I’m not going to bother retelling the story of this game. It isn’t necessary, all you need to know about is one play and not the one you are thinking of either. No, there was one play in this game that summed up the entirety of the Angels season.
That play was Albert Pujols’ at-bat in the top of the sixth inning. Mired in the longest hitless streak of his career, Pujols lines a ball into right field. Ah, yes! The drought is over, the mighty Albert is off the schneid!!! All is well again in Halo Land. Or not.
No Pujols, so desperate to do something to spark this team decides that his liner is well placed enough for him to kick on the afterburner and turn this single into a double. Predictably, Pujols gets thrown out at second. It was a close play, but he was still thrown out. Even when Pujols gets a hit, he still gets out. Un-freaking-believable.
You know what was entirely believable though? That Torii Hunter would single right after that and that Mark Trumbo would double right after that, thus the Angels scored only one run instead of two. Sure enough, the Angels lost by one very, very important run.
Futility, thy name is Angels.
Game Notes
- Oh, I forgot to mention that this was the fifth (FIFTH!!!!!) one-run loss of the season for the Angels. That is one of the many reasons why this wretched month has been so painful, they are so close in every game. Heck, they’ve only been outscored by 11 runs this season. I suppose that one could interpret both of those facts to mean that the Angels’ will be fine once they start getting a little luck on their side. I suppose one could do that. I want to do that. I cannot do that. This is just so depressing.
- So, Mark Trumbo is pretty much the entire offense now, right? Good. Glad we could all agree on that. Now somebody go let Mike Scioscia know.
- All Scioscia jokes aside, it is ridiculous that people are calling for him to be fired after this loss. He did literally nothing wrong in this game and I actually do think he figured out that he has to keep Trumbo in the lineup no matter what, thus Trumbo in RF today. He even made the unconventional, yet incredibly smart move to have Scott Downs start the ninth inning against tought lefty Matt Joyce. It isn’t Scioscia’s fault that Jordan Walden threw Brandon Allen a cookie.
- As has been the trend lately, with the exception of Ervin Santana, the Angels got a terrific outing from their starter. Jerome Williams is going to quiet some doubters with this performance. He has faced some real cupcake lineups since he was called up last season, but he was very sharp today and held down a very good Rays lineup. Maybe Garrett Richards and Mike Trout can form a support group for prospects who are annihilating Triple-A but can’t still can’t get promoted to the majors.
Halo A-hole
I still have faith in Jordan, but that isn’t going to last much longer if he keeps throwing left-handed sluggers low-and-inside fastballs. Brandon Allen stepped on that pitch… and my heart (awwwww).
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