AAR: Aston’s Angels Report June 27, 2011
Game 80: Singles Night at the Ballpark Vol. 1, Issue 82
Win 4-3, 10 innings Record: 40-40
After a successful road trip where the Angels won each of their four series, despite a bitter ending and a stolen victory in the last game against the Dodgers, the Angels returned home to face the Washington Nationals. Once again, the Angels had to face a team in their first games under their new manager, just like when they faced Florida in their first games under Jack McKeon. Like McKeon, Davey Johnson has been a successful manager in the past, but this is his first team in about ten years, and replaced their temporary interim manager, becoming the new, new manager for the Nationals, but he didn’t enter into a job with a struggling team on a losing streak like in Florida. Former Nationals manager Jim Riggleman decided to resign hours after his team had surpassed the .500 mark. They have won 13 of their last 15 games, and moved up to 3rd place in the difficult National League Eastern division (an accomplishment in itself), but he decided to desert his team, just because the general manager/owner refused to discuss a contract extension. That was some kind of example he set, quitting on his team like a little crybaby, instead of working hard, working for his teammates, and leaving their contracts out of the equation until after the season, like he probably asked his players to do everyday. It’s no wonder why many players think can force their team to trade them, or make contract demands, and act like spoiled brats who refuse to play when they don’t get their way. I hope he never gets a job in the majors again, after that disgusting display of disloyalty and selfishness.
John Lannan started for the Nationals, trying to start Johnson off on the right foot with a victory, and although he wasn’t the pitcher of record, the team nearly found a way to do just that. the Angels’ Ervin Santana out-pitched him, and deserved a victory for his effort, but the chance for his first win in over a month was erased when their closer, Jordan Walden, blew the save with two outs in the 9th inning. Bobby Abreu took over his normal DH position now that they were back at home, and they elected to go with Howie Kendrick in, with Wells over in RF. Torii Hunter should be back in the starting lineup soon, so hopefully they won’t have to use this alignment too much more because it weakens their defense and could come back to hurt the team because of Kendrick’s inexperience and awkwardness out there. Bobby Wilson got a rare start as the catcher, and the struggling Alberto Callaspo was at 3B again but moved down in the lineup (7th) because of his recent slump. Callaspo contributed in this one, and he along with his teammates posed the question: Which is Mightier? Singles or solo homeruns?
Ervin Santana came in with a bad 3-8 record, but his 4.22 ERA is not terrible, and he has pitched better at home, so his record is a little misleading. He pitched great again in this one, allowing only two runs on two solo homeruns, in 8 strong innings of work, against one of the surprise teams in baseball, the Nationals. After retiring CF Roger Bernadina on a groundout and RF Jayson Werth reached for an 0-2 slider popping up to 1B Mark Trumbo in foul ground, Santana allowed just a two-out single, to star 3B Ryan Zimmerman. He hit one of Santana’s few bad sliders for a grounder through the hole on the left side of the infield, but the LF, Laynce Nix grounded out to 1st for the last out.
The Angels offense thought it was singles night tonight, collecting 15 one-base-hits out of the 16 hits they accumulated in the game. They didn’t get that one extra-base hit ( a double) until the 10th inning, so they were definitely playing small ball, but it earned them an eventual victory, the hard way. They got a bunch of runners on base, but still only had three runs after nine innings, so needless to say the Angels hit into more double plays and left runners on base in nearly every inning. In the 1st, 2B Maicer Izturis led off with a line drive back up the middle for a single, then Erick Aybar dragged a perfectly placed bunt down the 1st base line for an infield single. They had the first two men on, with run producers up next, but Abreu struck out after working the count full (his typical 3-2 at bat), then Wells hit an easy fly out to center and Kendrick grounded out to SS, to blow their chance to take the lead.
The Nationals needed just one swing to take the lead and capitalize on the Angels’ failure to come up with the big hit (or even a productive out or two would have been nice). 1B Michael Morse showed off his power as he led off the 2nd inning, and whacked a high slider deep into right center field, for a solo homerun. It looked like a typical fly after the easy swing and harmlessly hit to the opposite field, but it kept on carrying and went way beyond the fence. Santana retired the next three to end the inning, getting two to swing at sliders in the dirt for strikeouts, but the Angels now trailed 1-0.
