Los Angeles Angels Can’t Break .500, Drop 2 of 3 to Nationals: Takeaways from the Weekend Series

Los Angeles Angels Can’t Break .500, Drop 2 of 3 to Nationals: Takeaways from the Weekend Series

on this episode of Locked on Angels our Halo said they want to compete for a playoff spot but after this weekend they turn me into the Ron Burgundy meme you know the one that says “I don’t believe you.” That’s just what I It’s how I feel right now you You can’t win a series against the Nationals i’m sorry Halos i don’t believe you you’re not serious and we’ve got takeaways from this weekend it’s time to get locked on with Mike and John and this is Locked On Angels you are Locked on Angels your daily Los Angeles Angels podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day
thanks for making Locked On Angels your first listen of the day you can find us anywhere you get your podcast including Apple Podcast Spotify and SiriusXM by searching Locked on Angels and if you’d like to give back to the Super Halo Bros for all the Super Halo content here’s some things that you can do leave us a rate and a review on Apple Podcast if you’re watching on YouTube hit that thumbs up button and if you’re not subscribed already please subscribe and become a locked on every day and whether you’re watching or listening come over to YouTube leave a comment one of the best ways to get in touch with us and be a part of the conversation and this episode of Locked On Angels is brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins happy Monday to you and thanks for being here for this episode of Lockdown Angels where it’s your team every day you’ve got the Fresh Brothers here with you aka the Super Halo Bros my name is John and that’s my brother Mike
and my name is Mike and that’s my brother John
you know Mike and I have been lifelong fans of this team Mike uh way way way way way way longer than me um you know just because he’s the older brother no no no we’ve been lifelong fans of this team and it’s a pleasure and a privilege to be talking Angels baseball with you Monday through Friday every single weekday five days a week however you want to slice it on today’s show we’re recapping the weekend and giving you our takeaways from this series against the Nationals should have been an easy one should have been two out of three could have been two out of three mike uh unfortunately the Angels were not able to walk away with more than just one win and it all began on Friday in a 15-9 loss but it began began with Jos Soraniano laying an egg didn’t he
yeah that’s our first takeaway from Friday’s game John his last three starts he’s been great he’s gone at least six and two/3s in each of those starts against the A’s the Yanks and the Astros johnny just gave up one earned run in each of those starts zero earned runs against the Yanks struck out 12 against the A’s 10 against the Astros but then Friday night the powerhouse the juggernaut that is the Washington Nationals he just wasn’t good four innings nine hits eight earned runs two walks and four Ks every pitch John was 1 to 2 m an hour slower than than it has been in the previous starts except for his splitter his splitter was 2 m an hour faster in this start which I think caused him to leave it up leave it kind of in the meat middle part of the plate he he did leave a lot of his pitches up and the the Nationals credit to them they did not miss his pitches and he just could not limit the damage and he couldn’t get out of jams he just couldn’t get a strike out when he needed it he couldn’t get a pop out when he needed it if there were base runners on base he was in a whole lot of trouble and that was his four innings were just a mess and it was so surprising because he had been so good in the last three starts mike it’s not uncommon for Jos Sorano to have a game that just doesn’t go his way right every now and then he’ll have one you can kind of tell from the first at bat what kind of game it’s going to be but here’s something I think we need to pay attention to you mentioned the velocity was a little bit down in this one uh last year he hit 113 innings pitched before the injury took him out for the remainder of the season mike this year he’s up to 97 already and so he had uh let’s see 20 starts last year in 22 games he’s up to 17 starts this year uh and that’s all he’s done he hasn’t done any relief pitching like he did a couple games last year mike I think that’s something we need to pay attention to as we move forward with Jos Sorano is just what’s the longevity as this guy
really hasn’t had a full season of starting uh that’s probably something that we need to keep an eye on to see if the velocity does come back or he does get tired or you know he is dealing with the the stress of being a starter throughout the year so again he’s probably one to you know well I guess it would be about two starts before he reached his uh limit from last year before he got hurt so that’s something I think we ought to be looking out for with Jose Soraniano second takeaway is the Angels needed a hero in the bullpen and they just didn’t get one i need a hero right i need somebody somebody couldn’t step up right they let three guys with batting averages of 200 or under beat them bell Lyall and Adams had five combined hits and five RBI’s every bullpen guy gave up a run except for Brock Burke on Friday night that included four runs in the top of the ninth which just put the game out of reach that that’s where everything fell apart for the Halos every time the Halos put runs on the board in this game or took the lead the Nationals responded with runs of their own no shutdown innings and you know I’m the I’m the king of shutdown innings i love talking about that john the bullpen 10 hits seven runs four walks four Ks angels pitching allowed one run in the seventh and the eighth and the ninth innings at least one run like they just kept giving up runs after runs after runs and the Nationals bullpen they didn’t give up any runs they were solid their starter struggled but they were solid angels pitching they allowed three leadoff walks in this game guess what they all came around to score so a really pathetic performance especially with a day off just before that and they’re going to get another day off today and and so it just was a pathetic performance and it just it just felt like our hitters as well like they were really trying to come through for for our pitching staff but just couldn’t do that and then when the pitching staff gave up all the runs then our hitters who were hitting well in this game they forgot how to hit well because game right bottom of the ninth inning they swung at everything they swung at every pitch that was thrown adele lines out on a pitch that was down and away not a good swing not a good pitch to try to hit oh swung at three pitches that were nowhere near the zone and then Lamonte Jr swung at the first pitch and he flew out so they were great offensively in this game but then the ninth inning you just felt like they had a whole lot of pressure on themselves to try to come back right especially after a 4-1 top or a four-run top of the ninth they swung at everything and looked pathetic and just matched the patheticness of the bullpin in this game
yeah and that’s the the funny thing is Mike and that leads into our third takeaway blaming the offense for this loss is really hard to do when they scored nine runs on 11 hits that’s a game that wins every time right except for this one where you know pitching just did not have it i don’t know you know did they drink something before the game like you know they sharing the same water cooler or something something in there so uh all that to say it is on rare occasion that the Angels have lost a game because the pitching has just been terrible right and they they can’t back up their pitching they can’t master up the runs to give them some run support not in this one nine runs and 11 hits should have got the job done ranifo Shauno Adele Ohap each had two hits in this one shaunoell hit his seventh home run in this game adele hit his 18th home run his 11th in June taylor Ward hits his 20th home run six walks and seven strikeouts i even you know I looked at the box score after the game was over and I was like six walks like good grief like that’s that’s great for this team right and only seven Ks but they were three for 14 with runners in scoring position and they had runners on in almost every inning but couldn’t take advantage bottom of the seventh two on with no outs and didn’t score bottom of the sixth a runner on third with with less than two outs didn’t score bottom of the fifth they did score in this inning but they had runners at first and third with less than two outs didn’t take advantage of that either so despite the nine runs and 11 hits you had a lot more opportunities to win the game and you just couldn’t take advantage of it and that’s something that feels like is the Angels kryptonite this season
fourth takeaway was that Ron Washington is going to remain on medical leave for the rest of the season now they haven’t given specifics it’s kind of unclear as to what’s going on but Perry Manosian said he talked to him three times on Friday said Wash is in good spirits uh the health news is fortunate so he’s on the road to recovery perry said Wash knows what he needs to do and from a standpoint a health standpoint he’s got to get better he said “In my opinion the game is a thousand times better with Ron Washington a part of it on a daily basis.” Of course Ray Montgomery is going to manage this team for the rest of the season ryan Goings is going to be his bench coach and Perry said no additional additions will be made to the the coaching staff john there’s um there’s a lot of conversation that we’re going to have next segment and in the final segment about Ray Montgomery and how he managed the starting rotation made a decision that I questioned and then made another decision that I didn’t question but he also it was interesting how he managed the offense this weekend as well he’s a very analytic guy and you saw that show up even more than he had in the oh he’s going to be here for a bit while Ron gets better now he’s got the team for the rest of the year and I felt like what shifted this weekend is Ray was like well then I’m going to coach the way that I believe is the best way to coach that’s what I felt really changed this weekend now if Ron was at the helm and it wasn’t Ray would the Angels still have lost two out of three probably because their their pitching really was was terrible in this game but there were some decisions that I think maybe Ron would have made in Sunday’s game that Ray did not make and we’ll get to that in our final segment but this is an interesting move of course we want Wash to be healthy he’s got an option for next year so I don’t think it means that he’s not on this team next year but we certainly want a healthy Ron Washington and for him to be healthy for those that he loves and those that love him
yeah it’s You mentioned the option Mike is this a I don’t know a a subtle nudge in the direction of hey maybe it’s time to to call it a career maybe it’s time to call it a a season or you know at least hang your hat as far as being the Angels manager it kind of makes you wonder just with all of the obviously he’s got to have his privacy in regard to what the health condition is but there has been some speculation especially across Angel’s social media as if this is a uh is this a gentle way of of getting Wash out the door and is that even something that they wanted to do sure right is this something that they would want from Ron Washington just say you know what we need someone someone else but we’re not going to fire you right and so kind of makes you wonder um and maybe that’s going to be a different conversation for a different time as especially as we continue to get into Ray Montgomery’s tenure as the manager interesting that Montgomery didn’t take over when Madden was fired considering you know this is kind of well I mean it’s about that time of year right where Madden got fired and then uh you know uh Nevin took over and so yeah it’s it’s just an interesting timing all the way around so let’s talk about our fifth takeaway and this is what we tweeted from Locked on Angels the offense showed up the pitching didn’t not very often that that happens write it off and get right tomorrow night so let’s do that and we’ll move on to Saturday night’s game in segment two thanks for making Lockdown Angels your first listen of the day coming up the Angels play some bad defense and lose on Sunday we’ve got our five takeaways for Saturday and Sunday we’ll get to those takeaways coming right up summer sports are in full swing so whether it’s baseball under the lights or it’s golf on the green or maybe it’s high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every moment more and every moment exciting and if you’re already following the action why not make it a little bit more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are maybe getting sunburned at the beach you can use FanDuel for all sorts of things i use it to track some of my favorite matchups the app keeps it fresh with daily promotions and fun ways to bet it’s so easy to use there’s fast payouts and it makes regular season games that are not fun to watch like Sunday’s game against the Nationals it makes it kind of a mustwatch for you because you can win some money so place a bet maybe combine it with the same game parlay and you can ride into the ninth inning with some more cash and some more more winnings with FanDuel it’s going to be fun to be a part of FanDuel so you should be a part of it if you’re new new customers can get just $5 bet $5 and you can win $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins just open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com/lockedon to get started this is the Lockdown Podcast Network where it’s your team every day thanks for making Lockdown Angels your first listen of the day mike Saturday the Angels ended up winning this one eight-2 and it was the kind of game that you thought you would have more of this weekend and it was a I don’t want to say a complete team effort but there were certainly people who came up clutch in specific moments in this game but let’s start at the beginning with our first takeaway that’s Kyle Hendrickx pitched well and was pulled very early in this one he went five innings gave up five hits that’s a typical Hrix uh quality however just one just one run five strikeouts and only 74 pitches uh we’re going to talk about that in a minute but first Hrix was spot on Saturday literally he was uh hitting his spots wherever Hoppy put the target Hrix hit the target and he painted the corners all of his outs were on pitches that were on the corners all of his hits given up were on pitches that missed the corner and even more over the middle of the plate so really it was kind of black and white there anything on the corners that he dotted he was getting outs on um he even had a shutdown inning something the Angels couldn’t pull off the night before but then he was pulled after five and 74 pitches was uh Ray Montgomery um doing the analytical thing here Mike was it the right decision what do you say
it It felt like it was an analytical decision decision i was frustrated with it because you’re at 74 pitches through five and he wasn’t struggling at all like he really wasn’t struggling at at any point in this game and and Hrix looked like he was ready to do the sixth inning in fact he even gave an interview afterwards and he said “I was ready to do that but raised the manager and I and I trust him.” Now
here’s why it might be more of an analytics move because Hrix first time through the order he’s pretty good 254 302 and a 424 slashline second time through the order not so good 377 397 and a 672 slash line look at the third time through the order John a 667 batting average a 721 on base and a 1.22 slugging percentage so they are they are crushing him when he gets through that third time through the order another stat that I thought was interesting that kind of counteracts that in the sixth inning he’s pitched into the sixth inning 11 times this season he’s got a 216 RA with a 1.20 whip so John do you think this was the right move i know they won i know they came back scored a lot of runs but do you think this was the right move in in the context of the whole weekend i really think you have to consider how the bullpen was used right and especially on Sunday because again we had a short start from a starter and that was Jack Kohanowitz who certainly could have gone deeper into the game and we’ll talk about that in segment three but the fact is uh there there’s a there’s a delicate balance of how long you let the starter go and try to keep yourself in the game versus how much of the bullpen are you going to use and there were a lot of guys unavailable Zephr John being one of them having gone two nights in a row I think Sam Bachmann was unavailable uh on Sunday so yeah just interesting to see this play out um it’s those are odd stats because you know that third time through the order but then in context of the sixth inning uh having a 216 RA a 120 whip yeah
