AAR: Aston’s Angels Report June 26, 2011
Game 79: Eject the Umpire!!! Vol. 1, Issue 81
Loss 3-2 Record: 39-40
Sunday’s game at Dodgers Stadium marked the last one of a long road trip, on which they won all four series, as they once again played much better on the road than they do at home. I happened to see the last inning of this game live before I was able to watch the whole thing, and the outcome pissed me off so much, I almost didn’t want to see the rest of the game. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the umpire cost the Angels a victory, a series sweep and a four-game winning streak, with what might be the worst call I’ve ever seen on a play at the plate. When he went into the clubhouse after the game, I’m sure he watched the replay and realized that he made a huge mistake; the runner didn’t even touch home plate until he reached around with his hand after being blocked completely off of home plate and tagged out by Jeff Mathis. I don’t know how he could even see that play any other way; even the Dodger fans can’t deny that he was out, for goodness sake. What’s worse is that WAS the last out of the game, but it turned into the tying run, so the game continued and the Dodgers went on to score the “winning” run, on the next play. The Angels should at least be able to protest that call since it was so obviously wrong, but that can’t happen either. Where is the justice?!? I know I have already gone on about this (self-fulfilling plug upcoming) in one of my recent posts “Hey Blue, the Game Isn‘t About You”, but this really pisses me off; it is so ridiculously unnecessary and irrational, and it would be so simple to solve!! I need to go have an inward scream and cool off before I continue…
The teams’ ace starters took the mound, with Jared Weaver and Clayton Kershaw- two pitchers who may end up leading their respective leagues in strikeouts when the season ends. The Angels decided to play Howie Kendrick in LF again, and moved Vernon Wells into RF, with bobby Abreu getting the day off against the tough lefthander, Kershaw. The Dodgers came out with a different lineup again, using Casey Blake at 3B, Juan Uribe at 2B, Jamey Carroll moving over to SS, and Navarro was back behind the plate.
The game started out as expected, in a major pitcher’s duel in what ended up being a scoreless tie until the 7th inning. In the first three innings, both teams only could muster one hit each. Clayshaw faced the minimum in that time, retiring the first six in order, including three strikeouts, then erasing the leadoff single by CF Peter Bourjos in the 3rd by getting the next hitter, C Jeff Mathis to ground into a double play (same old thing for the Angels). Weaver allowed a bunt hit on the first pitch he threw in the game, to LF Tony Gwynn Jr, who bunted it down the 3rd base line, probably because Callaspo wasn’t even playing in to deter the attempt. Weaver then set down the next ten in a row (nine in those three innings), including two strikeouts.
In the 4th, Kershaw allowed another leadoff single, to Maicer Izturis, who then moved to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by SS Erick Aybar. Kendrick broke his bat as he grounded out to the SS up the middle, and Vernon Wells struck out on a 1-2 slider to end the inning and strand the runner in scoring position… In the bottom half, Weaver faced some trouble of his own, after Blake led off with a fly out to center on the first pitch (to complete his 10 in a row). Ethier reached out and pulled a 3-2 outside curveball into the right field corner for a one-out double, then Kemp was jammed by an inside fastball but and broke his bat but the ball still found it’s way into left field for a single (the kind of thing that happens when you are near triple crown statistics). Ethier had to hold up to make sure the ball fell in front of Kendrick in LF, so the situation was runners at 1st and 3rd with one out. Loney hit a weak fly out to left on an outside curveball, not deep enough to score the run, and Uribe ended the inning striking out on a high fastball, as Weaver got out of the jam.
The Angels went down in order again, in the 5th, as Kershaw struck out the side. Kershaw was ahead in the count to nearly every hitter he faced, and was dominant throughout most of the game, locating all four pitches well. He had seven strikeouts through 5 innings, after recording his fourth in a row here…. Weaver faced more adversity in his half of the 5th on the mound, started by his own mistake, walking the catcher Dioner Navarro to lead off the inning. Jamey Carroll then punched a 1-2 inside fastball the other way, for a bloop single down the right field line, moving Navarro to 3rd, for a sticky situation. With runners at 1st and 3rd, Kershaw got the chance to hit because he isn’t a terrible hitter like some pitchers, and hit a grounder to 2B Izturis. He was going to flip the ball to Aybar covering 2nd, but he saw that Navarro was running home on the contact play, so he threw home to get him out at home by a wide margin, for the first out. With runners at 1st and 2nd and one out now, Gwynn hit a curveball into the air to center for the 2nd out. Weaver fell behind Blake 3-0, and didn’t want to face Ethier with the bases loaded, so he got the count to 3-2 (including a gutsy 3-1 curveball for called strike 2) before jamming him with a fastball to get the fly out to right field and end the inning. Weaver escaped possible disaster, to keep the game scoreless heading into the 6th.