Mark Trumbo led off the bottom of the 2nd, hitting a high, slow chopper towards SS, but Ian Desmond couldn’t barehand the ball, allowing him to reach on an infield hit. Callaspo went after an outside changeup and hit a grounder back to Lannan, who turned and threw to 2nd to start the double play and erase the base runner. The throw was wide of the base, but the 2B Danny Espinosa made a good play as he went for the ball and dragged his toe across the base to record the out before throwing to 1st the complete the DP. Peter Bourjos fell behind 0-2 but worked the count full, before hitting a hard line drive to the CF, and once again, the double play brought an inning to a rapid end.
In the 3rd, Santana recorded the first of his three 1-2-3 innings, setting down Desmond on a groundout, then Bernadina popped out to the SS in shallow left field. Werth struck out looking on a fastball down the middle, after two sliders before that threw off his timing completely, to end the inning. … In the bottom half, the John Lannan mimicked the job done by Santana tossing a 1-2-3 inning of his own, in what would be the only inning the Angels didn’t get a runner on base. Wilson had the count in his favor, 3-1 and hit the predictable fastball hard, but it was a line drive right to the 2nd baseman for the first out. Maicer Izturis grounded out to SS and Erick Aybar hit the first pitch fastball into deep center for the last out of the inning, to send the game into the 4th.
Ryan Zimmerman fell behind 0-2, but Santana made another mistake to the slugging 3B, with a 92 MPH fastball left belt high and inside, that Zimmerman turned on and launched a high fly ball deep into left field, that traveled a few rows beyond the short fence. Another leadoff homerun by a Nationals slugger and it was 2-0, but this would be the last run that Santana would allow from here on. After getting Nix to groundout on the first pitch, Michael Morse crushed another one but luckily it was more of a line drive instead of a flyball, so it pounded off of the centerfield wall instead of flying out of the ballpark. The ball was hit so hard he had to hustle in and slide in at 2nd to beat the throw from Bourjos who fielded it and threw it in to make a close play out of it. From here on, Santana didn’t allow much, starting with the last two in this inning to strand the runner in scoring position, getting Espinosa to ground out and the catcher, Wilson Ramos on an easy fly ball to center.
Two of the batters that failed with runners on 1st and 2nd in the first inning, singled to start the bottom of the 4th, to initiate the same scenario for the next batters to see what they could do. Abreu punched a 1-2 fastball the other way, through the hole between 3B and SS, into left field, and then Vernon Wells followed with another one in the same place, pulling a 1-1 slider to put two men on with no outs again. Kendrick tried to go the other way again, but his line drive went right to the RF Werth for the first out. Mark Trumbo hit a deep fly out to centerfield that Barnadina caught on the warning track, but for some reason Abreu went nearly all the way to 3rd, instead of tagging up so he could advance to 3rd. The base running mistake became a moot point, as Alberto Callaspo finally broke out of his batting slump, hitting a hanging curveball off the end of his bat into left for a clutch 2-out single, scoring Abreu to cut the deficit to one. Bourjos had a good day at the plate also, and came through with another two-out RBI single, on a blooping ‘duck-fart’ into shallow right after he was jammed by an inside fastball. The Angels did tie the score as Vernon Wells scored, but fell victim to another out on the basepaths, as Callaspo ran to 3rd and was thrown out on a great throw from Jayson Werth, to end the inning. I’ve complained when Callaspo appeared not to be hustling to 2nd on a similar play in the past, and this showed that he feels healthier and wants to be more aggressive, but it still wasn’t very smart to risk the chance of running on a RF who has always been amongst the league leaders in outfield assists, and they were getting hits against Lannan, but instead let him off the hook with an unearned out. The Angels seem to be trying the aggressive base running at all the wrong times; they seem to coast into 2nd instead of at least think about going to 3rd because the hit takes the outfielder into a tough throwing position, or the ball is slow to get out to him Then, when they have a runner at 2nd they stop him at 3rd after a two-out hit into the outfield instead of trying to score, when the risk is far less (because the runner is automatically running on any hit and is more likely to score and the throw all the way home has to be perfect), and the gain is far better if you are successful. Another backwards maneuver cost them a potentially bigger inning.
