Well, that was just the worst.

If you didn't watch today's game, consider yourself lucky.  Just about everything that could go wrong did.  Well, not everything.  I suppose the stadium could've been struck by a meteor or we could've been forced to watch this game and Battleship in split-screen.  Otherwise, it was all wrong.  I'm not going to rehash it all for you, partly because it is too painful, but mainly because three particular incidents were the most costly.

1. David Pauley should never have been pitching in this game when he was.  Scott Downs had not been used yet, but Scioscia just had to "save him for a closing opportunity."  Good work, Sosh.  Now you're best reliever didn't get into a game, but your worst pitcher did and the hump couldn't even get out the opposing pitcher.  Worse yet, Scioscia didn't handle Pauley properly.  The final play of the game came with Pauley facing left-handed Will Venable with two out.  Why he didn't intentionally walk Venable so Pauley could go righty-on-righty against Cameron Maybin and his .210 average, I will never know.
2. The tenth inning was just a disaster.  First, Scioscia burnt an out by having Maicer Izturis bunt wit Trout on first, which is stupid because he never gave Trout a chance to steal the base (which he did the very next batter) and because Izturis screwed up the bunt and because sac bunting is evil.  Then, Howie Kendrick couldn't get the ball in play with one out and the bases loaded.  But the coup de gras was Peter Bourjos swinging at the first pitch even though the Padre pitcher Brach had been struggling to find the strike zone.  Barf.  A hundred times barf.
3. Ryan Langerhans inadvertently set off a chain reaction that cost the team the game.  First, he butchered a deep flyball to left field that resulted in a double and him wrecking his shoulder.  Not to be mean to the guy, but if he hadn't turned that ball into a circus, he wouldn't have gotten hurt.  Had he not gotten hurt, the Angels would not have had to begin the defensive musical chairs with John Hester coming into catch, Wilson going to first, Pujols moving to third, Izturis shifting to second and Kendrick taking over in left.  It was then because Howie was in left, where he has minimal experience, that Kendrick bobbled the two-out hit by Venable, allowing Richard enough time to come around and score.

All of that added up to probably the most costly Angel loss of the season.  I'm not saying the season is over, but, well, it isn't looking good.  They are "only" six games under .500 and could could back over the hump if they could just rattle off a long winning streak.  However, if they can't even win a series against the lowly Padres, who is that winning streak goign to come against?  So, like I said, the season isn't over but it isn't exactly far from over either.

Padres 3, Angels 2

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (18-23) @ San Diego Padres (14-26)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (2-6, 4.36 ERA)  SD – Anthony Bass (2-4, 2.87 ERA)

Game Info: 1:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830

Seriously, are the Halos really going to mess around with potentially dropping a series to the lowly Padres?

Seriously, are the Angels really going to waste the annual gift to their team record that is interleague play?

Seriously, are we really going to have to deal with all the jokes at the start of the game when Bass pitches to Trout?

Seriously, people.

Seriously.

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Sometimes baseball can be boring. This doesn't happen very often, but once in a blue moon a game comes along with very little interest to it. Such is the case with last night's Angel's loss. Sure, there was quality pitching and a couple of nice plays defensively, but other than that I can't say the game yieldeed anything of merit. It was just one of those things.


Angels 2 Padres 3

Game Notes

-- Nice to see Erick Aybar have a breakout game. Aybar has been scuffling since signing his extension but have largely been overlooked by the struggles of a certain well paid first baseman. But last night ERick exploded with a 4-4 night including a run and an RBI. Aybar hitting is a huge deal since it strengthen's the bottom of the line-up and gives the Halos another dangerous bat for a change.
-- Anybody else find themselves mildly shocked that when Ryan Langerhans came up in the ninth inning you acutally found yourself clammoring for Vernon Wells? I know, it was weird huh?
-- I was also impressed with Mike Trout almost having a coniption about getting thrown out at first. That kind of fiery passion is essential and has been sorely lacking this year. Everyday this kid shows me more and more why everyone thinks he will be a star.
-- Jordan Walden's rehab tour is also going well. Another scorless inning of work for Jordan bodes well for his return to pressure detail. I can imagine the next step will be to see what he does with a lead in the seventh inning.

Halo A Hole


Someone's gotta get this and Haren did take the loss. He actually pitched pretty well so this is more of a cummulative season award. Where have you gone Danny Boy?                    

Ladies and gentelmen, the wait is over.  We here at Monkey With a Halo are proud to finally present our official podcast... Podcast With a Halo!

We've said we are going to start one these things for three years and it is finally here.  Really, I don't know why it took so long, it wasn't that hard.

