Vargas Bounces Back, but Offense is MIA in Angels Loss

After getting roughed up in his last start, Jason Vargas bounced back in a big way tonight against the Orioles. Unfortunately for him, the Angels offense decided to take the night off.

Both Vargas and Miguel Gonzalez pitched clean first innings. But no one cares about that. It was a J.J. Hardy at bat in the first inning that people care about. And if you missed it (or want to watch it again), here’s a little showing of why that at bat had people buzzing….

What. A. Catch. Apparently, Hardy didn’t get the memo that Peter Bourjos is just as good at being a center fielder as Mike Trout is.

Speaking of Mike Trout, he pushed the car that was the offense down a small hill in the fourth inning when he led off with a golf shot center field giving the Angels a 1-0 lead. Seems to me that Trout likes playing in Baltimore. But that small hill, led to a rock, a big one. And that rock forced the offense to stop dead in it’s tracks. This is my analogy, don’t judge me.

Vargas kept the Orioles off of the board until the bottom of the sixth when Manny Machado brought home a run with an RBI groundout. In the seventh inning, well, let’s just say that these two-out rallies that other teams are having, are really starting to get annoying.

Vargas set the first two done in order. The rest of the inning went like this…

Single

Pitching change

Two-run RBI single

Strikeout

Oh, now they get a strikeout.

Remember that car that was a metaphor for the Angels offense? Yeah. The Angels got it to move a little bit more in the ninth inning. A Josh Hamilton double was followed by an Abert Pujols RBI single. But that was followed by a Mark Trumbo strikeout. And then there was no more baseball. Or car. That poor, poor car.

The Angels are now 4-11 since the end of their eight-game winning streak. A streak that I will keep referring too like an ancient, mythical…something.

Jerome Williams gets a bone thrown to him in the form of a spot start tomorrow against Jason Hammel as the Angels will try to stave off being swept by the Orioles. Game time is at 9:35 AM PST, so start brewing your coffee now. Light up the fail-o, the Angels are 11 games under .500, which is the most after 65 games since 1994.

Head. Desk.