Final Score in Los Angeles of Anaheim: Boston 5, Angels 4
The Angels loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th inning and made Johnathan Papelbon throw almost forty pitches, but came up short against the Red Sox when Howie Kendrick hit a liner right at Boston right Fielder Rocco Baldelli.
The Angels offense was all about the longball as Torii Hunter homred once and Mike Napoli hit two balls fair over the wall, but Joe Saunders found some Red Sox bats as well letting a 3-2 lead get away on a 2-Run Jason Bay homer in the 7th inning.
The Angels have had the tying run at the plate or on the bases for the final pitch in each of their 3 losses this season.
0 recs | 71 comments
BOTG is definitely Speier
You come into a losing game as a reliever, your job is to stop the bleeding, not give up the eventual winning run.
DFA Speier.
cardinalwraith - April 11, 2009
DFA Speier.
Funke5ive - April 11, 2009
Speier gets my vote
If only this were a rare occurrence, and not a common one.
gilbert - April 11, 2009
Of those on the list?
Speier. I’d put Rivera up for it too though.
Zu Long - April 11, 2009
I have just about lost my patience with Rivera
stolenbases - April 11, 2009
REMEMBER
Rivera is a slow-starter (look at his all-star break splits for 2006). Give him time.
Speier, on the other hand, gives up game-winning home runs no matter the time or season.
cardinalwraith - April 11, 2009
Perhaps. But I'm more concerned with the fact that Naps could be DHing when he's not catching. That guy
has become an offensive force to be reckoned with.
Zu Long - April 11, 2009
That's a legitimate concern.
And I agree, Nap’s bat needs to be there as much as possible.
cardinalwraith - April 11, 2009
well he better be able to play the OF
cause he’s not gonna be taking Vlad’s lineup spot, and he’s been the DH so far this entire season..
b0rd3rline - April 11, 2009
nice call
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
Totally agree
Even when he doesn’t get a hit or walk he works the pitcher and puts up a quality at bat
stolenbases - April 11, 2009
Naps is streak-y though.
I love the guy but I feel like he is our Adam Dunn…could hit 40 HR in a season but would bat 240. and strike out a ton.
Still, there is upside to a Dunn-type of dude.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
True. But it's a zero sum game.
Napoli is the best hitter on this team, and Rivera/Matthews are stealing at bats from him.
Napoli should be in the lineup everyday.
Turks Teeth - April 11, 2009
best hitter on the team?
huh?
And so far Matthews has all but 3 abs this season. Oh and did you forget that Naps was injured.
Love the dude but there is some exaggeration and impatience here dude.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
Has to be Speier
Epic Dean - April 11, 2009
That was an awesome loss!
Think about it — we can blame the ump, we fought back like bastards, and made Papelbon doubt himself for the rest of the year, at least against us. Also, it gets us closer to DFA’ing Speier, who is a waste of roster space.
mattwelch - April 11, 2009
Silvah Linings... GET CHO SILVAH LININGS HERE
You sir… you could use some SILVAH LININGS in your postgame despair…
Rev Halofan - April 11, 2009
I'll collect a few.
Naps with three extra base hits, and two homeruns.
Figgins with his seventh walk, and sixth run in five games.
Hunter with two shots to the wall, one a gift catch and one outta the park.
Turks Teeth - April 11, 2009
the last time figgy collected walks like this
he had a decent year some would say. walks lead to steals then runs all increasing and hopefully (and in my opinion most importantly) first innings runs.
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
except Chone hit ball 4 with a man on base in the 8th inning.
practically pulled it out of the dirt for a slow ground ball. sigh
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
haha
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
Speier
maybe Rivera.
Great AB by Howie even if he doesnt get the hit. Tough that both teams each get 3 HRs but ours are all solos.
caangelsaokay - April 11, 2009
Speier needs to go
The guy just flat out has sucked since the beginning of last year. He doesn’t throw hard anymore.
Also Rivera and Aybar are dragging the offense down hard.
And one final thing, If Naps is not in the lineup tomorrow I do not know what I’ll do but it ain’t going to be pretty
MH252525 - April 11, 2009
Hey, those three players sound like a mightly fine start...
…to a Peavy trade. Throw in an Ortega or an O’Sullivan, and maybe we have a deal.