kind of makes me think
those sixth inning situations are when he’s cruising right and you you get to a certain part of the order at a specific part of the game meaning you probably had a lot of quick innings one two three innings maybe a one two hit then an out inning right so uh it really all depends on how quickly he gets through that order the second time and Wash is somebody who’s going to let him finish out that kind of stuff and and and try to get it done doesn’t seem like we’re getting that from Ray Montgomery seems like he’s very by the numbers which is you know I was saying maybe he’s not on the level of a Brad Osmus but Mike in the last few instances that we’ve seen this
I think he’s he’s he’s borderline
he’s teetering
yeah he’s not going to he’s not going to have an opener that’s for sure remember how many openers we had that year um but he’s uh he’s certainly riding that line of being a very analytical man manager especially when it comes to these numbers second takeaway John is uh just an affirmation of something that you’ve talked about with Ryan Zephr John he needs to throw the four seam fast so much more often thank you good brief
he gave up a run in the seventh inning on a on a walk and a steal and then a single and the reason was because he wasn’t throwing the four seam fast ball at least to start the inning he threw the cutter way too often and not the four seam and he should throw that for seam and here’s why he went cutter cutter slider and then four seam to the first batter Lyall and he walked him then threw a cutter and a slider and gave up a single then the third batter he threw a slider and then two four seam fast balls and he struck out Jacob Young final batter CJ Abrams he threw two cutters and and Abrams flew out but when he threw the four seam fast it kept the batter off balance and I think it matches the cutter really well and it matches his offspe stuff he just doesn’t seem confident in that four seam at least that was my read what was your read
well you have to play your other pitches off the four seam that’s what I don’t understand to me it seems like the cutter is you know that’s the base pitch that’s the one that he really relies on and to be fair I’m looking at his numbers from last year and the short stint we got with him um he he threw the cutter the most he threw it 46.2% of the time this year he’s throwing at 30 and a half% of the time and the four seam is right behind it at 29% but I’m looking at last year and uh he threw the foresee a whole lot more mike you know the the big pitch that’s taken up a lot of the uh the the pitching wealth so to speak is the slider he’s throwing that 21.4% of the time where last year he only threw three of them it was the sweeper that he was using so last year it was cutter four seam sweeper that was his repertoire now he’s got a four pitch mix with the slider and the sweeper and you might be asking yourself what’s the difference well sweeper is a whole lot slower and it’s got a lot more horizontal break than a slider but
to me a a slider at 88 1/2 mph versus a cutter that averages 90 and a half miles an hour that’s not enough of a separation of speeds and when you get that close together
those are very similar pitches they end up both looking like a cutter especially if there’s a lot of mileage on that slider so all that to say I think that he just needs to build his at bat off of the four seam then play the cutter then play the slider then throw in the sweeper but I think your base pitch 110% has to be that forcing fastball that you’re throwing at nearly 100 miles an hour every time uh third takeaway is the Angels offense finally woke up in the bottom of the seventh inning he started with a Mike Trout home run his 13th and he’s just nine away from 400 in his career how about that guy how about that guy right i know that there’s clutch conversations right but here here’s the interesting thing about Trout he had been four for 36 in those types of situations this year with 10 walks the situation was a RBI tying the game or giving the Angels lead in the seventh inning or later he’s really struggled with that this year we’ve noticed that last 15 games John he’s hitting .240 but he’s got a 424 on base percentage drawing a lot of walks and making good contact and when he makes good contact it’s been better for him i know that the not clutch narrative is always going to follow him because he does need to come through in those moments he pinched on Sunday and and fouled out and that was frustrating i know now now following Mike Trout’s home run Taylor Ward doubled and then Joe Adele singled and then the next two batters oh and they struck out and they popped out so it looked like it was going to be one of those innings but then the the new clutch guy is Christian Moore and he gave the Angels the lead with a two out two strike single to left the pitch was up moore adjusted his swing was level he he chopped at that thing and slapped the ball to left field now we noticed something that that Christian Moore had a leg kick through his first 40 at bats mhm
