AAR: Aston’s Angels Report June 10, 2011
Game 65: What’s New? Vol. 1, Issue 67
Loss 4-2 Record: 30-35
The Angels season appears to be going downhill, with continuing failure around each corner, as they fall further out of contention each day. They had another day off in between home series, as they welcomed the Kansas City Royals to Anaheim, hoping to at least win one game and finally end their losing streak before going back on the road in a few days. They came in with losing each of their last 5 and 7 of their last 8, scoring 3 runs or less in each of those, with a total of one homerun in that time. Ervin Santana took his mediocre 3-5 record to the mound for the Angels, and the Royals countered with their soft tossing 'crafty' lefty, Jeff Francis.
They used another new lineup configuration again, still with Hunter hitting 2nd again, but Alberto Callaspo was given the day off, so Izturis played 3B. Kendrick moved up to the 3rd spot, and Wells moved up to the 5th spot, with Aybar manning SS and hitting 6th, and Bobby Wilson getting the rare start behind the plate, hitting 8th. Their new configuration didn’t result in much offense as Francis held them at bay with his relatively below average fastball (83-87 MPH) and slow 77 MPH curveball, at least until the 6th inning, after falling behind early again.
The Royals' notable roster move, was calling up their rookie phenom 3B Mike Moustakas, who is one of the top prospects in the minors, and highly coveted by all the scouts and general managers in the league. He started at 3B, as they sent down one of their normal 3rd basemen, Mike Aviles down to the minors to make room for him. The Royals took the lead in their first at bat, when their second hitter, Melky Cabrera hit an 0-2 fastball deep into right field for a solo homerun. It was another great start for the Angels (please note the sarcasm) and a common theme on the day for Santana who threw hittable pitches after getting ahead in the count on too many occasions throughout his outing.
The new and revised Angels offense, did little to nothing in the first five innings, going down in order in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th, and not doing much of anything in the other two. Izturis and Hunter were the first two up and struck out on fastballs, somehow overpowered by what constitutes some pitchers’ changeup speed pitch, which was a bad omen for the rest of the game. Bobby Wilson got their first hit off of Francis, hitting a one out single to left after Trumbo struck out to lead off the 3rd. Bourjos and Izturis made easy outs to end the inning, so the first time through the lineup went easily for Francis.
Meanwhile, Santana did a little better in the 2nd, only allowing one runner on a two-out walk to the KC catcher, Brayan Pena. Moustakas didn’t waste any time in his first major league at-bat, swinging at the first pitch and flying out to left for the 2nd out. He faced significant trouble in the 3rd, when he walked their leadoff man LF Alex Gordon, then allowed another solid hit to Cabrera on a 0-2 slider this time, that he hit deep into right field for a double that one-hopped the wall. They intentionally walked rookie 1B Eric Hosmer to load the bases, and it worked out as Francoeur hit a slider on the ground to Aybar who started an inning ending double play and keep the deficit at 1-0.
Santana wasn’t so lucky in the top of the 4th, when Billy Butler launched the first pitch of the inning deep into left field for another solo homer, making it 2-0. Santana then walked the next hitter, Moustakas in his 2nd career at bat, on four pitches, but worked around the self-imposed trouble to get through the inning without any more runs scoring. The Angels saw their leadoff man get on base in the bottom of the 4th, when Hunter lined a single up the middle, then he tagged up and went to 2nd on a deep fly out to center by Howie Kendrick. He moved to 3rd on a groundout by Abreu, but after Wells drew a walk to put two men on, Aybar tapped one back to the pitcher for the last out, and the lead remained 2-0 for the Royals.