Turks Teeth - April 11, 2009
try again. read up. Pads want Wood....
and possible Weaver.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
BOTG
CKOD for not shutting up about the umpires
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
lawl
cardinalwraith - April 11, 2009
just
relentless
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
That CKOD guy
such an asshat. Doesn’t give it up. Definitely BOTG
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
I agree
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
you wish! ;)
Downing Rules - April 11, 2009
BOTG : The second base UMPIRE
Did anyone else see the ripples on the wall where the ball hit it?
With that run we are at least tied
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - April 11, 2009
And there is one fewer out in the inning, and maybe Juan sees a different pitch
lots of different stuff, yes.
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
true
but I only saw it on the 2nd slow mo replay.
caangelsaokay - April 11, 2009
First off.
HK did a damn good job at the plate with his last at bat. If this were last season, he goes down swinging horribly at an offspeed pitch. It is still very early, I’m not going to push the panic button with Aybar, Rivera, K-Mo or anyone. But, damn, Speier has to go. Nothing else to say about that waste of roster space. DFA his ass!!!
halofolife - April 11, 2009
the thing is
is kendrick never saw an offspeed. the two he saw (well breaking, but not fastball) were the two best pitches, that he took. papelbon pretty much threw all fastballs. i actually wonder what would have happened if papelbon tumbled one into the dirt, then again, there was someone on third base.
and im not panicking on k mo at all at the plate, but i feel like there may be some growing in the field. still VERY early tho.
f speier
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
Watch the media in all the stories
will completely ignore the blown call that played a direct role in the outcome of the game.
This, as much as anything, is why nothing gets done. When a bad call is made, the media blows it off as ‘the way things are.’ It won’t get reported, it won’t get the coverage it deserves, and nothing will come of it that needs to. And God knows if the Yanks or Sox were wronged by a call (which they won’t be, as that’s sacrilege) to that extreme, it would be the headline for the game.
The media needs to use its power to help the sport for once…not focus on trivial bullshit like Pedroia’s jock size.
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
I want to se our moral outrage
when one goes in our favor.
Rev Halofan - April 11, 2009
When one finally does
I’ll shit my pants in shock that it actually happened and go into cardiac arrest.
This play, the pick-off at second base in the ALDS last year (which was hilariously brushed off as meaningless and never discussed of course), Finley’s catcher interference, the Eddings play…and that’s just me going for the easy and immediate ones.
It’s not so much that we get bad calls against us…it’s that they are directly costly on the outcome of the game and, for the most part, GROSS errors…not just slight bang-bang oversights, but extremely obvious calls that umpires just stubbornly refuse to acknowledge and overturn because they’re spineless. They’re not just missing close plays at first, they’re missing the very things that should be the easiest.
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
I don't know. Sounds like pickin cherries.
It’s spring and all, but to my eyes that play at the wall might have gone either way. And the catch was good enough in the end.
Save the ump crucifixion for when the call is obviously blown, not these edge cases that take three cameras triangulating, color filters and a forensic scientist to prove.
There were far more obvious goats today than the onfield crew.
Turks Teeth - April 11, 2009
I don't know what set of eyes you're watching with
but I saw it hit the wall live
Caseys Kiss of Death - April 11, 2009
THE BALL CAUSED THE OUTFIELD FENCE TO RIPPLE
Therefore it must have hit it. We have at least one more run, and could very well have won the game.
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - April 11, 2009
I second (well, third) CKOD and Vlad
In HD at least the ripples were obvious.
rspencer - April 11, 2009
How many more weak ground outs to the left side of the infield do I have to witness from Juan Rivera??
This guy is at best league average, What was the FO thinking??
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - April 11, 2009
The FO was thinking
In 06’ he managed to belt out 23 homers and 85 RBI’s, all while NOT playing full time. But yeah BB’Vlad’! it is frustrating. But lets all remember, it is still very early. Come June, I’ll be right there with you calling for Rivera’s head if there is no improvement.
halofolife - April 11, 2009
Juan Rivera's Career Splits
April .238 .286 .325 .610
May .237 .283 .388 .671
June .259 .314 .436 .750
July .292 .333 .579 .913
August .300 .353 .467 .820
September .318 .357 .491 .848
October .316 .381 .789 1.170
April through June, he’s a fourth-grade nothing. But how about July through October? You like that? I do.
Now, if we could only get him to play at Salt Lake pre-ASG, and assume the MLB position in July..
Turks Teeth - April 11, 2009
I like that idea!
call him up at the break, and give a rookie a chance till then.
