Can’t Win If The Ump Is Against You

Losing 4 of 7 on the road trip and 9 of 12 and overall, the Angels find themselves back at the .500 mark once again. With the next 19 games in the Los Angeles area (6 at home, 3 at the Dodgers, 10 in Anaheim) this is a make or break stretch of the season.

Gotta Hit With Runners In Scoring Position

The main problem Thursday, other than an umpire who kept calling strikes on Trout when the ball was 6 inches outside, was the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. Yeah, this ump made so many bad calls on Trout that he actually turned around and I thought Trout was gonna get kicked out. The umpire was just not calling things right.

Mrs. Redshirt even commented on the fact that Trout never complains about kballs and strikes…I think this is the first time I’ve seen it and if the TV is gonna show the strike zone I certainly hope they use this game as a record to keep this ump out of any important game. As it was, Trout’s complaint almost got him ejected for the first time in his career.

Regardless, the team only got 6 hits and none when it mattered. First and second in the first inning and Trout gets called out on a bad pitch and Pujols hits into a double play. First and second in the 2nd with one out and Calhoun and Fletcher strike out. Finally, first and second in the 8th with one out and Valbuena strikes out and Dee Gordon makes an incredible catch toned the inning. It was just an example of futility.

Martin Maldonado went 2 for 2 so I’ll give him my Player of the Game but no one really played too well at bat.

Jaimie Barria pitched okay for 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs and keeping the game close but with no support, like he’s gotten the past few games, he ended up with the loss.

I’m just glad Mark Ripperger can’t umpire against the Angels too often, he really had a bias that sucked.

Today the Angels start the Freeway Series against the Dodgers with Felix Pena (1-0, 3.71 ERA) going against Kenya Maeda (5-5 3.36 ERA) and hopefully he gets this extended home stand started off on the right foot.

Daily Ramble 287.2 | Sports – Angels – Can’t Win If The Ump Is Against You