Jeff Mathis led off with another hit for the Angels, pulling an inside fastball down the line for a ground rule double, that hopped over the short fence in left. He didn’t stay there long, because Jared Weaver couldn’t get the bunt attempt on the ground, hitting it in the air right Kershaw, who threw to 2nd to get the double play, as Mathis had gone too far off 2nd and couldn’t slide back to 2nd in time. An out was supposed to occur, but Mathis was supposed to be at 3rd because of the out, but now because both players made mistakes there were now two outs, and no one on base, just like that. Izturis grounded out to 3rd to end the inning, and their golden opportunity to score was erased quickly because Weaver failed to help himself and Mathis fell into the bad base running habits that have hurt his team throughout this series.
Weaver surrendered a leadoff single in the 6th, when Ethier hit another outside pitch-this time a fastball, into centerfield. Weaver struck out Kemp, looking at a great 2-2 changeup over the outer edge, then Loney popped up again, and Uribe hit the first pitch into left for the last out…. The Angels had some fortune on their side in the bottom of the 6th, when Aybar was jammed by an inside slider, and popped it into left field where it fell in front of the LF, Gwynn and out of SS Carroll’s reach for a hit. Aybar tried to stretch it into a 2nd, and the throw from Gwynn beat him to the base, caught by the Uribe in front of 2nd base, but Aybar pulled out a tricky slide, going around the base and touching the base with his hand, before Uribe could tag him out. Maybe it was a bad play, but his hustle turned a blooper into a leadoff double, thanks also to the fact that the 2nd base umpire, Bill Miller, took the time to watch the play unfold instead of automatically calling the runner out because the ball beat him there. Kendrick capitalized on that runner in scoring position, hitting the 0-1 low changeup into center field, and Kemp dove for the sinking line drive but could only catch it on the hop. Aybar made a great base running move, not hesitating to move up and rounding 3rd to score ahead of the throw by Kemp, who had to get off the ground to make the throw and still made the play close. Kendrick went to 2nd on the throw home, but Wells struck out again, swinging at one in the dirt this time for the first out. Trumbo popped up to 1B Loney, in shallow RF, and Callaspo struck out to end the inning, blowing a chance to add to their slim 1-0 lead.
After his offense finally squeezed out a run going into the 7th inning stretch, Weaver took the mound in the bottom of the 7th, and retired Navarro and Carroll on pop up in the infield, testing the Angels’ ability in that high sun. Weaver’s only real mistake was to the Dodgers’ pitcher Kershaw, throwing a 1-2 inside changeup, letting him get his bat on it to be able to drop a single into left field. Instead of retiring the pitcher to end the inning and secure the lead, he allowed the leadoff man, Gwynn to hit with two outs. Gwynn hit a 1-1 hanging curve into deep left field, and Vernon Wells ran it down, and reached out for the catch, but the ball went in and out of his glove, falling in for an RbI triple, to tie the score 1-1. I’m sorry, but when you are a [multiple] gold glove-winning outfielder and you are in position to make the catch, you should make that play every time, and I hope that Wells would say the same thing. The run can still be traced back to the hit allowed to Kershaw so all the blame can’t be put on Wells, but that ‘hit’ did drive the run in. Blake hit a ball down the right field line, that Wells tracked down in foul ground to end the inning, so at least the score remained tied. It was ironic, that a hit by the opposing pitcher turned out to be Weaver’s undoing, considering how he got out of those jams earlier in the game.
The Angels got another leadoff man on in the 8th, when Bourjos was hit by a slider, which was surprisingly the first time Kershaw has given up a hit-by-pitch. Mathis failed to put down a sacrifice bunt, fouling off two to fall behind 0-2 and then he struck out looking at a curveball, to end a terrible at-bat. For some reason, the Angels manager, Mike Scioscia, decided to send up Bobby Abreu to pinch-hit for Weaver (instead of a right-handed batter), even though Kershaw was still out there. Bourjos went to 2nd base when the pickoff throw by the catcher, Navarro went off of Loney’s glove at 1st and trickled far enough away to let Bourjos zoom in to 2nd. Abreu struck out swinging (again, why was he up?) on a 2-2 slider, and Izturis grounded out to 3rd to end the inning.
