As Bruce Chen -- seriously, Bruce Chen -- walked off the mound in the middle of the 8th inning, a frame he hasn't tasted in any game he's started since April 13, 2006, Victor Rojas put it both best and worst: "Perhaps he has figured things out now with his 10th major league club."
The hell he has. What Bruce Chen figured out is the same thing countless pieces of left-handed pus-balling meat have been realizing during Mike Scioscia's otherwise dominant reign: You can beat the 21st century Angels by throwing sub-Moyeresqe portsidery slop, especially when the offense is in full swoon.
Chen, an arm so pointless he was schlepped from the Braves to the Phillies to the Mets to the Expos to the Reds to the Astros to the Red Sox to the Blue Jays to the Orioles in less than FOUR CALENDAR YEARS, was, inexcusably, perfect through 6 innings, though he did have some help in the form of two great David DeJesus (of Montreal) catches in CF. Erick Aybar finally recognized that 85-mph pitches aren't "fastballs" in the 7th, but after Bobby Abreu somehow swung and missed at a third strike, Mike Napoli popped up to end the 0-0 threat.
Ervin Santana was great, but confused Billy Butler for Bilibur Stargell or something, walking him twice and hitting him twice more, including to load the bases in the top of the 8th, setting up a revenge-minded Jose Guillen for a two-run single to left-center that sure did stay up in the air for a while. A Jeff Mathis homer in the bottom of the inning chased Chen and provided a brief impersonation of offensive respectability, but some lousy relief pitching and unclutch-enough hitting by our non-Vlad DH in an exciting 9th sealed our fate at 4.5 back.
Relive the shame in the Game Thread, or just get started on Independence Day, already!
0 recs | 64 comments
Ever have
2 of those games?
raskul - July 3, 2010
I am still perplexed by the selection of F Rod to be the reliever in that situation
We need to be making up games against teams like the freaking Royals, not falling back.
NA1NSXR - July 3, 2010
I was shocked
Rodney was warming up, I expected he would have been in.
RallyMonkey5 - July 3, 2010
The same shit would've happened had Rodney came in
ryanfea - July 3, 2010
not as likely
NA1NSXR - July 3, 2010
you need Matsui in the BOTG
ladybug - July 3, 2010
Your wish is my etc.
mattwelch - July 3, 2010
PS - BOTG
Matsui,
That is his only job.
He fail.
raskul - July 3, 2010
Not quite a haiku, but I know what you mean.
halofolife - July 3, 2010
OK:
Matsui. Phew-ee!
You give fail a new meaning.
I am so dis-appoint.
raskul - July 3, 2010
Now, that is a haiku! ;)
halofolife - July 4, 2010
Not quite. Last verse has 6 syllables, should be five.
How about:
You disappoint me
or
You so disappoint
red floyd - July 4, 2010
You sir are correct.
Forgive my oversight in counting the syllables red, now it’s time to crack a beer open, can’t count syllables sober! ;)
halofolife - July 5, 2010
didn't Bilibur get 2 walks?
this game sucked. bruce chen? really?
daze - July 3, 2010
You are fam-il-lee!
Thanks.
mattwelch - July 3, 2010
Juuust under
2 hours 50 minutes.
Figgi4life - July 3, 2010 via mobile
I never want to go into any last game of the series thinking
“I hope we can avoid the sweep against the Royals.” Pathetic.
linkbruin - July 3, 2010
Wake up Angels!
Fan Since 1981 - July 3, 2010
Lets post Matsui to the NPB
UCIHalo - July 3, 2010
The offesnive slump was bound to happen
Just not now please
BOTG = Matsui
vladtheimpaler - July 3, 2010
At least you avoided
becoming a Yankees fan
ryanfea - July 3, 2010
panther
norcaliangelsfan - July 3, 2010
saved a no hitter against us
but i couldn’t get us the win.
my powers are limited.
vladtheimpaler - July 3, 2010
Davies and Chen are failed Braves prospects
And we just made them look like Maddux and Glavine.
RallyMonkey5 - July 3, 2010
ouch!
stuck in Romania - July 3, 2010
offense sucks........
bullpen sucks………..
Bitch about Ranger’s easy schedule all you want……….but until the team takes care of its own business they have no one to blame but themselves.
norcaliangelsfan - July 3, 2010
Truth
If the Angels really had all their ducks in a row right now, the Rangers would be a sideshow act. Texas could be good for 90 to 95 wins this season, which any of the last three Angel teams would have surpassed. As it stands, this team could be mediocre enough to make the Rangers’ schedule handicap irrelevant.
Suboptimal - July 4, 2010
Well, it took longer than expected, but we really miss K-MO now.
These are the times he would step up and lead us to more than 2 runs.
Wally's World - July 3, 2010
Like a walk off grand slam? Instead of an rbi flyout to right
Balls and Strikes - July 3, 2010
that sounds great! uh, . .. HEY GUYS! Stick to Hi 5's pleezzzzeee.
Wally's World - July 3, 2010
Rodriguez sucks and should be embarrased to collect his paycheck
Matsui is exactly who I knew he would be before the season started, he needs a long vacation of a month or so, then you bring him back. The Angels offense just got owned by a pitcher by the name of Chen. Slow pitches with alot of movement. That was a pathetic display of baseball and the Angels may get swept by the Royals of all teams.
steelgolf - July 3, 2010
Scioscia should be a blame candidate....
…. for pulling Santana when he did. Ervin started out with a nice strikeout and then two bloops get him pulled? If there’s one thing Scioscia does wrong, it’s when to pull starters.
BeerCub - July 3, 2010
Matsui
sure blew my night at the diamond club.