but since then he’s found success with more of a toe tap go back and take a look a few of his at bats this weekend compared to what he was doing the previous weekend had a leg kick now he’s doing the toe tap johnny he hit the walk-off home run a few games ago on Saturday night um I’m actually last week uh with the toe tap he did it again on Saturday night when he hit that single and and that was a that was a beautiful moment right and that was yay we we we got the lead we broke the tie but then the game got busted open open by
Am I Am I reading this right
hold on i I got to clean my screen here i think something’s wrong
does that say Kevin Newman
newman like we’ll celebrate him here and then we we’re going to trash him in the next segment so why don’t you sell Why don’t you celebrate him right here
yeah he he bust the game open with a three-run home run gave the Angels the lead uh long overdue right we’re we’re sitting you know June 29th right now uh or I should say June 30th and this was you know June 28th when it happened but um the guy is capable of so much more and that’s why they signed him but the problem is is that he has just not lived up to anything that he’s done in his career and you wonder if it’s a lack of playing time he seemed to feel like it was but at the end of the day he’s always been a guy off the bench he’s always been somebody who who hasn’t started every every game so it really makes you wonder you know where the issue lies with him but it was a pitch down and in and he just you know yanked it right into left field and so more of that please Kevin Newman and less of what you did on Sunday but after Newman’s home run Renifo doubled Toronto walked Trout walked Taylor Ward walked and then a run scored on that the Angels came into the seventh inning with one run uh one walk and two hits and then in the seventh inning they had three walks six hits and scored six runs which included four extra base hits two home runs and two doubles they faced one pitcher through six innings and three in the bottom of the seventh the Angels added one more run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a Gustavo Campero home run can I just say the guy’s a switch hitter he plays the outfield very well he’s very fast can we stop starting Lamonte Jr in right field and give Gustavo Cero more at bats please that’s something I would like analytics say that hey fourth takeaway is Zach Noto didn’t start in this game and we know that he hurt his shoulder last Tuesday sliding into second base he’s been working on sliding with his feet he said he’s practicing that but then I love this at the end of the day when I’m running it’s whatever the first thing that pops into my head yeah that’s what’s going to happen it’s going to be instinct now he said that he probably won’t start and play uh until Tuesday’s game but he did pinch hit on Sunday and he did play shortstop for the rest of the game did you see the way he was stretching out too i got my back scratcher here it was like Yeah his He’s like “Look everyone my shoulder’s fine.” Like
or he’s about to pop that sucker out so be very careful right
yeah exactly exactly
johnny fifth takeaway bullpen was better on Saturday than they were on Friday combination of Fine Zephr John Demer’s and Bachmann closed out the game they went four innings combined gave up four hits one run walked two struck out two firm means here by the way because they dfaided Hector Nerys and Ray Montgomery just said “He did great for us he was great for the young kids but for Mean is a part of our future.” And Nery had to be let go he was the odd man out and unfortunately that’s just part of the game somebody needed to be replaced
yeah and he doesn’t have any options because he’s a a veteran and they needed a fresh arm and so that obviously he’s going to be the first one to go and and be you know sent down slashdfade uh I’m excited that Fine is there and of course uh the bullpen looked very good uh on Saturday night something that we wouldn’t see later on on Sunday and we’ll get to that in just a minute this game on Sunday was really frustrating angels lose seven to four they shouldn’t have lost this game bottom line shouldn’t have lost this game and I’m not just saying that as a fan and I’m just saying that as somebody who watches baseball and I’m like that was a pathetic showing the first takeaway from the game lineup was different no Trout no Neto on Trout being out montgomery said it was a good time for him to be out uh I want to give him a little bit of a break trout did enter and pinch hit in the sixth inning he popped out felt like an early time for Trout to be pinch hitting because they had opportunities later in the game for him to be pinch hitting i guess we can get into that in just a moment since his return on May 30th he’s started 26 of the 28 games all at DH john this actually sounds a bit deceiving he’s hitting 290 with four home runs and an 857 OPS entering yesterday’s game it doesn’t feel like that but I guess if you look at over the the combination of he had a hot run for a bit where he was hitting some home runs that was I think where those numbers come from uh Joe Adell hitting cleanup i like that move travis Darno was DH and Ohapy was behind the plate and the offense got started in the top of the first after a Shauna walk taylor Ward doubled and Shaunell scored ward had three doubles in this game and then struck out looking on three pitches in in an inning when we really needed him later on
taylor Ward giveth and Taylor Ward taketh away
