The Angels have a tendency to lose to rookie pitchers. I can’t count how many times a guy makes his MLB debut against the Angels and looks like freakin’ Cy Young out there. Tonight, Oriole rook Miguel Gonzalez twirled seven innings of one run ball and baffled Angel hitters all night. This makes for some frustrating action given that good teams usually pound newbies into submission. But not our boys, no sir. They couldn’t seem to get anything going and so they drop one they should have won. That can come back to haunt teams as well.
Game Notes
— Just when it looked like Mike Trout was going to have a sub par performance he goes and blasts another homer to center. This is no longer really news but more of a public service announcement to remind us all how lucky we are he plays for the Angels and not one of the 21 teams that passed on him during the draft.
— Speaking of TnT, Mark Trumbo homered again. People slag on Mark as a hitter, but I think he should be in the MVP discussion as well as Trout.
— Shhh, don’t look now but Kevin Jepsen has retired all six hitters he’s faced since his recall. Just don’t spook him or he might crap it all away in his next outing. On a related note, Jordan Walden also worked an inning of scoreless relief.
— I think Howie Kendrick hit into his 34th double play tonight. I’m not sure what is going on with him, but hitting with runners on base has been impossible for him this season.
— Why does Scioscia insist on pitch hitting Maicer Itzuris for John Hester on a regular basis? Hester can hit and may be better at the plate than Maicer. I just don’t get it.
Halo A Hole
I did some counting and CJ Wilson had seven 3-2 counts in tonight’s game. Which might explain the 122 pithces he had to throw in seven innings. For a guy whose mantra it to throw strikes, Wilson sure doesn’t practice what he preaches. Yes he only gave up three runs on one home run pitch, but one has to wonder what it would have been like if he hadn’t thrown so many pitches to the two guys prior. Maybe #pma should stand for Please Make Adjustments…
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