his swing zone and he missed it. Alvarez is too good of hitter to miss the second mistake. The location was not good, and the pitch selection has room for debate. Alvarez is well known as one of the best fast ball hitter in the league, but there are not too many pitchers who can throw better fast ball than Shohei. I won’t say he should have used fast ball in facing Alvarez today or he made a wrong selection of pitch types, but better command with appropriate selection of pitch is key to successful pitching.
Q: What do you think of his sweepers in general?
A: I am amazed with the high rate of swing and misses with his sweepers. Out of 145 swing attempts at his sweepers, only 4 swings made contact. 3 of them resulted in home run. So, his sweeper is one of the best pitches in the league and numbers show that. Only a few of them missed location.
It sounds Nevin is contradicting himself by being critical of Shohei’s sweeper in answering the first question and totally praising it in answering the second. What do you want Shohei to do, Phil?
His sweeper is his weakest pitch as far as giving up big hits — almost all HR’s off Shohei come off the sweeper. Especially recently.
But he nonetheless keeps it in heavy use. I mean, I’d even rather see his curveball, which isn’t a great pitch either….
Sometimes I think Shohei is stupid— though I know he’s not. He keeps using something that gets him beat.
HEY SHOHEI — USE THE DAMN SPLITTER !!
And you’re right Kiyo. Idiot Nevin definitely did contradict himself.
He didn’t have control of his splitter last night. He was throwing it all over the place.
Watching replay, I noticed he attempted to throw splitter twice against Alvarez in the first inning, one of them so wild that it went to the back stop. Shohei went back to sweeper with which he has more oonfidence, and Alvarez hit a 2 run homer.
Splitter is such a “feel” pitch for Shohei that someday he has it while he does not have any control with it other days. But, I would not have minded if he had tried it one more time or high zone fast ball there.
You can’t control it if you barely use it.
Also, if he used it more than that damn sweeper he would have better command, like 2nd half of last season!
Shohei Q&A session with Japanese media:
Q: You allowed two homeruns today.
A: Some grounders got thru infield and inability to control the number of pitches did not go as planned.
Q: You allowed 5 hits after two strikes in the count.
A: My selection of pitch types may have been not quite right today. If I got strike out in those situations, I would have been able to get the momentum back and last longer.
Q: It appeared you threw less splits than usual.
A: Statcast was wrong in labeling some splits as sinkers.
Q: How were your sweepers today?
A: They felt mostly good. But there are a few that slipped out of fingers which ended in batter’s hitting zone. The second homerun I gave up was exactly due to a slipped out sweeper.
Q: What do you think how Angels bats did today?
A: We had numerous scoring opportunities, and we definitely had great chance of winning today’s game, had I come through in those opportunities, especially in 3rd inning when there were runners on 1st and 2nd with only one out.
Q: You were 3-1 last year against Astros with ERA of 1.21, but this season you lost two in row.
A: Houston is a team that is always well prepared with sound offensive strategy that all players adhere to and execute well even in small number of scoring opportunities. I think that is their strength.
Q: What do you think of Framber Valdez.
A: I respect him as one of the best pitchers in the league as all Angels hitters have had difficulties with hitting his pitches in last two games. I am also aware batters throughout the league find him as a tough pitcher to hit against.
No words on whether he will take tomorrow off.
“Houston is a team that is always well prepared with sound offensive strategy that all players adhere to and execute well even in small number of scoring opportunities. I think that is their strength.”
Why does it never feel like the Angels have a sound offensive strategy that all players adhere and execute to? Or is it that the strategy is poor? Or are the players not executing the strategy?
Has to make you think, right?
Thank you so much for the translation!!!!!
Rec’d. Nice write-up!
Ohtani is catching all the heat from the fanbase but if we want to be fair…
Trout has been friggin terrible (relative to Mike Trout standards) recently.
Trouty is my favorite player ever and i shy away from criticizing him, but he’s been brutal. His OPS in clutch situations is somewhere around .650 – .700 and that’s not good enough.
Trout has regressed a ton the last couple of years with walks, fast balls, exit velocity. He’s still good, but it’s evident that we’re witnessing a different Trout
I hate it. Acuna is the new MVP Trout 😔
Trout leads all of baseball in four seam fastballs thrown to. The brutal reality is that he is susceptible to them and everyone knows. Could be a tough run if he can’t adjust. Currently he’s become a guy that feast on weak pitchers.
Not sure if it was a four seamer or a cutter, but Trout nearly hit a HR off a 97 mph fastball from Valdez in 1st.
Only a great rob by Tucker took away that HR.
If the Marlins could sweep this team, surely the Angels will be swept now that we know that even Ohtani couldn’t get the W for the club.