After the Nats’ DH Matt Stairs struck out for the second time, Ian Desmond lined one past the diving Izturis into right center for a single. Bernadina swung at the first pitch- a high fastball- and hit a high, deep fly ball into right field, that may have been a homer if hit during the day (or at another park) but it fell into Vernon Wells’ glove as his back was against the wall, for a scary 2nd out. Werth grounded out to 3B, on the first pitch he saw, to end the inning, and preserve the tie…. The Angels got three men on base, without recording a hit, but another out by a base runner led to another failure to score. Wilson drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning, and then Lannan fell behind Maicer Izturis with two more balls, and a 2-0 count, before he was visited by the pitching coach to remind him how to throw strikes. I guess the Angels manager assumed Lannan would throw a fastball for a strike (even though he hadn’t thrown a strike yet) so he called for a hit-and-run play, that Izturis had to make contact on to protect his catcher who would be running to 2nd. Lannan threw a breaking pitch, Izturis swung and missed and Wilson was thrown out by about 10 feet at 2nd base, because of [my opinion] a bad move by the Angels manager. Once again, they were picking the wrong spot to try and be more aggressive and ran themselves out of another inning- the pitcher wasn’t throwing strikes and uncomfortable out there, so it makes a lot more sense to let Izturis take a strike before you call for a play like that, because he could walk him for one thing, not to mention the fact that Wilson was the runner so Izturis would have to swing at anything and make contact or else it would certainly be an easy out. Izturis struck out on a 3-2 changeup, so there were now two outs, and no one on base. Aybar was hit on the foot on a slider that went too far inside, then Abreu drew a walk after taking a 3-2 fastball near the dirt, to put two men on, and I wondered what could have been if not for the botched hit-and-run. Vernon Wells got ahead in the count 2-0, but it looked like he had his mind made up to swing at anything, going after a fastball way outside, and to make matters worse, he pulled it instead of at least going the other way [if you swing at that kind of pitch], resulting in an easy groundout to the SS to end the inning.
Santana set the Nationals down in order in the 6th, mowing through the middle of the lineup, and the hitters who had hurt him the most so far. He induced a groundout from Zimmerman, retiring him for the first time in the game, then got Nix to groundout to the SS again. He finally retired Morse, who hit another fly ball, but it didn’t travel like the first two, landing in Vernon Wells glove in right center to end the inning…. The Angels looked like they were going to blow another chance to start something in the bottom of the 6th, when Kendrick led off with a single into right, and Trumbo immediately followed by hitting into a double play. Zimmerman dove for the grounder to his left, then fired the ball to 2nd from his knees, and Espinosa did the rest to turn the double play. Lannan then got ahead of Callaspo 0-2, but he managed to hit an off-speed 82 MPH pitch into left field for a two-out single. Bourjos then hit a grounder that Desmond stopped, deep in the hole at SS, and he had no play, but dropped the ball before he could even try, so Bourjos was on with another infield hit. Wilson hit the first pitch fastball through that hold on the left side, for an RBI single, and Bourjos sprinted into 3rd ahead of the throw (another risky play but successful). After three straight two out singles gave the Angels the 3-2 lead, Davey Johnson decided to make his first pitching change as a National’s coach, removing Lannan and bringing in rookie Ryan Mattheus, who came in with an unblemished record, throwing 6 scoreless innings as a major leaguer. He walked Izturis on four pitches to load the bases, then went to a full count after getting ahead 0-2 against Aybar, but he threw a strike and it turned into a simple groundout to SS, to strand the bases loaded and end the inning.
Santana now had the lead as he pitched in the 7th, a somewhat unfamiliar feeling of late, and he refused to give it up. He made a mistake, throwing a slider on 1-2 that targeted the hitter, Espinosa and hit him in the back of the leg as he turned away. Ramos hit a groundball to SS that looked like it would be an easy double play to bail out Santana, and they got the out at 2nd, but Iztruris made an off-balance, one-legged throw to 1st and it got past Trumbo, and rolled into the dugout, so it was an error because it allowed Ramos to go to 2nd. Santana walked Stairs on four pitches (which was off because he had struck him out in both previous at bats) but he made it look like all part of the plan, when the next batter, Ian Desmond, swung at a slider on the first pitch and hit another double play grounder to Aybar, and this time they turned it perfectly to end the inning.
The Angels got two more on base in the 7th, starting with Abreu who worked another full count before lining a single back up the middle, nearly clipping the pitcher’s feet on the way to centerfield. Wells hit an easy fly out to left, then Kendrick bid for a homer with a deep fly ball to center, but Bernadina made another catch on the warning track in the deepest part of the field, for the 2nd out of the inning. Mark Trumbo fell behind 0-2 but worked the count full, fouled off a couple pitches, and eventually drew a walk, to put two runners on. That was the end of Mattheus’ night, as Henry Rodriguez was called in form the bullpen to end the threat. Alberto Callaspo couldn’t get another clutch two-out single, instead grounding out to the SS on a 98 MPH fastball.