Santana struck out Cabrera to lead off the 5th, but in typical Angel fashion, even that resulted in a base runner, as he swung at slider in the dirt that bounced away from Wilson allowing Cabrera to reach 1st base. Then he struck out the next hitter, Hosmer, on a similar pitch- another wild pitch that bounced even further from Wilson and Cabrera went all the way to 3rd (luckily Hosmer couldn’t go to 1st because the base was occupied when he struck out). Francoeur hit a line drive that 3B Izturis lunged for and caught diving to his left, and Cabrera ran towards home thinking the ball went through, so Izturis threw the ball to Aybar who ran over from his SS position to cover 3rd and they got the inning-ending double play. Their offense couldn’t capitalize on the momentum gained by their defensive play, and went down in order again in the 5th.
Billy Butler led off another inning, and drew a walk this time to start the 6th, then Moustakas swung at the first pitch again and earned his first major league hit on a line drive single to right to put two men on with no outs. Santana struck out Pena who took a weak swing at a 2-2 outside fastball, but he couldn’t finish off 2B Chris Getz, despite a 1-2 count. He threw a bad slider that hung high and inside and Getz hit a sharp groundball through the right side under the dive of Trumbo at 1st, scoring Butler from 2nd to make it 3-0. They didn’t stop there, as the next hitter SS Alcides Escobar hit a line drive double to right field, this time over the head of Trumbo, scoring another run and putting runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out. Santana struck out Gordon with a good slider, and finally retired Cabrera on a groundout to the SS, to limit the damage, but the score was 4-0 Royals.
The Angels offense finally showed signs of figuring out Francis in the bottom of the 6th, but still managed to screw up a good inning. Izturis waited on the slow 67 MPH curveball and hit a soft liner to left for a leadoff single, then Hunter hit another grounder to the SS but they only got one out this time (at 2nd). With Kendrick up, a slider in the dirt moved Hunter to 2nd, then Kendrick smacked the 1-1 changeup (or something that only went 80 MPH anyway) into right center field for an RBI double, to finally get his team on the board. Abreu followed with his first career hit against Francis (in 15 at bats) lining a 1-2 outside fastball into center to score their second run, making it 4-2. Wells even joined in the hit parade, hitting a line drive to left on a 2-2 changeup, to put two runners on. Erick Aybar hit another single on a grounder through the left side, but for some reason their 3rd base coach, Dino Ebel, sent Abreu home from 2nd and he was thrown out by LF Gordon easily on the short throw from shallow left. The Angels had so many better opportunities to send a runner home on a hit in the past few games, and I have no idea why they decided to try it here, with an easy throw from shallow left and Abreu running instead of just leaving the bases loaded, and it cost them a major scoring opportunity. This may have been the play of the game, because it ended the Angels momentum and they failed to do anything from this point on. Trumbo had two runners on but ended the inning with a weak pop out to 2nd, and they could only wonder what could have been.
Santana had his first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the 7th, but like everything else they did, it was too little too late. After Francis allowed another hit in the bottom of the 7th, to Bourjos with one out, the Royals went to their bullpen and the Angels did absolutely nothing from that point on. Greg Holland came in, and added to his stellar pitching line, continuing his scoreless season, getting the last two outs in the 7th, then retiring the side in order in the 8th. He has now allowed no runs in nearly 13 innings thus far and provides a strong setup man for the Royals, it looks like.
Hisanori Takahashi came in to pitch the final two innings for the Angels and only allowed one hit, holding the Royals scoreless as he continued his recently improved performance. It didn’t matter as the Royals bullpen retired all 8 hitters they faced, capped off by Joakim Soria, who recently reclaimed his closer role, and struck out the last two hitters to finish off the save and seal another win for the Royals over the Angels.
As soon as the Angels started to show some signs of offense against Francis, they made one mistake to end their momentum in the 6th, and never had another chance to do anything once the Royals bullpen came in and shut them down. Santana got ahead in the count often, but threw too many 2-strike pitches that were simply too hittable, so once again the Angels offense was in an early hole that it couldn‘t get out of. They have now lost 6 in a row, and no one is going to feel sorry for them, so they need to fight their way out of it, if they want to have any chance at a successful season, which seems more and more unlikely with each game they play.
To read my other Angels Reports, please read my blog on http://www.myspace.com/dazedoddity
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