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Angels try to comeback, fall short

ARLINGTON, TX - MAY 17:  Hideki Matsui #55 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at bat against the Texas Rangers on May 17, 2010 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.  (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Ronald Martinez - Getty Images

about 2 years ago: ARLINGTON, TX - MAY 17: Hideki Matsui #55 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at bat against the Texas Rangers on May 17, 2010 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Well, this is certainly odd to see a gamethread not up this late.

But here we go... and it will be short.

Unfortunately the Angels fell into a quick hole in the 3rd with an error that was followed by a string of hits in a row putting them down 4-0.
The Angels slowly chipped away at the lead with the help of the big bat: 2 in 5th by Mike Napoli, and 1 in the 7th by Torii Hunter.But too little too late, the 9th inning came and went and the Angels were short by 1.

Just gotta get back up for tomorrow and grab that game we lost back.

Pre1_medium 

Poll
Blame?
Aybar
58 votes
Matsui
65 votes
Kendrick
79 votes
Kazmir
107 votes

309 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  51 comments

Comments

Scottnak

My total should be about 380,000? Please check. Thanks.

BOTG: Got to go with Kaz. Can’t give up those 4 run innings.

Looks like you've already made a bet.

Because i took it after you did that,t he ‘total’ has been already adjusted

But I didn't lose YET

Not saying I’m not going to lose. The game ain’t ’till tomorrow.

Ok, the game is today your time
Haha yesh.

Nothing I can do.
Think of it as you’ve already put down your bet so your ‘Total’ (in your pocket) has already been deducted. And when lazy-late ol’ me comes by to scan the score I can’t tell that you’ve already mady your bet :P

I voted Howie

The positives on Kazmir:
1. 7 innings pitched
2. only one walk (1st batter, none after that)
3. In the 4 run inning, only one ball was actually hit hard off him. One run scored after an infield single + error where if Howie makes a decent throw, Borbon is out. Later Vlad gets a double on a popup that either Howie or Morales should have caught.

I agree

I think Kazmir pitched a good game.

How did you guys see Shields?
He was right there on my TV.

Didn’t have to look far.

All kidding aside...

Other than the walk, it seemed like he did his job. In all honesty, though, dinner was coming out and I wasn’t paying attention to every pitch during that inning.

II Agree

Even if Howie held the ball, it totally changes the inning. Sucks to have 1 ball hit hard off of you and give up 4 runs. The Angels could have easily won that game 3 to 2 if it weren’t for the defense.

My total should be

[PINKY-TO-MOUTH]
One MILLION points
[/PINKY-TO-MOUTH]

Napoli in the ninth inning

About foot from a HR … We played these Texan rangerovers damn tough … Not worried about this season at all.

Thanks to scottnak for lessening my workload while i am on vacation.

I thought it was gone

Even the texas announcers thought it was gone. (Had to go with MLB basic online because of my bandwith and that means texas announcers). They said something about the “no wind” because of a recently passing storm.

Sorry it was so late though!
It has to be Matsui

Any guy who manages four different ways to get out deserves POTG. Let Abreu DH tonight, Sosh. Matsui needs a day off.

Godzilla managed to pop out, fly out, ground out, AND strike out. I imagine that if he had a fifth at-bat, he would have lined out. I dare not think of a sixth.

BOTG = Willits. Should have been an option

It was his two misplayed flyballs that cost Kaz > anything/one else.
Other notable craptastic plays:
*Torii’s airmailed throw didn’t help that inning any.
*Torii getting picked off first (umps miss blatant balk)
*Howie should have not thrown that ball to first, he had no play.
*Did Eybar or Matsui even play in this game?
*Rally killer 1…Eybar 2 on, 1 out, pops up to 2b followed by Howie grounding out.
*Rally killer 2…2 on, 1 out, Naps goes down looking and Wood grounds out weakly to SS
*Abrew swinging at ball 4 to end the game!

Positives from this game:
*I thought Kaz pitched well and deserved to win that game. Game was actually watchable on his part, 1 walk (led off game) and flashes of the Great Kaz. Bore down on numerous occasions with runners in scoring position that were not always his fault. I came out of that game with very positive Kaz vibes…If Halos played defense in this game the final score probably would have been 3-1 or 3-2 Halos.
*Shields pitched a relatively uneventful scoreless inning (1 bb) pitching around Nap’s craptastic throw to 2b Torii
*Wood got a hit (not with runners in scoring position when we needed it unfortunately) and did not strikeout. He also had one full count AB that I recall.