Or maybe it was, I don't know.  This was our maiden voyage and I think it went pretty well considering.  Please do give it a listen and leave us some feedback here (SPOILER ALERT: I say "ya know" about 37 times, I'll work on that).  We'd like to make this a weekly thing, so keep us motivated to do that by subscribing to the RSS feed or via iTunes (which should be available in the next few days).  And, if you really like what you hear, send some questions to monkeywithahalo(at)gmail.com so that we can add a mailbag segment!

Here it is, listen and enjoy.  (And here is the direct download in case the embedded player doesn't work for you.)

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (18-22) @ San Diego Padres (14-26)

Pitching Probables: LAA -- Dan Haren (1-4, 4.41 ERA) SD -- Eric Stults (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830

After last night's picture perfect performance by Jered Weaver and the Angel offense, the stage is now set for Dan Haren to reclaim his co-ace status. Coming into the season, Haren was supposed to be the underrated one of the staff. So far, Jered Weaver has been remarkable, CJ Wilson has been better than advertised, Ervin Santana has been wildly inconsistent as usual, and Jerome Williams has been a solid number five. What was supposed to seperate the Angels' staff was the presence of Haren. However, he has struggled this season and as a result the Angels' pitchers are in the middle of the pack instead of leading the AL like they were built to.

Haren can change that tonight with a strong performance. San Diego can cure a lot of ills for Haren simply by being their usual crappy selves. As Weaver showed last night, all you have to do is throw the ball and let the ballpark and the defense do their thing. Simple right?

On a seperate note, there is report running around that Albert Pujols approached Mike Scioscia about taking some games at third base. I think this speaks more to the ridiculuously hot nature of Mark Trumbo than anything about Albert. Pujols wants to win and he knows that the team winning will take the heat of his .211 Batting Average.  I for one think the idea is at least an interesting one. The idea was to have him do it when they play NL teams so he, Trumbo, and Kendrys Morales could all be in the line-up. Not sure what this would do the offense, but it would kill the defense. Given that Morales hasn't played meaningful first base in almost two years, I think we would all be better off sticking with the normal experimentation we have been suffering through this season.

      

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (17-22) @ San Diego Padres (14-25)

Pitching Probables: LAA -- Jered Weaver (5-1, 2.83 ERA) SD -- Jeff Suppan (2-1, 1.69 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830  


So we return to interleague play, where awkward matchups are forced down our throat, thus causing us to follow teams we'd normally not gives two thoughts about. Actually, I've rather enjoyed interleague play for the simple reason that the Angels usually feast on the National League. The Padres are a woefully inept team that can't hit, field, or hold a lead (wait, that sounds creepily familiar. . .). I would hope the Halos use this as a sweep opportunity to get within a hair's breath of .500 for the first time in . . . well, forever.

I would expect Jered Weaver to be his usual dominant self tonight. Weaver is an extreme flyball pitcher in a ball park that makes the Grand Canyon seem cozy. Weaver can basically toss the ball at the plate and let his outfield do the rest. This should also be a series where we see a lot of Peter Bourjos. Bourjos is also an ideal fit for this park and, along with Trout and Wells, there should be a ton of fly balls tracked down for outs.

I sincerely hope that a return to a NL park that Albert Pujols has hit in pretty well over his career will continue to hasten the hitting Renaissance he's begun by hitting homers in two straight games. These signs of life are encouraging and I think all of us Angel fans want to see him succeed. A long bomb or two tonight would bring all those naysayers, myself included, back into the fold pretty quickly. But even Albert may not be immune to the deep fences of Petco Park. Though the park may be big, the chances of the Halos dumping this one seem very small.

I hope.

(Note: Due to my work as a High School Assistant Principal, I will not be able to recap the game until tommorrow.
Sorry all, have to chaperone the Prom. You know you're jealous.)  
 

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You may not have Vernon Wells to kick around anymore, Angels fans.

No, Vernon isn't on the verge of getting released as an early Christmas present to all the Halo faithful.  As strange as it may sound, Wells might be on the verge of losing his status as Public Enemy #1 thanks to the fact that he, wait for it... 

might be remembering how to hit!

Gasp!  Guffaw!  Other onomatopoeia!

I know, I was just as shocked to learn this as you are, but the numbers don't lie.

Here are Vernon's numbers from April 2012:

Ew, gross.  But you know this because you know how bad Wells was in 2011 and those April 2012 numbers are appreciably worse.  This caused many fans, myself included, to want to write Wells off as a lost cause.

But lo and behold, the calendar turned to May and now look at our boy:

By, jove!  Those are perfectly reasonable numbers.  More gasps!