Strat-O-Matic Simulates the Season: The Official Thread (Angels 83-79, 3rd in AL West, 7 GB Wild Card) ** SEASON ENDED, DODGERS WIN WORLD SERIES

[Capital_Dave]

Nothing like a trip to visit Tarpy in Oakland to smother your hot streak.  The A's complete the sweep over the Angels 7-2.  The Halos have now lost 5 in a row, after their 17-2 hot streak.  Shohei Ohtani had his roughest start of the season, going just 4 innings and giving up 7 earned.  Noe Ramirez and Justin Anderson pitched effectively in relief to limit the damage.  Maybe Ohtani was miffed that Manager @Jeff Fletcher didn't let him bat in this one?  Instead, the Angels utilized the DH and got another 0-for-4 out of Albert Pujols, who is now batting .214 on the season.

 

[Angel Oracle]

[Capital_Dave]

Griffin Canning has another excellent start, giving up just 4 baserunners in 6 innings.  The Rangers rallied late, but the Angels held on to win a slugfest 10-7.  A well-rounded win, with every member of the Angels starting lineup getting at least one hit.  Jo Adell with his 6th homer of the year, a three-run shot that provided the margin of victory.  Oh, and ho-hum, Mike Trout got his 21st homer of the season, now batting .321.

 

[Capital_Dave]

Shohei Ohtani with a big game, going 3-for-4 with a 3-run homer, as the Angels beat the ice-cold Rangers 6-4.   Dylan Bundy gets the win, with a 5.2 inning, 9 K performance, giving up just two runs.  Hansel Robles with his 18th save, just three off a four way tie for the league lead (21).

[Capital_Dave]

Don't look now, but Shohei Ohtani is getting pretty hot.  He goes 4-for-5 today, with a double and a homer, as the Angels win their third in a row, this time by a score of 9-3.   A great start by Julio Teheran (8IP, 3ER) followed by Bedrock's first game action since being activated from the I.L., an effective inning of relief.  The Angels outhit the Rangers 16-3 and go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon.

I dunno guys (and occasional girl)... given the COVID-19 news coming out of major league camps these last few days, we all might have to get used to the idea that this is the only game action we're getting this season.  

Pretend Angels Fever... Catch it.™

 

 

[Slegnaac]

Thank goodness Texas came to town after the disaster in Oakland. 

[Capital_Dave]

The Angels complete a four-game sweep of the Rangers after an absolutely dominant start by Andrew Heaney, who has otherwise struggled mightily this year.  Final score: 6-0 Angels.  8IP, 13K, 2 hits, 0ER, Heaney earns his third win of the season.  Ohtani continues his hot streak, going 2-for-3 with a three-run homer.  He's gone 9 for 12 since Friday and has hit three-run homers for three games in a row. 

A rather anemic Red Sox team (35-43) come to town for a three-game set starting tomorrow.

[Capital_Dave]

The Angels move into a share of the Wild Card lead with a 6-3 win against the Red Sox.  Rendon goes 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, now batting .310 on the season.  Shohei Ohtani slugs his 12th HR of the year.

 

[Angel Oracle]

Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Upton, and Simba are all on pace for at least 90 rbis.    That's some nice depth in the lineup.  

[Capital_Dave]

The Angels slip back a half game behind the Wild Card leaders again as they drop a game to the Red Sox by a score of 5-2.  Canning gets a quality start but barely.  David Fletcher's doing a good, not great, job as leadoff this season, batting .278 (but with just a .324 OBP).

[Capital_Dave]

Angels fall just short in their comeback attempt, stranding Jason Castro at 2nd in the bottom of the ninth, as the Angels fall to the Red Sox 5-4.  Angels forego the DH again, with Ohtani going 1-for-2 during his 6 innings pitched (5ER, 6Ks).  Mike Trout hits his 22nd homer.

The Angels head out on a long ten-game road trip next.  They'll hit Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta, starting Friday.

 

[Capital_Dave]

The Angels' ninth inning rally falls just short, and Ken Giles locks down his 21st save as the Blue Jays win a squeaker over the Angels, 3-2.  Angels go just 1-for-7 with RISP and just can't convert their chances.

New Feature: Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch.  Albert went 0-for-4 and is now batting .202 on the season.  Eesh.  This is getting hard to watch.

