Before we get into baseball, as someone who has never served, I want to honor and remember the brave men and women who have given their lives protecting our freedoms!
Severino had good stuff in this game but struggled with location on his slider... He still only gave up an opposite field HR that Trout smacked a fastball on, but he threw too many pitches and was correctly taken out after 99 pitches and 6 innings (no reason to push him).
1-1 game entering the 7th... as we scored a run in the 2nd inning as Torres hit a ball down the 3rd baseline with bases loaded and 2 outs and when the fielder tried to throw to 1st the ball was deflected by Pujols up the line. Hicks, slid into 3rd and should have just taken off for home, but started and then stopped. Andujar was on his way to 3rd as he thought Hicks was going to go and had to scamper back, but Hicks then decided to go thinking Andjuar may be out getting back and was thrown out at home. Oneill thought it was a good decision, but I don't as I am not sure Pujols would have thrown to 2nd to get Andujar as it would have been close. Hicks should have just taken off for home originally as I think he would have made it because Pujols was running away from home plate or one stopped just stayed at 3rd...obviously we ran ourselves out of that inning with poor base running (some blamed on Andujar, but I think Hicks).
Green allowed a single in the 7th but Judge threw him out going for 2nd on a perfectly accurate throw. This was his 2nd assist of the game because in the 3rd inning Judge threw out a runner at home on another perfect throw. It is interesting when I watch him throw because everything is so smooth and his arm speed doesn't explode like most people but the ball comes out straight and accurate and while he doesn't seem rushed, he is getting rid of the ball quicker. Those were two very big plays. The play at the plate, Sanchez made a quick tag and right in front of the plate to finish it off. Judge's momentum and great form had his throw clocked at 100.5 MPH...Love that stat!
Green did allow another single before getting out of the 7th.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Torres struck again. Taking a fastball the opposite way for a go-ahead solo shot. This put him alone in the record books as the youngest player ever to hit a HR in 4 consecutive games! He also made a nice play where he was playing Trout up the middle and took 6 1/2 steps toward 1B getting to a grounder and then he smoothly threw out the speedy Trout. I said it in my preseason blog, this is why it is so exciting to watch this team. Doing things that have not been done before does not happen frequently.
I was curious whether Boone would go with Betances or Robertson. I really wouldn't have cared either way, but I slightly would have favored Robertson in that it was a 1 run lead and Betances still concerns me about holding guys on. Further, with Sanchez behind the plate, a runner can get to 3rd on nothing but wild pitches and passed balls...maybe even on a strikeout.
Kay said something slightly odd, but I knew what he meant as he said that he wanted Roberston to get 3 straight outs so that Chapman could face Ohtani as he wanted to see that battle. Ohtani has been a huge sensation for the Angels and probably baseball as we haven't seen a legitimate hitting pitcher in a while. But outside of the "well, of course, we want Robertson to get 3 straight outs," I thought it was odd because Kay said, "I am thinking ahead." My thought was =, if you are thinking ahead, then you should know that if Ohtanio gets up this inning, there is a great chance that Chapman will come into the 8th inning and face him (he hasn't been good against lefties and how can we have confidence in Robertson after the last game and at least one batter is on base here. After a 2 out walk, Boone made the right decision to bring in Chapman and Chapman got him to ground out to SS as he was a little late (ending the 8th inning)
Chapman saved the game in the 9th including striking out a guy on a slider that was on the top of the strike zone and well off his targeted spot. I only add that as it was the correct pitch but terribly off target.
Other Notes:
Heaney pitched very well for The Angels. he spotted his changeup right on the outside corner and then would bring the fastball;l inside very effectively. Our team is definitely a fastball hitting team and his change was very effective. Heaney struck out Austin on 3 changeups that all were strikes and Austin swung and missed all 3.
As I mentioned after Didi's HR, I didn't think he showed me that he is out of his slump even though he had homered. Unfortunately, I was right; while he did hit one ball fairly hard, he missed hittable pitches and was outmatched on the other 3 weak batted balls he had...and he went 0-4.
Sanchez had two passed balls even if one was called a wild pitch (I have no idea how the official scorer thought it was a wild pitch...and I was a catcher!). Oneill said something that I agree with; Sanchez might forget the pitches he calls because he seems fooled a lot. He may cross himself up with a runner at 2nd? Who knows, but he has 8 passed balls and the number should be more. For perspective, Sanchez led the league with 16 PB's last year and he has played 1/3 of the games/innings as last year. So he is on a pace for 24 and only once has anyone had more than 20 Passed Balls since 2000.
Stanton had a bad game. He swung at some pitches that were not close and then took 2 pitches right down the middle. He also weakly popped out to 1B with the bases loaded and a 1-0 count (swung at a ball)
Yankees have an interesting decision as Bird is supposed to come up today (Saturday). Who will they send down? I assume a pitcher as Kahnle was brought up yesterday, but that would mean AJ Cole who has thrown 6 2/3 scoreless innings since being acquired.
Boston won Friday
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment