OC Register: Angels finish sweep of Cardinals before facing first-place Rangers

[AngelsWin.com]

ST. LOUIS — The Angels are bringing a hot streak into their first meeting of the season with the surprising division leaders, the Texas Rangers.

The Angels exploded for four runs in the second and six in the third on their way to an 11-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

Winners of four straight for the first time this season, the Angels (18-14) are one game behind the Rangers (18-12) as the teams prepare to meet for three games this weekend at Angel Stadium.

After that, the division favorite Houston Astros will come to town for three games. The Angels won’t have to face Rangers ace Jacob deGrom or Astros starters José Urquidy and Luis Garcia. All are on the injured list.

The Angels picked up a head of steam heading into those games by taking advantage of a Cardinals team that has been one of the most disappointing in baseball. The defending National League Central champions have now lost 11 of their past 13 games to fall to 10-22.

Cardinals fans booed ace Jack Flaherty as the Angels took him apart with a couple of early rallies.

Luis Rengifo hit a three-run homer in the second, which was encouraging because he’s a weaker hitter from the left side. He also singled from that side and added a double hitting right-handed. Playing second base, Rengifo made a nice backhand play up the middle to defuse a threat in the eighth inning.

While Rengifo did most of the damage in the second, it was a full team effort in the third. The Angels strung together seven singles, with a hit batter and a walk. They sent 11 hitters to the plate.

With Mike Trout getting the day off, the Angels finished with 16 hits, including at least one for everyone in the starting lineup.

Matt Thaiss, who had started the season in an 0-for-12 slump, had hits in his first three at-bats. Taylor Ward had three hits, giving him six in the series. Even little-used Brett Phillips picked up his first hit of the season, after going hitless in his first eight at-bats.

All of the Angels’ offensive fireworks were pretty much done by the fourth inning, though. At that point they had an 11-2 lead.

Right-hander Griffin Canning gave up a three-run homer to No. 9 hitter Tommy Edman in the fourth, and he finished just five innings. Canning also gave up two runs in the first when right fielder Hunter Renfroe misplayed a ball that should have been caught for the third out.

Left-hander Aaron Loup, who has struggled this season, had the chance at some mop-up duty in the sixth, and it didn’t go well. He gave up two runs and didn’t finish the inning, lifting his ERA to 7.00 after 11 games.

At that point, the Cardinals were within four runs in the sixth inning, but right-hander Chris Devenski settled things by picking up the next four outs. Left-handers Tucker Davidson and Matt Moore handled the final two innings.

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[BTH]

@Jeff Fletcher I know you've said that they don't want to DFA pitchers without options because then they lose them as depth, but at what point will they feel comfortable doing that?

Or, and maybe this is a better question, at what point is the pitcher's performance so bad that they're comfortable DFA'ing him because they know that they can at least find someone else who performs at the same level.

Pitchers go on waivers every day, and I find it hard to believe that none of those pitchers can at least match Loup's contributions.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Trendon

[Jeff Fletcher]

51 minutes ago, Trendon said:

@Jeff Fletcher I know you've said that they don't want to DFA pitchers without options because then they lose them as depth, but at what point will they feel comfortable doing that?

Or, and maybe this is a better question, at what point is the pitcher's performance so bad that they're comfortable DFA'ing him because they know that they can at least find someone else who performs at the same level.

Pitchers go on waivers every day, and I find it hard to believe that none of those pitchers can at least match Loup's contributions.

I don’t have an exact answer for you. But he’s closer to being DFA’d than he was 3 hours ago. 
 

It could be that they’re putting waiver claims on guys and if they get a guy they’ll DFA him and if they don’t they won’t. 
 

Also, Wantz still can’t come back for 12 more days. 
 

Bear in mind that since we had this conversation before, Quijada and Warren both got crossed off the depth list. 

[Angels 1961]

If Angels DFA Loup I wonder if any team might trade for him if halos pick up some of the money.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I feel bad for Cardinal fans.

I also feel proud, like this was pissing on Albert's forehead.

[Revad]

1 minute ago, Angels 1961 said:

If Angels DFA Loup I wonder if any team might trade for him if halos pick up some of the money.

That would likely require more than one team being interested in acquiring him, which seems unlikely at this point.

[DMVol]

30 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

If Angels DFA Loup I wonder if any team might trade for him if halos pick up some of the money.

Maybe…or a bad contract for bad contract type of deal…

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 minute ago, DMVol said:

Maybe…or a bad contract for bad contract type of deal…

"We'll take Loup, and give you Poop" - Other GM

[DMVol]

6 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

"We'll take Loup, and give you Poop" - Other GM

Thanks AO….