Big Bad, 'Vlad'! - April 11, 2009
yeah...sign the guy for 5 million and then send to AAA
Smart financial move ALL the way.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
Wow, Rivera is to 2009 as GMJ was to 2008 after what 5 games?
chill folks, neither one of them is Adam Dunn.
Downing Rules - April 11, 2009
saunders? instead of juan?
saunders with the heavy heart? against the bo sox? i thought he did pretty well today actually. well he did have a ridiculous amount of lead off hitters on base, thought he did an overall satisfactory job.
speier is joke. his whole life is about jokes. you cant be the babyface when you suck, so its time to get serious, hit the weight room and run or whatever you have to do to start working hard again, and get it right. go to salt lake if you have to. go on the DL. It’s just time to take things seriously because like i said, his life is becoming a joke.
vlad had a tough 0-for-4. two of those were hit well and one of those outs was straight up robbed. that being said i was also frustrated with him so i agree with him being up there.
i also thought aybar had an absolutely terrible game.
lastly, as much as it pains me, for thousands of reasons, mike scioscia needs to be up there. speier had no business being in the game at that point and if he as taking it seriously like Mike should be (and usually does) then he would have put in jose or shields or oliver or keep jepsen even. speier does not belong there. he has shown nothing to us to show he deserves that role lately. but like it is with our great country, i critize cuz i love.
that being said, tip of the hat to napoli. great to see he is picking up from where he left off. looks like napoli and mathis need to be in the lineup which would probably make both of them beyond happy given the awkwardness of the situation (them being BFFs and all).
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
It is early in the year Scioscia is feeling out the pitchers in different situations. He has been doing it all year.
hauldog - April 11, 2009
thats called
spring training
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
Um no not really
That is not even close to the intensity, pressure or talent level.
If you actually looked at who he has pitched when you will see he actually is doing exactly what I described above.
hauldog - April 11, 2009
ummmm so i guess he learned not to put speier there
and all it cost was the game. you think scioscia is willing to take a loss to explore the pitching situation? then you are badly mistaken. you dont hink scioscia already knows the ansers to the questions you claim he “poses”. you think we needed this game to know speier wouldnt cut it.
if you practiced any common sense at all you will see actually what i described above.
TheAngelsAngels - April 11, 2009
ouch: if you practiced any common sense at all you will see actually what i described above.
Downing Rules - April 11, 2009
In bases loaded situations
There is not a worse team in the league than the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
hauldog - April 11, 2009
LAoA for first in number of men LOB
You heard it here first
teopeht - April 11, 2009
Results are up!
2 people were able to get 3 points today! Amazing!
scottnak - April 11, 2009
I probably would've only gotten 1 if Howie gets a hit against Papelbon
but I’ll take my points
neochoa - April 11, 2009
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44FAN - April 11, 2009
Less at bats per HR than any catcher in the history of baseball
Why doesn’t he play everyday?
hauldog - April 11, 2009
Scioscia's probably trying to ease him back into the lineup
so that he doesn’t get injured right off the bat. Also, Mathis is hitting decently.
neochoa - April 11, 2009
Because the more at-bats he gets
The more likely it is that that stat will decrease and he wants Napoli to hold onto it!
turs12 - April 11, 2009
cuz hes injury prone.
oh and cant throw out a runner either.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 11, 2009
and mathis can?
b0rd3rline - April 12, 2009
Well, Mathis can throw out a runner more than Naps.
Not by much, but its better.
Check yo stats.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 12, 2009
He throws them out or he throws it into center
hauldog - April 13, 2009
He = Mathis AND Napoli
Downing Rules - April 13, 2009
wait, Torii Hunter doesnt play second base?
damn.
BryanHarvey'sMoustache - April 13, 2009
missed the game........family get together and stuff......kids birthdays..w00
oh well get em tomorrow…..I’ll forgo the BoTG because I wasnt here…..i trust you guys…
norcaliangelsfan - April 11, 2009
Ugh...
It’s early, guys – don’t come unraveled after 5 games.
If we DFA Speier, who takes his spot? The players that are ready in the minors are not pitchers.
If we did trade for Peavy, we don’t have the depth to give up Weaver. Would the Padres want Loux or Moseley along with a young bat or two? I doubt it.
If we can play .500 ball until Lackey, Escobar or Santana come back, it will be a great accomplishment by the team. If either Escobar or Santana don’t come back, it’s going to be a much longer season that it already has been.
mustard_man - April 12, 2009
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