Definitely Reggie.
Reggie is still terrible in left or right

can’t hit a lick
no stolen bases
can reach base if the pitcher doesn’t throw 3 strikes
most importantly – he is scioscia’s favorite tinker toy. rip quinlan

I saw very little of the game ...

but Reggie looked terrible out there in right field.

Even your positives are negative. Ha ha.
Aybar needs a new spot in the order

how much longer do we trot out a leadoff “hitter” with a .239 avg, .304 obp, and who has 5 stolen bases in 9 chances?
Anyone other than Wood has a better obp and stolen base % than our #1 table setter. (Kendry does have a worse stolen base %) He’s also tied for 4th on the team in strikeouts.

I think the team, and the offense in general, was expecting a lot more out of him. Meanwhile, Wood and Kendrick are the trendy targets for hatred in the infield after every loss.

Agreed

Aybar has been avoiding a lot of well deserved flack on HH. I wish Izzy were healthy. He could give lead-off a whirl. Problem is, at this point, we need to replace BOTH Wood and Aybar, and Izzy may be decent, but he aint Bugs Bunny.

RE LAX
is that anything like EX-LAX?
SFO with the RE LAX!
Blame of the game: KENDRICK

Throws a ball away to lead the inning, then goes 0 for 4 with 2 LOB in key situations.

At least Kazmir settled down for a bit.

Can't blame Kaz here

got to give him props for finally pitching into 7th, kept his pitch count low by pitching aggressively.

BOTG has to be Matsui.

Kendrick

got my vote. Miscommunication in the infield and leaving 2nd base OPEN for Vladdy to stroll to is not a good look.

Blame of the game: Front Office

Serves them right for not offering Vlad and Oli a contract. Had they done so they not only would have won yesterday but they also would be in fiirst place. Kaz did alright, it wasn’t his fault that our guys can’t hit men on base!

Oliver wanted to play in Texas or retire

And I’m not convinced that Vlad and Oliver would be the difference between where we are and first place

Oliver might be.

Have you seen our bullpen stats, outside of Jepsen and Rodney?

Ya, he would certainly help quite a bit, I'm just not sure he would help enough that we would be in 1st right now
That's commonly said here about Oliver.

Is it really true? What’s the source? The only thing I’ve ever read is that he wanted two years. I still think it was dumb to not even offer arbitration.

LINK

Bill Shaikin in the LA Times

Google is your friend and I was nearly canned for researching that for you. You’re welcome.

Oh, and reading it...

it said simply that “he was thinking about retiring.” The fact that the Halos would have had to pay big in arbitration likely was the reason they backed away. But, you are right, he never said “Texas or retirement …” at least not in the 4 pages of searches I found.

Hard to watch Vlad and Oli

The way Figgins and Lackey have been playing, it hasn’t been difficult to watch their performances (even though Lackey beat us). But seeing Vlad and Oli’s numbers so far is rough. Considering how Matsui is doing, I really miss Vlad. I have to say, I’m voting for him for the all-star DH spot. And Oli is sorely missed in our bullpen. If you think of Rodney as his replacement, then it’s not so bad. But really Rodney isn’t filling the same role that Oli left. No one has really filled Oli’s role, and few pitchers are capable of doing so because he is so versatile.

The thing about Oli is he could fill *ANY* role in the pen.

He could do long relief, mop-up, 7th inning, 8th inning, close if necessary, or even spot-start (4 innings or less, though).

I seriously think that Oli leaving is a bigger factor for us right now than Vlad leaving.

The irony

Sosh is struggling with this whole “role” issue this year, insisting that Fuentes stay in the closing role, Rodney is the set-up man, blah blah blah. And the guy that left our pen defies the whole concept of a “role.” Could it be because he was a BETTER pitcher than most of the guys we have now? He could pitch in any role, it didn’t matter if there was a save opportunity, inherited runners, 4 or 5 innings to eat up, lefties to face…he got it done, and is still getting it done in TX.

Howie! *Thump Thump* Howie! *Thump Thump*
Uninspired Baseball = Angels 2010 Season
What... did Justin Speier infect the whole team?
To the tune of $5.25 wasted millions...

Vlad
wouldn’t be helping this team with his home/road splits. He’s batting over .400 in Arlington, but .250 at home. Near Matsui’s level. I read that Oli was planning to retire after the 09 season if he wasn’t going to a Texas team.

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