Torii Hunter made his first appearance since the Marlins’ series, coming in as a defensive replacement in right field, so Wells moved over to LF, and Kendrick took over at 1B. Santana shut down the Nationals again in the 8th, getting Bernadina on grounder to 2nd, Werth striking out on a 2-2 slider (after two straight fastballs, to confuse Werth once again), and Zimmerman took a half-swing, trying to hold up on a 0-1 slider, but tapped it back to the pitcher for the final out…. Peter Bourjos got his 3rd hit of the game, blooping another one into short right field, on the first pitch fastball, to put another runner on base for the Angels. Wilson tried to bunt him over, but the sacrifice attempt failed when he bunted the ball on the ground right back to the pitcher, who turned and threw to 2nd for the out. Wilson was safe at 1st on the double play attempt, and Izturis popped up to the SS for the 2nd out. Aybar grounded out to the SS, as the Angels were once again victimized by their own hit-and-run play with Wilson running, because Desmond was going towards 2nd to cover the base on the stolen base attempt, and the grounder up the middle was right to him instead of up the middle for a single.
Jordan Walden came in to close the game, even though Santana was pleading his case to his manager in the dugout to go back out there after he was done with the 8th. I’m sure now they both wish he had been given the opportunity to get his complete game, because Walden ended up blowing another save. He got the first two outs on a fly out to left center by Nix and an easy groundout by Morse on a 98 MPH fastball, but he made one mistake and paid for it. He threw a fastball over the inner half, instead of to the catcher’s outside target, and Espinosa clobbered the 96 MPH fastball, turning on it as if it was a slowball, sending it deep into left field for the game-tying solo homerun. Ramos grounded out to 3rd to end the inning, but there went the possible win for Santana....The Angels started the bottom of the 9th, getting their leadoff man on for the 6th straight inning (8th time in the game) but once again failed to capitalize on it. Abreu walked after getting to another (surprise!) full count and taking a ball in the dirt, but Vernon Wells continued his poor offensive game, grounding into an easy double play started by the SS Desmond. Kendrick hit a fly out to right, to end the inning, as Rodriguez completed another strong inning to send the game into extra innings.
Scott Downs came in to pitch the 10th, as the Angels came out for their 15th extra inning game already in this season. Ryan Bixler pinch-hit for Matt Stairs and he hit a grounder to Izturis at 2B, but he played the one-hopper off his body and couldn’t make the throw in time, for his second error in the game. Desmond sacrificed him to 2nd with a good bunt, but the pinch hitter Jerry Hairston popped out to Maicer Izturis who ran out to shallow right field to make a good over the shoulder catch for the second out. Downs struck out Werth looking at perfect fastball over the inner edge of the plate, to complete another scoreless inning for Downs.
The Nationals changed pitchers too, bringing in left-hander Sean Burnett. Hunter had his first at bat of the game, and showed no ill-effects of his rib injury, as he swung hard at a few pitches, but ended up popping up behind the plate to the catcher for the first out. Callaspo continued his strong offensive night, with his third hit, on a line drive single into right field, so maybe hitting lower in the lineup (like he should be anyway) helped take some pressure off. Bourjos followed by hitting an outside fastball down the right field line, that dropped in for a hit, but it bounced into the stands for a ground rule double, which may have been bad luck for the Angels, preventing a chance to score. Then again, they may not have tried to score since Werth would have been in position to make the throw and had already thrown out Callaspo once in this game. After a conference on the mound with everyone but the outfielders, to discuss their strategy, they decided to walk Wilson intentionally, even though he is hitting under ,200, to load the bases. In a way, I don’t quite understand the move, since he isn’t exactly a great hitter, but they wanted to load the bases so a grounder would get an easier out at home, which is a common tactic in that situation. The plan didn’t work, as Maicer Izturis made up for his two errors on defense by hitting a groundball up the middle, and through the drawn-in infield to drive home the game-winning run.
The win should have marked their 5th in a row, but because of that awful call on the play at home plate that stole away a victory on Sunday, they had to settle for just getting back to the .500 mark. Unfortunately, Ervin Santana will have to wait until his next outing to get that elusive victory in his column, but if he pitches that well again, he will have a good chance. It was another odd game, as the Angels had 16 hits, compared to just 6 for the Nationals, but the first 14 were singles for the Angels and three of the Nationals’ were homeruns. Somehow they ended up cancelling out each other after 9 innings, but the Angels finally hit an extra base hit in the 10th to put themselves in position to score the game winner on another single, proving perhaps that singles are more mightier than the homerun (if you have about 15 of them anyway).On the plus side, the Angels did hit well in their home ballpark, which hasn’t been the case for most of the season, as every starting player got a hit.
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