Slowly but surely this team is playing itself out of the playoff race, a race which is probably and has probably been long dead. I didn’t even know the Angels were in the thick of the wild card race until yesterday, but after that loss I couldn’t care if the Angels were 1 GB in the wildcard, because with the way they’re playing they’d get laughed out of the playoffs in the first round, probably at the hands of a sweep.
Game Notes
- So the offense struggles with RISP yet again while the pitching breaks it’s back trying to lift the entire team on its own. I don’t what the official stat is for “unclutchness“, but if there is one the Angels are reigning supreme over the rest of baseball. Sure the solo shots by Hunter and Trumbo were pretty to look at, but they were largely ineffective as the rest of the offense could not get it together when it came down to crunch time. Vernon Wells even led off the 10th inning with a double, what more can you ask for? Apparently last night’s offense only responded with solo homeruns, so the inning pretty much ended as soon as Wells touched base to lead off the inning. At least the Angels have next season and the return of Kendrys to look forward too.
- Jerome Williams, even though he struggled through a few jams early on, threw a very good game for the Angels, or at least very good for out #5 starter standards. When was the last time we could pencil in our 5th starter to go at least 6 innings without giving up more then 5 or so runs? Williams has given us much more then we could have ever dreamed out of him, which is yet another bright spot for us to look forward to next season. If you hadn’t noticed yet, the Angels starting rotation has been evolving and becoming efficient each and every year. Last year the Angels got Dan Haren and the real Ervin Santana, and now the Angels pull a potentially great pitcher out of thin air to slot in the 5 spot. One has to wonder how they’ll top that with next years upgrade, is anyone else crossing their fingers for C.J Wilson?
Halo A-Hole
You know how once every solstice Downs has a terrible start? Yesterday was one of those rare bad games from Downs, nothing did seemed to have any real effectiveness even though he was trying his best to get us through the game. You can’t really blame him since it was the offense as collective for losing the game, but the fingers gotta be pointed somewhere and since you’re the one who blew it in extra innings the fingers gotta be pointed at you. Maybe next season Downs