An Angel sweep at the hands of the Red Sox in which everything falls apart for the Angels and their futile hopes of getting back into the playoff race.
Game 1 – Red Sox 6, Angels 3
Game 2 – Red Sox 4, Angels 2
Game 3 – Red Sox 7, Angels 3
Los Angeles Angels of AWESOMENESS
- What a tantalizing debut for Dan Haren before it got so rudely interrupted. He showed his “ace”-ness when he battled out of an early jam and displayed an absolutely sick splitfinger fastball. Best of all, he showed great judgment by not taking #15 (which he wore in Arizona), leaving Tim Salmon’s sacred number in unofficial retirement.
- At least Abreu and Matsui showed some signs of life with each of them hitting homers and contributing multi-hit games. We can probably go ahead and file this tidbit under “too little too late” though.
Los Angeles Angels of FAIL
- Did anyone else have flashbacks of Mo Vaughn falling into the dugout in his first game as an Angel when Haren got drilled by that line drive? I thought I had repressed that awful memory, but I guess not.
- I think the Angels wanted to remind Tony Reagins that they still need to add another quality bat to the lineup so they left the bases loaded with no outs in the first game of the series just to get the point across. Either that or they just can’t hit. I can’t decide. All I know is that the closed door meeting they had to discuss their offensive struggles didn’t do a damned lick of good. Maybe it is the talent, not the approach.
- Do the Angel outfielders hate Jered Weaver? That’s two straight starts he has been submarined by shoddy outfield defense, this time with Juan Rivera getting a terrible read and route and a ball that proved to be the go-ahead double by slap-hitting Jed Lowrie. Mike Scioscia tried to defend Rivera and claimed he took a “clean route,” but he must’ve been referring to a different play because the replay I have been watching makes Rivera look like he is drunk with how wobbly a route he took on that ball.
- Getting swept is bad enough, but having that mouth-breathing traitor John Lackey come in and trump Jered Weaver and then talk trash to Angel fans afterward was just salt in the gaping, festering wound. What really hurts is that there really is no way to retort to John at this point because, as he said, he has “scoreboard” on us.
- Torii Hunter picked a bad time for a slump. I’m not going to bag on the guy though, I have a distinct feeling that he is just pressing at the plate so much right now because he has been forced to carry the Angel offense for so long and he finally crumpled under the weight.
- So much for Michael Kohn being bullpen savior, getting lit up in first appearance now means that the Angels can keep him in majors, but will have to baby him so as not to damage his confidence. The bullpen could have really used him too but now it looks like he will just be another arm to add to the back of the bullpen.
- It just had to be the Red Sox to deliver the death blow to the Angel season didn’t it? They’ve ended so many other Angel seasons before, why not this one too? There is simply no way Tony Reagins and Arte Moreno can believe they are still in the AL West race anymore, especially since there is a real chance that they could be 10 games out or in third place by the time they play their next game. Time to raise the white flag.
- The final insult though had to be the Angels being forced to start Scot Shields in place of Joel Pineiro who was a late scratch (and now apparently out for six-to-eight weeks with a strained oblique). If that doesn’t define hitting rock bottom, I don’t know what does except for the fact that the Angels have no more starting pitching depth in their system so there is actually an outside shot that Shields could get another start. Did anyone else just vomit on their keyboard?
Angel A-Hole of the Series
Congratulations, Fernando Rodney. You are now officially a bigger liability than Brian Fuentes. First he allowed two runs in the series opener, ensuring that the Red Sox lead grew two runs just before the Angels came up to score two runs of their own, leaving them down by a run still instead of in the lead by one. But his coup de gras was deciding that strikes were overrated in the series finale before serving up a grand slam to Little Marco Scutaro in a tie game to get saddled with the loss and spoil a rather valiant effort by Rich Thompson and Francisco Rodriguez to keep the Angels in a game that they had no business winning.
Screw you, Fernando.