Tyler Chatwood Shows Promise In Debut But Angels Fail To Adjust At The Plate In Tribe Shutout

The Angels were shout out 4-0 Monday by the surging Cleveland Indians. Tyler Chatwood was not too bad in his major league debut pitching 5 innings allowing 4 runs on 4 hits while striking out 3 and walking 4.  Chatwood’s biggest problem was control ( as we expected) and I also thought Hank Conger called the fastball way too much in the first two innings ( when all 4 runs were score). While its important to establish fast ball command early I think the right approach given the circumstances would have been to work off the kids curve ball. This was the Tribes first look at Chatwood so working that sharp hook should have been the way to go early. Get old uncle Chuck in the hitters  minds and then establish the fastball the second and third time through the lineup. Scioscia has already said Chatwood will get another start so it will be interesting how he fairs and what the game plan is next time out. All in all Tyler was solid as far as big league debuts go. If he can minimize the walks and work ahead in counts he could stick for a while. He seems confident, has a quick pace and didn’t seem afraid out there, and for a 21 year old that’s half the battle.

The Angels offense was “break your TV” frustrating, lets take a look at what went wrong.

On the offensive side Mitch Talbot completely shut the Halos down. The Angels ( coaching staff included) refused to adjust and they were “Greg Madduxed” by Talbot tonight meaning they swung at the pitch he wanted them too in virtually every at bat. When a guy refuses to come inside and is working almost entirely off speed and away, you crowd the plate , look out over and drive the ball the other way. I don’t recall Talbot coming inside to jam a single right handed hitter all night. Still the Halos never made the adjustment at the plate and instead rolled over on change ups and fast balls away,  producing a plethora of  weak ground balls to the left side all game long. It was truly a pathetic display of hitting and an obvious lack of making in game adjustments by the staff and the team as a collective. Not to take away from Talbot, he pitched brilliantly but his game plan was obvious from the first inning and only Bobby Abreu seemed to catch on. Bobby managed to lay off the change up and fast ball away on his way to coaxing 2 walks and then staying inside the baseball expertly for a double down the 3rd base line. The rest of the lineup for the most part simply failed to get the memo.

• Up Next: Dan Haren looks to get the Halos back in the win column Tuesday vs. Fausto Carmona