The one thing the Angels couldn’t afford to do today was lose.
And of course, they lost.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Angels lost to the Oakland A’s 9-8. Despite multiple comeback attempts, the Angels eventually lost thanks to a struggling bullpen. They now sit 7 games back from the Rangers in the division, and 1.5 out of a wild card spot.
The game started off with an impressive first impression by the recently called up Dan Straily. Straily struck out the side (Trout, Hunter, and Pujols) in the 1st inning. Straily, who still leads the minor leagues in strikeouts despite his call-up, has been both impressive and amiss in his two starts this season. He has allowed 6 earned runs in his 10.2 innings, but has also struck out 10 and walked just 2.
The Angels scored first in the top of the 2nd on a solo home run to right field by Kendrys Morales. The A’s quickly gave themselves a 3-run cushion in the bottom of the 2nd when they scored 4 runs. Zack Greinke began the 2nd by walking Chris Carter, then allowed the newly-acquired George Kottaras to smack a 2-run shot to center. After striking out Brandon Inge, Greinke walked Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks, then allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Brandon Moss and Josh Reddick to give the A’s a 4-1 lead.
The A’s quickly gave a run back in the top of the 3rd when Chris Iannetta went deep off of Straily. Trout and Hunter then hit back-to-back singles to give the Angels two on with no outs, but Pujols, Trumbo, and Morales all promptly flew out.
The scoring began again in the 5th, when Torii Hunter launched a solo shot and Morales smacked a 2-run homer (his 2nd of the game), giving the Angels a 5-4 lead.
Morales has been on a hot streak of late, hitting .361 with 5 home runs on this recent road trip. He has raised his seasonal slash line to .279/.325/.448 and is on pace to hit 20 home runs.
Zack Greinke was pulled after 5, having thrown 103 pitches. Greinke now has a 5.78 ERA in his 3 starts as an Angel and is win-less. His last 2 outings against the A’s and White Sox have been particularly rough, as he has given up a combined 10 runs in 12 innings. The Angels will need Greinke to step it up, along with the rest of the rotation, if they want to get past their recent bullpen problems.
Speaking of bullpen problems, LaTroy Hawkins had probably his worst outing of the year, and cost the Halos a victory. Hawkins allowed 5 runs to score in the bottom of the 6th, including back-to-back multi-RBI hits by Yoenis Cespedes (2-run single) and Chris Carter (2-run homer to left). The Angels now lead the AL with 17 blown saves and their bullpen ERA since the All-Star break is 6.65.
Mark Trumbo put the Angels back on the board in the top of the 7th with a blast to left-center field.* That pushed the A’s lead to 9-6.
*Trumbo’s blast marked the Angels’ 23rd home run of the road trip, and their MLB-best 44th since the All-Star break. They also tied their season high by hitting five home runs in today’s game.
The Angels made a run at a comeback in the top of the 9th when Vernon Wells (who was pinch running for Kendrys) and Albert Pujols found themselves on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Howie Kendrick then singled each of them in, bringing the deficit to just one run. Kendrick then stole second to give the Angels the tying runner in scoring position. Erick Aybar stepped up to bat with a chance to tie the game.
And of course, he grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
The Angels ended up going 4-6 on their road trip to Texas, Chicago, and Oakland. Luckily the Angels get a breather on Thursday, as they have an off day before they begin a 10 game home stand against the Mariners, Indians, and Rays. These will be 3 very crucial series, as the Angels look to retake the wild card lead, and make a push at the division.
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The Angels are 2-6 since August 1st. I will not forget the day Scioscia FAILED to pinch run for Morales. Scioscia’s failure to manage what Moreno has provided has become quite obvious the past few years. At what point will Moreno realize he does not have the same guy that managed in 2002. Scioscia leaned on coaches (Madden, Black and Roenicke) that are no longer with the Angels. I believe Scioscia got his payday which gave him entitlement and he has lost his passion and love for the game. Remember how Scioscia protested the firing of Hatcher, an obvious move for the past couple years. Time to send Scioscia to the curb, anyone which energy and love for the game will be an upgrade.
Frustrating road trip because it “felt” like the Angels coulda woulda shoulda went 6-4 or 7-3. The bullpen had epic meltdowns in just about all their losses (the starting pitching other than Weaver hasn’t been spectacular either, but their talent will come around, whereas the bullpen is exposed without Downs and Walden and thin on talent). Not too worried yet, at the end of the day a 4-6 trip isn’t the end of the world, especially if you follow it with a 7-3 homestand. The 2-6 doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, Texas and NYY have gone 2-6 stretches also. The Angels still have the 2nd best record in baseball since Trout’s callup and overall are still looking good. For all their “troubles”, it means every other team has their share of troubles since they’re all in the thick of the wild card race.
Paris has to be one of the biggest homers that is out there for any team. His grasp on reality is tenuous, at best.
No bigger homer than me. Have followed the Angels since before it was popular (1975) and it is so frustrating to continue to see Scioscia in the dugout. They say teams will take on the personality of their coach. It would be nice to see Scioscia act like he gives a hoot. Show some emotion, when a player makes a great play or hit, yell out clap your hands jump up and down. No that’s not Scioscia. The team at times takes on Scioscias “zombie” persona and can lack energy and passion. Thsnk god for Trout arriving when he did otherwise this team would have been 6 feet under. Trout can not do it all. Mr. Moreno remove this negative energy from the dugout, give him a VP job next to Regan. The Angels will continue to underperform with a manager whos time has past him by.