After what looked to be a promising series after the Angels horrid start to the second half the Angels bullpen went ahead to crap the bed again in the Angels 9th inning failure to the Blue Jays. What was originally a 5-2 lead turned in a 6-5 deficit after Frieri failed to shut the door on the Jays with his usual lack of control alongside a horribly blown call by second base umpire Brian Knight. What should have been a clean and easy 4 game sweep turned into something ugly fast, and with Texas coming into town it couldn't have come at a worse time. After facing 3 consecutive walkoffs in Texas the Angels cold very well have taken the Rangers for a sweep to make it a quick 7 game streak to gain some ground in the standings.
Instead we have more hurt feelings and missed opportunities on the behalf of the Angels, which is sure to do the Angels dirty in this upcoming series against Texas.
Game Notes
— C.J Wilson came out with another killer start today, taking the Jays for 7 innings and only 3 earned runs off of 8 hits and 7 K's. What shocks me is that even though Wilson pitched 7+ innings, the Angels still used 7 total pitchers in the ball game. That's 6 pitchers in 2.3 innings of work, which is completely ridiculous by any standard. This goes to show just how bad of a state the Angels bullpen is in when they can't even be counted on to get 8 outs without turning the game into a giant pitching circus. This game went from an Angels rout of Mark Buehrle and the Blue Jays to a complete embarrassment by the Angels pitching staff. It's great to see the Angels take the Blue Jays for 3 games out of 4, but the fact that they can never finish strong in any situation is what kills me. As good as this team is when it comes down to the final stretch they can never finish it off, ever. That's what will keep them out of the playoffs this year and years to come if the brass refuses to address the pitching problem. We won't have to worry about that though, they've given it plenty of attention. Three years too late.
— The hitting was rather timely today except for their inability to come through after falling behind in he 9th, not that it's their fault though. They did everything they could to get the Angels into a winning position, from Trout and Trumbos homers to Iannetta's clutch RBI double to give the Angels come extra breathing room. Apparently any extra breathing room will go for naught as the bullpen is bound to strike at any moment. Im sure todays loss had nothing to do with the magic of Kole Calhoun being inexplicably absent today. How can we expect to win if this kid isn't breaking his back night after night to scratch across some wins?!
— Umpires suck. Dear Lord umpires suck so freaking bad this year. It seems that every single official has completely forgotten the most elementary rules of baseball, and how to make the more simple and obvious of calls. While you can't blame umpire Brain Knight from totally blowing the call and stealing the game from the Angels, because it wouldn't have happened had Frieri been able to do his job as the teams closer, he should take some fault for stealing a win away from a team in desperate need. MLB just needs to find a way to put umpires under more scrutiny, lest they continue to fail and be replace with the dreaded robot umpires.
Halo A-Hole
I don't know why Brain Knight looks so eager to throw the fist out, but shyed away from making the obvious call in todays affair. His call cost the Angels a game, which is bound to do more damage than drop them just one game in the standings.
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