The Twins' novel offensive strategy, called "hit it to Juan Rivera," paid big dividends when everyone's least favorite lackadaisical left-fielder misplayed two fly balls in a row, including one he let drop more than twenty feet behind him. You really have to see the replay to believe it. The defensive lapses almost single-handedly turned a 4-1 deficit into a 7-1 blowout by just the fourth inning.
The Twins threw a journeyman starter against Dan Haren, so you just had to figure this Angels lineup would turn him into Whitey Ford. Haren was not sharp, hanging a 2-1 curveball which Jason Kubel launched with two guys on base in the third inning. But Haren would have had to pitch a shutout to lift the Angels' limp bats over the left-handed buzzsaw named Brian Duensing. Look him up if you've never heard of him, and my guess is that you haven't.
You know what? I haven't even looked at the Rangers score. At 61-62, the Angels are in a race with themselves just to finish with a winning record. Oh by the way, Maicer Izturis is hurting again.
Game Thread Roll Call: HalosFanInNorCal, stuck in Romania, Halowood, cardinalwraith, RexTookMyStash, 2pintsofbooze, ~MMP~, ryanfea, Quinlan's Goofy Swing, K3YEROUT, Downing Rules, Figgi4life, agent_99, cath619, red floyd, angelsfan7, Stirrups, angelskid2210, Rev Halofan, Halos2011champs, MH252525, bc56274, norcaliangelsfan, halofan4life, imyhero, mattwelch, Suboptimal, Turks Teeth, halofolife, ladybug, Funke5ive, hbhalofan, Kingfish1, SABAngels, Dontbatvlad4th, ckntem, Dono Romantico, Brody, Wally's World, Quad Fin Rider, yeswecan, Robviously, eyespy, LanaBanana, AP2TUDE
Total Users: 45 • Total Posts: 622
0 recs | 47 comments
D) All of the Above
~MMP~ - August 20, 2010
Can't blame Juan
Dudes lose track of balls hit up into the ceiling of the Metrodome all the time. It won’t ever happen again once the Twinks move to the new Target Field…
Quad Fin Rider - August 20, 2010
had me fooled there for a bit
Angels_48 - August 20, 2010
I know
B-Wood given a start everyday makes sense because we’re outta the race, but it still hurts my heart seeing his name on the starting roster.
phoenix15 - August 20, 2010
rather he play
than mathis
maybe a wild pitch will hit his bat and fall in for a hit
the upsurge in batting average
might fool an unaware GM into thinking he has MLB worth
hittheg - August 21, 2010
baseball sucks when we lose
but when your drunk off of Sierra Nevada life is good
DAD OF VLAD - August 20, 2010
You're only up to Sierra Nevadas now? Amateur...
Quad Fin Rider - August 20, 2010
sweet
home town stuff. Please support local
eyespy - August 20, 2010
Strong enough to give your pet polar bear a hangover?
sothball - August 20, 2010
strong enough to make you think you have a pet polar bear
clover_black - August 20, 2010
Now I want to vote twice
For Juancho and that godawful “who am I? What is my motivation?” BS in left.
scareduck - August 20, 2010
Juan Rivera is what we in the teaching profession call, a "b-tard."
sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher - August 20, 2010
Since we were listing former Angel bullpen guys who are on other teams ...(the other day)
who are better than what we have…I ventured upon Joel Peralta pitching pretty decently for the Wa Nationals, LINKIE
K3YEROUT - August 20, 2010
Eh, I don't really blame the Angels for giving up on him
It’s hard to believe he could have been a mainstay in the Angels pen for the last six seasons. Might as well have rolled the dice on J.C. Romero too. Sure he had some nice ERAs in Philadelphia, but did anyone see that coming?
Suboptimal - August 20, 2010
Bobby Jenks
Didn’t we protect Josh Paul, our 3rd string catcher over Jenks? I know part of it was his drinking problem.
aces666high - August 20, 2010
I believe that's how it went down, yes
Certainly a mistake in retrospect, but that guy was such a mess in 2004 it’s really hard to blame the Angels for giving up. He walked almost 300 guys in his minor league career, so I never expected his control to be as solid as it has been in the majors.
Suboptimal - August 20, 2010
Very true
300?? Wow I knew he was a project but good god! Now the concern is we go the opposite way and stick too long with those guys w/cannons for arms. A lot of guys can throw 95 but if it goes in a straight line, doesn’t take long to figure it out.
aces666high - August 20, 2010
You think we can dig up Chuck McElroy and put him in our pen?
sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher - August 20, 2010
Our blowpen isn't going to improve by buying overated veterans at 4-5 mill a pop.
We tried that, it hasn’t worked. The Pads have an outstanding bullpen consisting mostly of young guys we’ve never heard of. Of course they have Bud Black. You think he makes much of a difference?
Suboptimal, do you feel the pitching coach is just as important as the batting coach? Thoughts?
sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher - August 20, 2010
Pitchers are a lot more difficult to handle developmentally
But most of the problems reduce to inning management. I don’t really buy the argument that San Diego pitches well because of Bud Black, nor that Bud Black caused the Angels to pitch well when he was the hitting instructor. I think the Padres just have better pitching than the Angels.