he is a guess guess and guess hitter right and and so he had three doubles in this game his third double came in the sixth inning and then following that double Joe Adele he hit a RBI single to right field i love that John his stats in June are just off the charts and I’m going to let you share that because you’ve been the Joe Adele celebrator and cheerleader so far on this show
yeah in June he’s got a 284 average a 364 on base percentage and a 670 slugging 11 home runs 18 RBI’s 26 hits and 89 at bats uh so Joe Adele in the month of June uh get to know each other well because now we’re turning the calendar to July uh but we still want Joe Adele to continue this momentum uh into the dog days of summer please now Christian Moore followed that up with a two-out RBI here’s a great note from Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register on Christian Moore he said “Entering yesterday Christian Moore is 0 for 17 with nine strikeouts when the Angels are leading he is nine for30 which is a 300 average when it’s tied or the Angels are losing so he’s been Mr clutch lately in fact Sam Blum followed that up with a tweet that said uh Christian Moore on this home stand a game-tying home run in the seventh on June 20th a game-tying home run in the eighth on June 24th and also the walk-off two-run home run in the 10th on the 24th a tie-breaking hit on the seventh or I’m sorry in the seventh on June 28th and then a tiebreaking hit in the sixth inning on Sunday
second takeaway Jackowitz he looked good and then and then he just didn’t look good he started strong and then got into trouble in the top of the fifth he walked the leadoff guy Milas and and he doesn’t have a hit yet this season and so he’s he’s walking a guy who’s not hitting well and then followed that with a double to Young that’s when Ray Montgomery came out and got him it was it was quick it was similar to Saturday night but I think this one this one felt right because Khanowitz when he gets into those situations where it’s runners at second and third inevitably those runners come around and score because he still hasn’t figured out the strikeout pitch and and yesterday just just didn’t have it just didn’t feel like he was able in that fifth inning specifically just didn’t feel like he was going to dominate at all and wasn’t confident in any of his pitches now his erra jumps almost a full run the third time through the order so it may have been an analytical move here he went four gave up five uh hits two runs two walks two Ks only 63 pitches you mentioned this John but I want to bring it up again if the strategy is to remove your pitchers before the third time through the order you are asking this bullpen to be better than they’ve already been now last season remember June 17th on one of the best bullpens in baseball a 269 RA john since May 19th they have a 279 ERA which is third best in baseball third best in in the AL at least you’re asking the bullpen to do a lot if you’re going to take your pitchers out at 60 pitches 70 pitches and I don’t know if that Hendrickx moves was was the smart move this one might have been the smart move but this is why you can’t take Kyle Hendrickx out of the game if he’s dominating because you never know what the guy the next day is going to do
yeah and you use four pitchers on Saturday night and then you had to turn to you know Connor Brogden to finish this game essentially and you know it’s funny when you watch Kyle Finnegan do his thing and he goes three innings to finish out this game for the Nationals i know right yeah and we talked about that all off season u but yeah Mike I I really think that if you’re going to ask the bullpen to be even better than they’ve already done that’s asking a lot because a 279 RA third best in the American League that’s fantastic so I don’t know why you would mess with the formula because I feel like the formula was working there are certainly moments you know like Tyler Anderson getting pulled when he got pulled yeah I got that i understood that um it feels like to me that Ray Montgomery’s hook is almost um uh disciplinary right like like you said Kanovich you shouldn’t have walked that guy because he doesn’t have a hit this season and now you got runners on second and third so you’re you’re done bud you know and it’s just like
Yeah but you kind of need him to go a little bit more than just four innings my friend so that that’s the the balance that I’m struggling with right now i’m look I’m not going to sit here and defend Ray Montgomery because who cares right but what I’m trying to say is I’m a little bit concerned about if this is going to be the trae trajectory of the Angels moving forward because it’s a little bit scary don’t mess with the winning combination that you’ve had so far this season
uh the third takeaway strong defense and then really bad decisions the strong defense top of the fifth runners at second and third for me on the mound gets Abrams to ground out to short with the infield in newman makes a great backhanded throw or backhanded play throws to first base gets the guy out later on Shauno gets a ground ball off the bat of Garcia Jr with the bases loaded and and this is where it wasn’t good he made a really bad decision should have thrown home instead he tags first and then throws home and Ohap is not even waiting on the plate like he’s not standing there guarding the plate or standing like a first baseman on the plate he he just kind of fumbles the ball then another runner comes in and luckily he tags the runner out replays were inconclusive so the call stands and then the Nationals manager got thrown out and so that was just a a bonehead play and then there was a really great play from Christian Moore he had a glove flip ball where he threw it to first base on a really quick move uh getting it out getting a runner out at first base and then there was the biggest defensive misplay of the game it happened in the top of the seventh john this was super frustrating and I think this is really what cost them the game yeah Zephr John got the first two batters in the top of the seventh walked the third batter got CJ Abrams to pop up to short which would have ended the inning but Kevin Newman lost the ball in the sun it drops in a run scored and the outfield just stood there and watched Kevin Newman struggle and didn’t even have play for him yeah