Rev Halofan - July 3, 2010
Play them off, Keyboard Cat!
Clutch - July 3, 2010
According to Biggs, Q was sent down, no info on the corresponding move.
~MMP~ - July 3, 2010
Well this probably explains it.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels-fyi-20100704,0,6600541.story
“Scioscia said right-hander Trevor Bell, who was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake on Friday so he could work as a starter, will start for the Angels on Monday in Chicago against the White Sox. Bell is 1-1 with a 6.38 ERA in 14 appearances this season.”
~MMP~ - July 3, 2010
Poor Karmis.
SenorChuckles - July 3, 2010
Could this be to make Weave eligible to pitch in the ASG?
It would set him up well for it if Bell’s start just pushes everyone back a day.
rspencer - July 3, 2010
I'm guessing it's more about giving Kazmir some more time before his next start.
I don’t see Scioscia messing with the rotation so Weaver can pitch in the ASG.
~MMP~ - July 3, 2010
would Soth do that just for the All-Star Game?
SenorChuckles - July 3, 2010
Soth wouldn't in most circumstances
but Arte invested a lot of money in getting the ASG, and Weave is our best chance of actually having a starter, so a “special request” may have come down. Moreover, if Weave has expressed a desire to pitch in the ASG, it’s conceivable that Soth would try to accommodate him, given that Weave has gotten a raw deal because of the bad bullpen this year.
rspencer - July 3, 2010
soth said he wouldn't.
“Our in-house business is very important to us,” Scioscia said. “These guys are on a schedule to, hopefully, maximize what they can bring to our club. I don’t anticipate us doing anything that would change what we have to do as a team. I think these guys understand that.”
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angelesangels/post/_/id/759/weaver-might-be-an-all-star-but-he-likely-wont-pitch
daze - July 4, 2010
Baseball sucks.
bc56274 - July 3, 2010
only 40% of the time
That’s why we keep coming back
vladtheimpaler - July 3, 2010
How clutch was Napoli today?
definitely BOTG.
SenorChuckles - July 3, 2010
Strength of schedule
The Rangers are winning because they’re beating up on weak teams, while we have to play… oh, wait…
Fred Fredrix - July 3, 2010
BOTG
is offense and bullpen. What the f*** with all these walks. Unless your Rodney or K-Rod and can guarantee no runs scoring, walks kill you. If K-Rod II pitched well, tie ball game with Naps RBI.
phoenix15 - July 3, 2010
Maybe Sosh
has too much faith in the 2010 relievers. For the past 10 years, the Angel bullpen was one of the best in MLB. Had Shields in his prime with K-Rod relieving/closing, a dominant Percival, Donnelly. When these guys messed up, it was a once per season thing. Now we got guys who keep walking batters, but also letting them score. In just years, the bullpen fell from best to worst.
phoenix15 - July 3, 2010
Just wildly speculating here
but it occurs to me that perhaps Soth is parading our cornucopia of suckage out there to make the team’s true needs evident to the FO as the trade deadline approaches.
rspencer - July 3, 2010
The bullpen
can still be saved if Thompson carries his AAA season over and Kohn’s promoted.
phoenix15 - July 3, 2010
I'm seeing that as a good possibility, too
but now’s the time to shake these things out. Thompson’s back up, but Soth may be trying to force Reagins’ hand to bring Kohn up. I’m just trying to make sense of Mike’s seemingly inexplicable bullpen moves lately.
rspencer - July 3, 2010
Things can't be going well
When your hopes are resting on a couple of guys straight from the farm. They’ll have to acquire at least one dependable reliever by trade to really brighten things up.
Suboptimal - July 4, 2010
It's cute to blame one batter...
But all season there has been fairly regular clutch hitting fail (not to say they NEVER do) from nearly all our guys, and who is the monkey responsible? Mickey Hatcher, he fails, and I actually hope the offense continues to slump and hopefully SOME attention is paid to getting rid of him. Otherwise if they get back on another short-burst roll Soth will just coast with Mickey like he’s done these past few years.
Dontbatvlad4th - July 3, 2010
Coast all the way to another f-ing title
I’ll take it. You can get off the bandwagon.
Wytelitning - July 3, 2010 via mobile
Angels have the second "clutchiest" lineup in baseball
According to Fangraphs. Normally things like that are just random, but the Angels do it every damn year.
Suboptimal - July 4, 2010
Blame the hitting coach.
Brilliant.
Sounds like a shit-for-brain GM who is unable to put the proper pieces together to field a winning team… in the lames division in baseball.
clover_black - July 4, 2010
An FCKING inexcusable lost .
WTF is wrong with this team . Took 2 of 3 from Texas . Now ! game away from being swept by a last place team ,
Ed@northridge - July 4, 2010
Way to play down to the competitions level
The Angels are making the Royals look like the Yankees, ooops, correction, we can beat the Yankees.
steelgolf - July 4, 2010
When is Juan coming back?
Seriously though, I hope his vision is ok.
Fred Fredrix - July 4, 2010
I picked a good day to go down to SD. Glad I missed this one.
Really losing to Bruce Chen? Getting worked by Kyle Davies the night before? So sad.
stolenbases - July 4, 2010
So the question’s
Juan or Reggie. I’ll take Juan.
phoenix15 - July 4, 2010
mattwelch was a wonderful game thread host last night.
44FAN - July 4, 2010
Mom, I TOLD you not to embarrass me!
Thanks….
mattwelch - July 4, 2010
Meanwhile...
Vladdy is All-Star bound and we’re still giddy about getting sloppy seconds from the Skankees.
3rd Echelon - July 4, 2010
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