Saturday, July 22, 2017

Price Pounded, Angels Strike Back (7/22/17)

David Price (5-3, 3.82 ERA) has been under heavy fire for his behavior all season and it can be overlooked when he's pitching well, but this was NOT a well pitched game. He was awful as the lowly Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pounded him for 6 runs in just 5 innings and held off the Boston Red Sox for a 7-3 win at Anaheim Stadium. Thanks for nothing, Price.

At first the Sox wasted no time scoring in the top of the first inning. Mr. Mookie Betts grounded out to second but Andrew Benintendi walked. Dustin Pedroia walked and Hanley Ramirez singled Benny in to give the Sox the lead. Jackie Bradley Jr flied out to left and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
                                                   Hanley makes it 1-0

Price took the mound in the bottom of the first inning and initially did well. Yunel Escobar whiffed and Price froze Mike Trout. Albert Pujols singled but CJ Cron flied out to right to end the inning.

The Sox poured it on in the top of the second inning against Angels starter JC Ramirez. Mitch Moreland singled and Christian Vazquez hit a picture perfect double play ball to Cron at first. Moreland was out at second but shortstop Andrelton Simmons heaved the ball over the head of Cron on the return throw and Christian was safe at second base. Vazquez moved to third on the groundout by Brock Holt and scored on the Mr. Mookie double. Benny The Kid singled in Betts and the Sox had Ramirez on the ropes. Too bad Pedroia grounded out to end the inning but it was 3-0 Sox. The Sox had 3 runs and 4 hits at this point.....and would have just 2 hits the rest of the game.
                                             It looked good when it was 3-0

Price responded in the bottom of the second by getting Simmons to ground out to start, but Calhoun walked. Martin Maldonado looked at strike three and Cliff Pennington grounded out to end the inning.

Ramirez cruised in the top of the third as Ramirez grounded to short, JBJ lined out to center and Bogaerts looked at strike three to end the inning. Suddenly the Angels exploded in the bottom of the third. Ben Revere singled but was erased on the force by Escobar. Trout walked and Pujols scored both of them with a double into the gap. Cron flied out and Price was one out away from escaping with the lead. It didn't happen as Simmons blasted a 2 run bomb to give the Angels the lead. Calhoun popped to short but the damage was done, 4-3 Angels.
                                           Vazquez says "Well this game is over"

The Sox proceeded to lay down from here on in. Moreland looked at strike three to open the top of the fourth before Vazquez grounded out to third. Holt flied out to left to end the inning. Price recovered in the bottom of the fourth as Maldonado grounded out to first to begin. Pennington struck out and Revere hit a routine grounder to Bogaerts....who did a flying elbow drop on it rather than field it before posing for the confused crowd. Revere reached on the error and Escobar walked, but Trout flied out to center to end the inning.

Things got testy in the top of the fifth inning. Mr. Mookie whiffed but Benny The Kid was rung up on a pitch way inside by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, drawing the ire of the Red Sox dugout. Then Pedroia was rung up as well on a pitch that Price was not getting to this point. Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough and he sprinted out of the dugout, chewing out Cuzzi. The umpire gave Farrell the HEAVE-HO and the enraged manager chased Cuzzi all the way to the centerfield bleachers before JBJ restrained him. What a mess.
                                                       Yerrrrr out!

Things fell further apart in the bottom of the fifth as Pujols and Cron hit back to back singles. Simmons singled home Pujols but Cron was tagged out in a rundown, although Simmons took second. Calhoun was plunked but Maldonado hit a routine grounder to Bogaerts...who turned around and threw it into the bleachers before running in a circle celebrating his own bizarre error. Simmons scored on the error but the alert Vazquez picked off Calhoun at third. Pennington struck out to end the inning but it was now 6-3 Angels.
                                               6-3 Angels

The Sox tried to fight back in the top of the sixth inning although Ramirez popped up to first to start. JBJ looked at strike three but Bogaerts made up for his miscues with a double. Moreland walked to bring the tying run to the plate...but Vazquez lined out to end the inning. Heath Hembree replaced Price in the bottom of the sixth inning and crapped his pants as well. Revere singled to center but Escobar lined out to right. Revere swiped second and scored on the Trout single. Pujols flied out to right but Trout swiped second. Cron flied out to right to end the inning with the game out of reach 7-3.
                                                All Angels in this one

Blake Parker replaced Ramirez for the top of the seventh and Holt whiffed badly to start. Mr. Mookie flied out to right and Benny The Kid grounded out to second to end the inning. "The Outlaw" Ben Taylor came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and got Simmons to fly out to start. Calhoun whiffed but Maldonado doubled. Pennington flied out to right to end the inning.

David Hernandez was brought in to pitch the top of the eighth inning and Pedroia singled to start. Ramirez killed the rally with a double play and JBJ whiffed to end the inning. Taylor returned for the bottom of the eighth and Revere grounded out to short to start. Escobar looked at strike three and Trout lined out to center to end the inning.

Bud Norris had mop up duty in the top of the ninth and Bogaerts whiffed to start. Moreland grounded out to first and Vazquez popped up to third to end the game. The Angels had blown past the Sox to win it 7-3.


Jackass of the Night is David Price. He allowed 6 runs in just 5 innings to a rather lousy Angels offense, putting the Sox too far behind to make a comeback.
                                              Nice going Jackass



The Good:

Andrew Benintendi was 1 for 3 with a walk, run scored and rbi.

Dustin Pedroia was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Mitch Moreland was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Ben Taylor pitched 2 scoreless innings.



The Bad:

Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.

Brock Holt was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

Heath Hembree allowed a run in an inning of work.



The Ugly:

Mookie Betts was just 1 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.

Hanley Ramirez was just 1 for 4 with an rbi.

Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 and committed 2 errors in the field.

Christian Vazquez was 0 for 4 but scored a run.




Final Thoughts:

Does this team have no balls or what? They smack around JC Ramirez for 3 runs and 4 hits by the second inning and as soon as the Angels took the lead, they mailed it in. 2 hits...TWO HITS in the final 7 innings. Granted Price stunk the joint out but laying down and not even trying is ridiculous. Its bad enough the Sox are catching fire for bad behavior but now their on field product is just as shameful. How do you only get 2 hits the rest of the game? A truly pathetic display that's becoming more and more frequent. The loss dropped the Sox to 55-44, 3.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow afternoon the Sox get shut down by Parker Bridwell and Rick Porcello (4-12) will surely take the loss at 3:30 PM Eastern time.

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