you got that bud can you see it i don’t Can you see it uh so that was the issue Mike and then that led into how this game ended our fourth takeaway bottom of the seventh Renifo hits a one-out triple to right scores on a wild pitch kenley Jansen comes in in the ninth in a 4-3 game to try to get the save uh Lyall reached on a double but that ball was hit to Shaell eats him up and goes down the right field line somebody said if if if uh if Jansen had just done his job and it’s like well he did but no John didn’t do his job so
yeah yeah that was frustrating so it was his first blown save because Jacob Young followed that with a single and uh Lyall was bunted over to third young hits that single that ties the game top of the 11th the National Scores three runs off Connor Brogden all little dinks and dunks but that CJ Abrams triple is really what sealed the deal so uh you know this is something that was affirmed here the fact that you know the Angels are pitching all to the Nationals strengths and a good example of that is Drew Milis thrives on a change up away and the stats back that up and where did Brogden throw his change up up and away and so that was hit for the double to left so just if we’re going to be analytical in one department we need to be analytical in these matchups as well and go hey maybe not throw that pitch to that particular guy right
yeah and speaking of analytics the fifth takeaway we’re not going to play small ball right we’re not going to bump people over gosh you’re just not going to do that i mean it was it was ridiculous ninth and tth inning they had an opportunity to do that i think the analytics would have said to do that especially when you have Lamont Wade Jr up there in the ninth inning with Christian Moore at first base and no outs bun him over then bottom 10 Neto’s at second base your best base runner with Ran Heo up there and they don’t bun him over now Ray Montgomery said “Well he’s kind of been on a heater lately shut up.” And bun him over right like you you have to win this game the analytics The analytics don’t like bunting Mike that’s the problem
yeah well throw it out and and where’s Mike Soa right like I mean that’s the stuff that just frustrates me you have to win this game and you didn’t win this game because you refused to play small ball and be a complete team you decided that you were going to run with the numbers you decided you’re going to swing for the f it was just this this loss for me was on the coaching staff mainly because they just didn’t play to win this game yeah nationals played small ball and look at the results right and they got tons of guys who can run the bases they had to walk James Wood four times intentionally because he came up to bat in critical moments every single time he was coming up to bat there were runners on the game was on the line and and so they they just created those situations for themselves where the Angels didn’t hey thanks for making Locked on Angels your first listen of the day for your second listen check out the allnew Locked on MLB game night you can find myself there along with my incredible co-host every game every night all season long local analysis on a national scale you can find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube join us live or wherever you listen to podcast don’t forget to give us a follow locked on Angels on Twitter and Super Halo Bros on Twitter and Instagram whether you’re watching or listening come on over to YouTube get in the comments section tell us all your thoughts about this weekend series the Angels can’t break 500 that’s their glass ceiling apparently mike what do we have on deck for Tuesday’s show since we have a day off or the Halos have a day off on Monday
we’re going to talk about why the Angels play up to the good teams and play down to the bad teams there’s actually a statement there’s a statement that one of the players made that brought good clarity and so we’re going to tease that out and work that through tomorrow in Lockdown Angels
all right we hope you come back and join us for that until then my name is John and that’s my brother Mike
and my name is Mike and that’s my brother John
thanks for being here everybody and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday play up play down come on

Are the Los Angeles Angels doomed to stay at .500 all season long? On today’s Locked On Angels, the Super Halo Bros. recap the weekend series against the Washington Nationals that saw the Halos drop 2 of 3, due to a Jose Soriano start that saw him struggle on Friday night and some bad defensive decisions on Sunday. While the Angels entered the series at .500, they quickly dropped to one game under before getting back to it on Saturday, but they end the weekend back under. Are they going to stay stuck there, or will they ever shatter the ceiling? We’ll discuss it all on today’s show!

#angels2025 #angels #angelsbaseball #gohalos #repthehalo

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