Tanking has been nerfed by MLB due to the lottery. So there is little reason to be the worst team since that doesn’t even mean you get the number 1 pick. Sometimes they even fall so far they don’t pick in the top 5. But, I guess fans need to root or something and if rooting for losses help then so be it.
Which made today’s starter the perfect candidate for such a purpose. Ryan Johnson is perfect for tanking a franchise, having already ruined Star Wars forever and- wait… Wrong Ryan Johnson. Oh well, the pitcher Ryan Johnson is not someone who should be a starter on a serious club. Which means he is perfect for an unserious Angels team. Not that he is horrible, just someone who on a normal team would still be in the minors, developing.
He is on the Angels though so he went 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 4 and walking 2. That’s not nearly as bad as we expected at all. Yeah, sure, he got out of multiple jams, like loading the bases with no outs. But both runs were home runs. Only reason why he was in line for the loss was because the Angels were being no hit.
Highlighted Recap
The game was, well not a pitchers duel, more like a competent pitcher and a lucky one, which lasted until the 4th when Johnson gave up a home run.
Guzman was able to end that 4th with a nice snag and keep it from getting worse.
Angels could not get a hit. And that was partly due to Royals defense also being good like this one in the bottom of the 4th.
Johnson gave up a 2nd home run in the 5th and we’ll, it is Bobby. That is to be expected.
Meanwhile the Angels still didn’t have a hit. Because balls were being fielded well like this in the 6th.
And the Angels defense fell apart. Because Oswald made 2 errors on back to back balls to him, allowing a run.
At least Meckler is still defensively great as he ends the 7th with a sliding catch.
Thankfully the Angels finally got a hit in the 7th with a Grissom bloop single. Angels have still not been no hit in the 21st century.
Team still couldn’t do anything productive though. And so they lost again. A 1 hitter. Halfway through August and still don’t even have 50 wins.
Upcoming
Angels do not play tomorrow, first off day in a while. Then they go to Houston and Texas for the last time all season. That’s 2 of the divison done before September.
