So much for that whole “Weaver’s no-hitter igniting the team” thing. The good vibes and the winning streak just went out the window as quickly as the came in last night thanks to the Halos running into the buzzsaw that was Brandon Morrow.
So, yeah, I’m going to go ahead an assume that this momentum-stopping shutout at the hands of Morrow was just the Angels running into the wrong pitcher on the wrong night. That may not be the actual factual truth, but I am going to choose to believe it. I’m tired of pulling my hair out over this team being so wildly overaggressive at the plate. I mean, that is exactly what their problem is and they have done almost nothing to address it, but it is just so exhausting beating on that dead horse. Therefore, I simply elect to give all credit to Morrow and assign no blame to the Angel hitters.
Ignorance is bliss.
Game Notes
- I warned you, didn’t I? That nine-run outburst brought about another Captain Caveman lineup with Wells in the two-hole. Hopefully this three-hit shutout will get Scioscia to abandon this particular order since Wells saw a mere nine pitches in three at-bats and grounded into a double play for the second consecutive night. My worry though is that with Sosh stating yesterday that Kendrick is going to stay in the six-hole, that Scioscia will think he has no alternative to Wells in the two-hole since Erick Aybar is such a mess right now (not that Wells isn’t, but such is Scioscia).
- Mark Trumbo definitely needs to be in the lineup, there is no doubt about that. But to make it happen, it is going to mean that he plays third base a fair amount. That is going to hurt the team from time to time as we saw with his wild throw that led to two Toronto runs. The throws do concern me though because he has made a few of those errors on routine or non-urgent plays, suggesting that he is just naturally not an accurate thrower. That is going to be a lot harder to overcome than the errors he makes on fielding balls in unfamiliar situations. I’m not saying it is a deal breaker, but I do think the throwing issues are going to limit his defensive ceiling, which was pretty low to begin with.
- Hey, look! Jordan Walden is alive!! It is pretty clear that batters are just sitting on his fastball now, but he showed some real signs of hope toward the end of that inning by getting his slider over the plate, which is key. As we saw, when he isn’t spiking his slider two feet in front of the plate, opposing batters can barely make contact with it.
- I might have to quite the game recapping business. I just combed through the archives and I have not pulled game recap duty on a single Angel win once this season. Clearly, I am the problem. Sorry, everyone.
Halo A-hole
Have I mentioned yet that I can’t stand that Wells is hitting in the two-hole?