After Another Lethargic Loss The Angels Need To Play With More Urgency

Felix Hernandez is a great pitcher no doubt –  but for the second time in the past  weeks the Angels let the Mariners’ ace prevent them from gaining ground in the AL west. King Felix limited the Angels to just four hits across 8 innings of 1 run ball.

Yet the envelope was not pushed.

Watching the game you got the feeling the Angels were a club out of the race and merely going through the motions. There were no sings of a  team that should have been playing with its hair on fire –  after realizing that Texas had won earlier in the day and a loss would result in dropping back to 3.5 games in the division. Torii Hunter’s 6th inning bunt (which setup the teams only run)  and Peter Bourjos’ stolen base in the 5th  were the only real scrap the team showed all night. On defense they made four errors on the night setting up Seattle for easy scoring opportunities.

Great pitching can make teams look lethargic – but Hernandez’s  relatively low pitch count (111 through 8 IP) shows a team that was not willing to battle. That is extremely disappointing for a club that is somehow still within reach ( 3 games back) heading into tonight’s game of reaching the post season.

Jerome Williams takes the hill tonight opposite Charlie Furbush. An Angels win would trim their deficit  just 2.5 games. A loss would mean these guys still don’t get it.

The time to play like your life is on the line is now.