Gameday Thread: A's @ Angels (4/27/23 1pm): Ohtani on the mound

[Blarg]

This game isn't half as nerve racking if Ohtani hadn't completely forgot how to pitch in the 4th inning.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

game never in doubt

[T.G.]

Meanwhile... AO backs away from the cliff...

[drpiranha]

I think we found our permanent closer. Now, use Moore and Silseth in the 8th and Quijada and Wantz in the middle innings.

[Erstad Grit]

Just now, jsnpritchett said:

Nice to see Estevez have a relatively easy inning!  He's getting a little more consistent lately.

almost struck out the side in 9 pitches

[T.G.]

On to Milwaukee!

[eligrba4ever]

TWO GAMES OVER .500!

The Angels are on their way to the top!!!

[Lou]

1 minute ago, Blarg said:

This game isn't half as nerve racking if Ohtani hadn't completely forgot how to pitch in the 4th inning.

Or Rengifo didn't suck.

[Erstad Grit]

Rendon is really good, but he seems like a tool

[Blarg]

Just now, Lou said:

Or Rengifo didn't suck.

he drove in as many runs as he gave up?

[Lou]

2 minutes ago, Erstad Grit said:

Rendon is really good, but he seems like a tool

I completely disagree. Seems like a cool dude. He was even questioning why they wanted to interview him after the game.

[Kampy]

Good win. 3 in a row and 5-2 against 2 crappy teams at home, which is what they needed to do. And both L's were crazy games with lots of homers and were very winnable...

Unfortunately the one game I attended this homestand was one of those L's

The halo will shine brightly tonight!

[Erstad Grit]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

I completely disagree. Seems like a cool dude. He was even questioning why they wanted to interview him after the game.

She's just doing her job. Every answer he gave was short and sarcastic.  

[T.G.]

Rendon is so cool, he can make great plays even though he thinks baseball is boring.

[FromJapan]

7 minutes ago, Kampy said:

Good win. 3 in a row and 5-2 against 2 crappy teams at home, which is what they needed to do. And both L's were crazy games with lots of homers and were very winnable...

Unfortunately the one game I attended this homestand was one of those L's

The halo will shine brightly tonight!

 

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, FromJapan said:

 

Again, my Japanese is a little rusty but I'm pretty sure that says "eff the Dodgers".

 

[Duren, Duren]

Just finished PVR viewing. 

It would have been stupendous if in Ohtani's last at bat the ball was just missed by the fielder, hit the wall, bounced around  and resulted in an inside the park homer. That type of natural cycle probably never has occurred. Imagine the excitement as he would have rounded the bases! 

Actually I think his triple should have been called an error. 

Wimpy scoring decision. The outfielder didn't have to track it down on the run from left to right or right to left. It was straight away right at him. He took a couple steps back squarely facing the ball and was in conventional position. The ball hit the pocket of his glove and bounced out. It happened quickly, but for crying out loud, he didn't 't cover much distance, had full frontal vision of the ball but couldn't keep it in his glove. 

If that was considered a difficult chance, so was the smash at Rengifo that skipped off the mound and added spin. Rengifo should have had his body more square to the ball to at least knock it down. But he was positioning for a pivot to start the double play and let the ball play him rather than the other way round. So essentially his error was in  thinking double play rather than just reacting to the bad hop and keeping the ball in front of him.  But it was a tough chance.  Situationally understandable but he doesn't have refined defensive skills. He's no Bobby Grich.

Ohtani's bad inning against a terrible team. That's what makes the game intriguing. The odds of him giving up five runs in an inning after being on such a hot streak would be out of sight. But control is the foundation of pitching. No matter what  'stuff' a pitcher has. 

Also what would the odds be for Drury to set a franchise record for RBi's in a series? He and Renfrew really are juicing the offense. A bad day for Trout was picked up by others. 

Kind of a funky game. The schedule now gets harder, but this homestand has served it 's purpose. 

[Lou]

6 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

It would have been stupendous if in Ohtani's last at bat the ball was just missed by the fielder, hit the wall, bounced around  and resulted in an inside the park homer. That type of natural cycle probably never has occurred. Imagine the excitement as he would have rounded the bases! 

Incorrect.

Leon Culberson, 1943.

[FromJapan]

On 4/28/2023 at 5:32 AM, Kampy said:

not sure I caught that anecdote.... did I hear that Urshela asked Sho to write "hits" in Japanese on his bat? and then Sho asked Urshela to do the same (write "hits" in English) on his bat? And then got 2 hits afterwards?

Is that what she said?
 

Following "Hit", between the exclamation marks, three Japanese characters are written by Ohtani. 

These are Japanese phonogram, ”katakana”, which is often used to write foreign words literally in Japanese.

Katakana  is the same as "Hit".

That is to say, Urshela and Ohtani wrote "Hit!!!" twice in English letters and katakana.

 

[Blarg]

That looks like a smiley face in between two letters.