[BTH]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I feel bad for Cardinal fans.

As a fellow baseball fan, I hate to see another team’s fans go through such a rough stretch.

On the other hand, this is like the first bad season they’ve had the last 25 years— so I can’t feel too bad for them.

[BTH]

54 minutes ago, DMVol said:

Maybe…or a bad contract for bad contract type of deal…

Those are much harder to pull off during the season.

If/when he gets DFA’d, he’ll clear waivers, and sign a deal with some team. Maybe he’ll have to sign a minor league deal first, or perhaps he’ll get an MLB deal.

Some team’s bullpens are complete trash (looking at you, Oakland).

Edited May 5, 2023 by Trendon

[HeavenlyHalos]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I feel bad for Cardinal fans.

I also feel proud, like this was pissing on Albert's forehead.

Why do you feel bad for them? F**k the Cardinals

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I feel bad for Cardinal fans.

I also feel proud, like this was pissing on Albert's forehead.

They should have made Albert sweep the dugout after the game as part of his personal services thing.

[Jeff Fletcher]

1 hour ago, Angels 1961 said:

If Angels DFA Loup I wonder if any team might trade for him if halos pick up some of the money.

No

[HeavenlyHalos]

This sweep was much needed to build a little cushion above .500 entering the tough home stretch. A series win against both Texas & Houston would be freaking huge too with the reduction in divisional games.

[Revad]

1 hour ago, HeavenlyHalos said:

This sweep was much needed to build a little cushion above .500 entering the tough home stretch. A series win against both Texas & Houston would be freaking huge too with the reduction in divisional games.

Yes, this is an important stretch, we’ll know a bit more about where we stand after those six games.  I’m optimistic about the team right now, we’ll see what next week brings.

[Angels 1961]

1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

No

If Angels DFA Loup besides Wantz what depth would they have in minors? Like you pointed out Quijada and Warren are out for awhile. 

[gurn67]

One thing they absolutely have to start doing for people to take them seriously is to beat the Astros. Even .500 would be an improvement.

The Angels are 42-82 against the Astros over the last 7 seasons. That needs to stop starting on this homestand.

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

If Angels DFA Loup besides Wantz what depth would they have in minors? Like you pointed out Quijada and Warren are out for awhile. 

Herget. The guys in AA: Ingram, Torres, Joyce, Soriano. 

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Herget. The guys in AA: Ingram, Torres, Joyce, Soriano. 

Kenyon Yovan is a guy to keep an eye on. He has out-pitched all of those more notable guys you mentioned, so he may get the first crack actually. 

After a sensational 2022 season where he registered 1.77 ERA, struck out 39 across 20 innings with a 0.84 WHIP, .159 BAA, he's pitching extremely well in Double-A (0.98 ERA in 8 games).

[Angels 1961]

Minasian has added depth this year. Phil Nevin seems to be doing a good job of getting players plenty of playing time. He has mixed lineups and players in different positions. Players are getting more rest, and this should help as seasons goes along. Bullpen also seems to be coming together with roles more defined. Improvement with starters and this team could go a long way. 

[Duren, Duren]

I just watched the last two games back to back via PVR. I didn't know the scores in advance, so it was kind of like a doubleheader. A bit of overkill, mind you, but fast forwarding through commercials helped. 

First of all, I always respected St Louis fans. A real traditional baseball environment as long as I can remember. And going way back according to historians. Tough for them going through a terrible season so far, but they haven't had a losing season since around the mid 2000s. Hearing them loudly boo their players shows that even the most gracious or sophisticated fans reach a breaking point.

I watched the Cardinal broadcast and didn't realize Chip Carey was their main voice. Harry, Skip and Chip, a family profession. He was  pretty respectful of the Angels, but totally fixated on his team and their issues. Especially their pitchers giving up tons of homers and hits with two strikes. 

Nice work by the Angels. Patient hitters using the whole field. Mostly good pitching except for a few bad innings. 

A few observations. Thais and Wallach picking up the slack at catcher. Rendon looking more comfortable. Rengifo coming up life. Ohtani scalding the ball, keeping poised on the mound. Trout in the groove. Neto still looking solid. Closer closing. 

Yes, it was against weak opposition. But they are building momentum and climbing up past .500. 

The Texas series will be a good test. 

[Mark PT]

20 hours ago, Revad said:

Yes, this is an important stretch, we’ll know a bit more about where we stand after those six games.  I’m optimistic about the team right now, we’ll see what next week brings.

Winning was nice but still had only 1 good pitching performance in the series so I think we know where we stand.