Weaver was once again left out of the decision, despite allowing just one run in 7 innings, falling victim once again to low run support from his offense ( of course some of that is due to the fact that Weaver often faces off against the other teams’ ace). Scott Downs relieved Weaver, and came in to pitch the 8th, and face the meat of the Dodgers’ lineup, and set them down in order. He got ahead and struck out Ethier quickly, on an 0-2 slider in the dirt to start, then Kemp grounded out on an 0-1 curve, and Loney did the same on another low curveball, to end the inning…. The big inning of the game was of course the 9th inning. Kershaw was still in there for the Dodgers, and he retired the first two hitters of the inning, getting Aybar on a foul pop up to 3rd and Kendrick on a grounder to 3rd. Vernon Wells came up, with strikeouts in each of his first three at-bats. He worked the count to 3-1, then fouled one off to make it 3-2, before he launched a 3-2 inside slider deep into left field, for the go-ahead solo homerun. He finally got ahold of that slider that had caused him trouble all game against Kershaw, and connected for his 9th homerun of the year and a big 2-1 lead. Trumbo grounded to end the inning, and now the Angels were three outs from winning the game.
Jordan Walden came in to close the game out, but hurt his team significantly with his wildness to start the inning. First he got ahead of Juan Uribe 1-2, but he missed with the next three pitches including the 3-2 fastball that was about a foot outside, to walk the leadoff batter. The Dodgers installed a pinch-runner, using the speedy Dee Gordon to replace Uribe at 1st. Navarro came up and tried to bunt, but Walden didn’t give him a chance because he was so wild that the hitter didn’t even have to offer at them. When it was 2-0, Gordon stole 2nd base on the high fastball that made it 3-0. He finally threw a strike and Navarro let it go to make it 3-1, but he threw an inside fastball that may have hit Navarro (he was still trying to square around and bunt the ball) as he dove forward to try and avoid the pitch, resulting in another walk. After nearly hitting Jamey Carroll with the first pitch, that Carroll luckily bunted foul instead, he finally threw a strike to Carroll, and he laid down a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher. Now runners were up to 2nd and 3rd, with one out, and Aaron Miles was up to hit. Walden got ahead of the count 0-2 after two sliders, then came a ball on a fastball, before he threw another low slider on 1-2, but Miles hit a fly ball into center. Bourjos backed up some so he could gain momentum for the throw, moved up as he caught the ball, and threw a one-hop throw to Mathis, who blocked the plate perfectly and tagged the runner…SAFE?!? This was the play I referred to earlier, and I still don’t know how he was called safe. Mathis crouched down in front of the plate, leaving no room for the slim runner to get through with his feet-first slide, and he caught the perfect throw in position, blocked the plate, keeping Gordon’s legs off the plate, and tagging him with his glove at the same time. By the time Gordon reached around to touch the plate with his hand, because he obviously missed the plate with his feet, the home plate umpire, Tom Hallion, had already called him safe. Obviously Walden shouldn’t have walked the first two hitters, but a terrible call by the umpire on what should have been the last out of the game, shouldn’t change the outcome of the game like that. After an argument by Mathis and Scioscia, who knows a lot about blocking home plate from his playing days with the Dodgers, Tony Gwynn Jr hit with a runner at 2nd and two outs. After a long at bat, with about five foul balls, he lined a 2-2 inside fastball into right field, for a game-winning RBI single (that should never have happened).
My blood boils just thinking about how bad that call was, and I sincerely wish that the powers that be in baseball would at least allow instant replay on disputed calls on the bases…. But then again, why would I expect the commissioner to make a decision that actually benefits the game, when he does things like have the All-Star game (an exhibition game between players who are irrationally picked to play by fans who vote based on popularity rather than ability) decide who gets home field advantage in the World Series. Commissioner Bud Selig needs to wake the hell up, join the technological age we live in, and institute instant replay, if he cares at all about the game he is being paid to regulate. It makes me sick to think that if the Angels miss the playoffs by one game, it was because some damn umpire couldn’t see an obvious play, because he is either blind or incapable of getting into the right position to see the play clearly, and then had no recourse to correct the call because there is no instant replay. On the plus side, they did still win their fourth straight series on the road, but it may not be the best thing that they are going to play some more inter-league games at home, since they have hit so much better on the road this season. One way to find out I guess.
No comments:
Post a Comment