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Angels Lack Timely Hits Against Oakland

Final Score in Los Angeles of Anaheim:  Oakland 6, Angels 4

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The Angels' batters showed improved patience at the plate by drawing 6 walks against the Oakland A's on Tuesday night, but were unable to get the timely hits to drive in all of those base runners.  The Angels hitters left 14 runners stranded on the base paths, 6 of those by left-fielder Juan Rivera.

Dustin Moseley, making his first start of the season, allowed 3 runs over 6 innings while giving up 9 hits and striking out 4.  The 3 runs Moseley gave up all came in the 4th inning on hits by Jack Cust, Kurt Suzuki, and Mark Ellis after the Angels had jumped out to a 2-0 lead.  Moseley lived up to his #5 starter billing by allowing at least one hit in each of his 6 innings, but pitched well enough on almost any other night to earn a win.  Kevin Jepsen, replacing Moseley in the 7th inning, let Oakland take the lead by giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and getting the loss.

The biggest disappointment of the night had to be the number of runners left on base and of those, the number of runners left in scoring position.  Juan Rivera struck out with the bases loaded to end the first inning, and then two innings later, stranded Kendry Morales at second and Vlad Guerrero at third when he grounded out to short.

The Halos had the tying run at the plate in the 9th after Bobby Abreu drove in Chone Figgins with a single to left, however he was left at first base after Guerrero and Hunter ended the game by striking out.

Results_medium

 

Poll
Blame Of The Game
Juan Rivera
168 votes
Kevin Jepsen
126 votes
Bobby Abreu
16 votes

310 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  41 comments

Comments

maybe someday we will get that big hit

someday…

gotta go with the guy who left all the men on base.
Results up!
panther for your promptness
if juan was on the ball like scottnak is

we’d have won that game and crushed cahill much earlier.

Jepsen

with a tip of the cap to Moseley just to piss off Zu Long.

Mose had a "Quality start"

Yeah, he had that 4th inning meltdown, but he recovered and did well in the 5th and 6th.

oh god...

PLEASE don’t get him started.

Rivera

Had a chance to knock Cahill out which would have changed the entire game

Rivera

Don’t make us forget why we are going with you over GMJ.

Gotta go with Juan even though he's my guy.

It’s not easy to being the guy it comes down to every inning, but if you want that DH job to stay yours, you gotta do better than that.

Very Zen Zu

And true. Only second game of the season, and to be brutally honest, this is kind of what I expected from our pitching staff given the injuries. But damn Juan, you can’t leave that many on base, and think the DH’ing job is secure. But again, only the second game, i’m sure he’ll bounce back next time.

Well, as far as starters I'd agree.

I was kind of hoping our AAA-callup relievers would have gotten over this whole thing they have with blowing the game every time it’s close. Oliver and Shields aren’t getting any younger. We’re going to need those guys to step up in the next few seasons.

Definitely

a frustrating night at the ballpark tonight.

Made it down for tonight’s contest and took advantage of the ticket special, as it appears many thousands did as well. Game was a sellout or close to, even though many tickets were available just a couple of days ago. I wonder how the folks on Stubhub did; I managed a ticket in section 130 for only $15. The walk-up lines were incredibly long, and the only windows open were on the 3B side at the home plate entrance. The line snaked back to the batter’s box on the “field” as early as 5:45, and it only got longer as the game time drew near.

Noticed a couple of things at the stadium tonight. First, the good: more Beach Pit BBQ locations (possibly the best grub within the stadium confines), and the return of Weinerschnitzel-brand hot dogs to the concession stands (an improvement over Farmer John, which has been on hand for the last five years or so). Most food and drink prices seemed about the same as last year, and parking is still $8.

On the down side, there’s still no spicy brown mustard (seriously, how can they not have that?). Also, I noticed that the seats are starting to look a bit worn. In particular, the section & row labels on the aisle seats have almost completely been washed away in many places.

Moseley did a decent-enough impersonation of a major league starter tonight, leaking baserunners all evening but minimizing the damage for the most part. Jepsen crapped the bed in what may have been his first important outing in the majors (figuring all of his appearances last September were relatively meaningless as the team cruised to the division title). Oliver was his usual April rusty self (he’s usually nails starting in about May). They really had Cahill on the ropes for much of the night, but the knockout blow continually eluded them (Juan Rivera in particular).

Oh well. There will be many better nights at the Big A this year.

Oh, one final thing. For many years, there was a popular restaurant called “The Catch” across the street from the stadium (I never made it there), which gave way to new development. In any event, it will be returning “this summer,” per a banner, at a new location in the complex on Katella across the street from Fresca’s, Togo’s, etc., at the Amtrak driveway.

as long as they don't bulldoze Fresca's

…they can put THE CATCH anywhere they want…

didn't check the game thread yet

but was it determined if it would have been better for HK to take one for the team in the 9th and get on base vs risking an injury? i mean, your head falling off of your body after getting beaned in the hip seems unlikely, but with his history with injuries, who knows…

i got into that argument with my friend who i went to the game with and we never did come to a decision…

Definitely blame Juan

Although a hat tip goes to Vlad. I don’t know who surgically “repaired” his knees, but if he couldn’t score from second on that double by Hunter, he’s aged more than a year in the offseason. It would have taken a pretty quick guy to score on the Morales double, but not scoring on Hunter’s really hurt. Especially since Juan crapped the bed immediately afterwards. Vlad is not running well.

I thought the same thing

Although I think he was on first when Hunter hit the double (I could be wrong), there were 2 outs and he should have been running. Someone commented in the game thread he was running well, but I don’t think so. He looked OLD.

If im thinking of the same play

dino held him up at third, vlad was on first when torii hit the 2-out double

Blame Dino

Vlad was running great, no “wobble” like in past seasons.

Great but SLOW

He really looked like he was moving in slow motion, as if he was trying to go faster but just couldn’t.

That’s OK, though. If he has slowed down, that’s to be expected anyway. He didn’t look as though he was in pain, and that’s what really matters.

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