Suboptimal - August 20, 2010
I just realized this, I'm sure it's been brought up before
As a franchise, we have missed the playoffs every year following an LCS appearance :(
jtkelly86 - August 20, 2010
SHIIT!
Angels_48 - August 20, 2010
Yep.
Years following LCS appearance:
red floyd - August 21, 2010
I have an announcement
I am no longer in love or hereby married to, my other husband, Juancho The Bat Sniffer Rivera. Its over.
TSamn15 - August 20, 2010
welcome to the club......
norcaliangelsfan - August 20, 2010
Minnesota has fielded such a better team, 1-9 than the angels it's ridiculous.
Don’t even bother hoping for a win. I’m sure its Mickey Hatcher’s fault that the offense didn’t pull through today, though.
Tony reagins is pretty awesome at his job though.
clover_black - August 20, 2010
sounds like Juancho's eyes are still jacked up
gotta be a little scary to just wake up one day and not be able to see as well as you could before. Guess that is called getting old, but dude ain’t that old….
LosAngel - August 20, 2010
Its called stress related.
Because he sucks at baseball and his meal ticket is gonna run out in 2011. He had a good run though, no need to feel sorry for him. I’m sure somebody in the AL could use a DH that dribbles the ball to 3B.
clover_black - August 20, 2010
remember when we wanted Juancho to play sooooooooooooo bad
damn that was a long time ago
Angels_48 - August 20, 2010
Should Bourjos play Outfield by
himself ?
devilson - August 20, 2010
2 high school players to guard the lines...
let Bourjos get the rest. Bonus—the high school guys might not hit any worse either.
hbhalofan - August 21, 2010
how bad is it
that I stopped watching in the 7th inning, then a little bit ago I thought to myself “I wonder if they came back and won the game..that would be super cool if they did.”? So I came on here to see if I would be pleasantly shocked only to confirm that this team is completely, 100% uncapable of coming from behind. And that tells me that even if this team were to pull off a miracle and somehow overtake the Rangers (more a Rangers collapse than an Angels comeback), they would surely be done after 3 games (4 if they got lucky) in October.
I’m to the point where I’m ready for them to be mathematically eliminated so I can quit the emotional rollercoaster. every win is just smoke and mirrors, nothing more, nothing less. The sooner we all realize this, the sooner we can focus on the future and not let bullshit defensive miscues, such as Rivera letting a ball fall 30 feet behind him, have a negative effect on our mood.
When the highpoint of a 3 hour baseball game is seeing a rookie who is batting .133 hit a double, something is obviously wrong.
time for another beer…
2pintsofbooze - August 20, 2010
Talking sense
Finally someone else who feels like taking off the rose colored glasses. Like I said in a previous post this team lacks in just about everything. Escpecially heart. This is not the team that could be down 7-1 and u knew they could chip away at it and be in it by the 8th. These are the guys u have to laugh to keep from crying. Don’t pitchers and catchers report soon?
aces666high - August 21, 2010
so, you're excited about the protected pick race heating up? Angels keep picking up ground there
Balls and Strikes - August 21, 2010
time for a 40 oz?
devilson - August 21, 2010
How in the hell does Jim Thome get a TRIPLE?
Sick. Also, I cannot believe Rivera’s misplay. Get that guy some glasses.
Downing Rules - August 21, 2010
Four words. Juan Rivera In Left
red floyd - August 21, 2010
Maybe next year
We can upgrade in left field by signing Manny Ramirez.
Doctor Wu - August 21, 2010
Missed the game
On purpose when I saw us down by 3 runs (all hope wa gone)..
I did notice kohn had a perfect inning with a K, did he look better or flukish?
HalosBiggestFan - August 21, 2010 via mobile
new nickname for the bat-sniffer
MAGOO
hittheg - August 21, 2010
That way everytime he makes a misplay we can chuckle "Oh Magoo, you've done it again!"
RedHatHalo - August 21, 2010
To be fair
Brian Duensing is in his second season in the majors, is 26 and was drafted by the Twins. Not sure what your definition of a journeyman is, but it’s not Duensing.
Sethy - August 21, 2010
Journeyman
n. An experienced and competent but undistinguished worker.
Suboptimal - August 21, 2010
Ya, I don't think that works for Duensing
Second season in the majors – hardly experienced.
Sethy - August 21, 2010
Juan Rivera
He stinks in the outfield but I guess they think his bat is worth keeping in but his misplayed balls are costing the team victorys. How many years are we going to put up with these players that they think are going to come out of there slump but they don’t ! Time to get rid of Shields and Rivera and Mathis . We are in trouble for years to come unless we get someone in there that can see these things. Mike S can only do so much with what he has to work with.
mojo2045 - August 21, 2010
Didn't see the game last night
We had friends over for dinner. During that time, my son said “I wonder how the Angels are doing”, and I replied “Don’t you remember? They won yesterday and played well. That means today they are going to turn a 180 and absolutely STINK.” That has been the pattern I’ve noticed.
And sure enough, I wake up this morning and see the train wreck from last night. It’s sad to be right and see how predictable their sucking has become.
RedHatHalo - August 21, 2010
I went to this game and Saturdays game
Two things
1. The stadium is gorgeous
2. Juan Rivera is a joke in left field.
rjcicc - August 23, 2010
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