[Capital_Dave]

Another one of those "everyone contributes" wins -- I think this is the fourth time in the last month or so that every member of the starting lineup has contributed at least one hit.  In this one, in their first game of the second half of the season, the Angels ride 16 hits and 3 homers en route to a 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays.  Jo Adell goes a triple short of the cycle.  Quality start and a win by Julio Teheran.  Robles gets his 19th save.

 

[Capital_Dave]

Andrew Heaney did his job (6.1IP, 3ERs, 5Ks) and came out of the game with a 6-1 lead.  But the bullpen imploded, giving up 9 runs in the 7th and 8th innings, and the Blue Jays win 10-6.  Embarrassing stuff: the Angels walked a run home with the bases loaded three separate times this game.  Just no control for Buttrey or Middleton.  Trout goes 3-for-4 with two extra base hits.

Off to Tampa for a four-game set starting tomorrow.

[Capital_Dave]

Griffin Canning gets out-dueled by Charlie Morton, as the Rays win Game 1 of the series, 3-0.  Shaky defensive game for Canning, as two of the Rays' three run were unearned runs off Canning's own two errors.

Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch™: 0-for-2, now batting .201

[eligrba4ever]

The pretend Angels seem to have lost interest in the S-o-M pretend season, whose days may be numbered -- meaning July 23 or so.

[Capital_Dave]

18 hours ago, eligrba4ever said:

The pretend Angels seem to have lost interest in the S-o-M pretend season, whose days may be numbered -- meaning July 23 or so.

I'm sure SOM will continue the daily updates once the season is underway, but I'll probably cut back the Angelswin updates to once a week or so once the MLB season is underway...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...then I'll resume the daily updates once the MLB season falls apart.

[Capital_Dave]

Tyler Glasnow has his way with the Angels, who dip back below .500 with an 8-2 loss at the Trop.  Matt Andriese has a poor outing but Felix Pena makes a case for a return to the rotation, pitching 3 innings of solid relief, perfect only except for a Kevin Kiermaier solo homer.  Anthony Rendon goes 3-for-3 and Trouty hits his 25th home run.  Who knew?  Those guys are good at baseball.

I must say, these Strat simulations seem very realistic, but I have to take one big issue with today's box score.  The announced attendance for today's game: 46,681.  At Tropicana Field.

Please reply with your guess as to what the promotion had to be to draw all these incredibly unlikely imaginary Rays fans.

 

[Angel Oracle]

I thought Tropacrapa Field only held just under 40,000?

Upton with the golden sombrero

Edited June 30, 2020 by Angel Oracle

[Slegnaac]

Ji-Man Choi Bobble-Head night. 

[Capital_Dave]

Great pitching matchup today.  The Angels forego the DH again, sending Shohei Ohtani to the bump and batting him cleanup.  The Rays counter with their ace, Blake Snell.  Angels come out on top in this one, with Anthony Rendon smashing two homers and Ohtani going 6 strong, striking out 8, for the win.  Ty Buttrey gets the save (what's up with that @Jeff Fletcher?) and the Albert Pujols Mendoza Line Watch™ has bad news, with our languid first baseman going 0-for-4, as Pujols sinks below the Mendoza Line, now batting .198.  Glub glub glub.

[Angel Oracle]

No issues with the hitting from spots 1-7, now about spots 8-9?

[Capital_Dave]

Angels overcome a pretty noteworthy start by two-way player Brandon McKay (4.2 IP, 1ER, 10 Ks, a 2.18 ERA altogether) and beat up on the Rays' bullpen en route to a 5-2 victory to earn a 2-2 split of the series.  Dylan Bundy gets the win after a pretty mediocre start, while Robles reappears after a mysterious absence to earn the save, his 20th.  The bottom of the lineup respond nicely after being called out by @Angel Oracle yesterday.  Bottom four in the order go a combined 9-for-13, with even Albert Pujols pulling up out of his doldrums to bring his batting average back up to a robust .205.

 

[Capital_Dave]

Incidentally, congrats to Pretend Mike Trout, who was named yesterday as the American League Player of the Month for June for the simulated season.  Trout hit .327 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs for the month, with an 1.136 OPS.

[Angel Oracle]

Regarding the bottom of the order....my work here is done.