Angels crush Astros while Houston fans somehow find wrong thing to blame

This season won't be one to remember for the Los Angeles Angels, but even forgettable years have memorable moments. The series finale against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park was one of them, when they made the division leaders look like the also-rans in an 18-3 demolition of them. It was the kind of game that can really set a fanbase off and send them looking for anyone to blame.

Naturally, Astros fans found one. It wasn’t Peter Lambert, the starting pitcher who gave up nine runs in less than four innings in his worst start of the year. It wasn’t the bullpen that couldn’t calm things down. Instead, the discourse was about Adam Frazier taking a scenic route to first base on a second-inning ground ball to first that allowed Josh Lowe to score from third when Lamonte Wade Jr. made a wide throw home to avoid Frazier.

Angels fans, meanwhile, are just enjoying the view

With Lowe on third and the infield in, Frazier hit a chopper to first. Instead of taking the preferred path to the base, Frazier drifted way into the infield grass, putting himself directly in the path of Wade’s sightline as he tried to throw home to get Lowe. Wade obviously had to alter the throw, and it led to Lowe getting around the tag, even after a replay review. 

The Astros fans didn’t like it much. 

Yes, that’s right. It was considered “the most bush league play you’ve seen in a while.”

Another fan suggested, “He better take on to the dome his next AB.” Another wondered how that’s even legal. 

Well, it is. The rule restricting a batter-runner to the three-foot lane down the first base line comes into play on throws made to first. It’s there to stop a runner from screening the first baseman from receiving a throw, not from making one. Frazier wasn’t actually in anyone’s way on a throw to first because the throw wasn’t going to first base. The lane restriction just doesn’t apply on a throw home.

Frazier read the situation, drifted a few feet, and Wade and the Astros paid the price. It’s really just heads-up baseball more than anything. The fact that it needed a full write-up to explain why nobody got called for anything tells you how badly Houston just wanted a villain. 

Astros fans had plenty of options if they wanted something to actually be angry about, even if they didn’t want to be mad at their own team. Zach Neto had a career day, going 5-for-6 with a home run and seven RBIs. Vaughn Grissom had three hits. Grayson Rodriguez came into the game with an ERA over 7.00 and hadn’t even gone five innings in either of his last two starts, but went seven without allowing an earned run in this one. Frazier had a couple of hits too, aside from this baserunning play.

It was a complete, lopsided beating from all angles, and it happened to a team trying to take control of a bad division. This isn’t the first time in the last 12 months the Angels rotation has flashed against an Astros team fighting for the postseason. So it’s nice to have something to look back on fondly from this rough year.

One game changes very little. The Angels are still one of the worst teams in baseball, not participating in one of the most mediocre chases to the postseason we’ve seen. They sold at the deadline and are embarking on at least a partial rebuild, if not one that’ll take on a full rebuild form this winter. But nights like this one are worth remembering, if only for a reminder that baseball can be fun sometimes. 

And misery loves company. Houston’s margin at the top of the division has been thin all year, and it’s thin right now. This loss only underlines that. So let Houston argue about baserunning lanes on social media all weekend. The scoreboard settled the most interesting argument in the series finale, and it wasn’t even close.

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