3 reasons for Angels fans to panic following embarrassing sweep vs. Padres

Is this rock bottom? The Los Angeles Angels have been swept out of San Diego, losing the series finale 5-3. The Angels played a bit better to end the series, but facing an underperforming Padres team, getting swept should've been the last outcome here.

FINAL: The Angels lose 5-3 to the Padres. They were swept in San Diego.

Things are going very badly for the Angels. Injuries. Poor play. It's just ugly. They are just one game above .500 with two games in Los Angeles before the break.

They are 45-44, and have lost 7-of-8.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) July 6, 2023

San Diego entered the series losers in seven of their previous eight games and eight games under .500 on the season. The Angels have had their own issues of late, but getting swept in embarrassing fashion by a team struggling this much should simply never happen.

Now at 45-44 on the season, the Angels who were recently as many as nine games over .500 are barely above .500 as they head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers before the all-star break. This feels like the low point, and there're plenty of valid reasons for fans to be panicking.

1) The LA Angels got swept by a team playing even worse baseball than they were

The San Diego Padres were a train wreck entering this series. They had all the expectations in the world on their shoulders following an NLCS appearance last season and another expensive offseason. For the first three months of the season, the Padres played uninspired baseball and appeared to be closer to selling at the deadline than buying.

The Angels hadn't been playing great baseball entering this series either, but it was certainly better than the Padres. They were coming off of what felt like a very important victory to salvage the finale against the Diamondbacks as they defeated Zac Gallen, but they just played some horrible baseball in San Diego.

From failing to hit with runners in scoring position, to bullpen collapses, to poor starting pitching, it's hard to see much that the Angels did right. Patrick Sandoval pitched pretty well after a rough first inning, Jo Adell had a couple of good moments, Matt Thaiss broke out of a prolonged slump with a home run, that's really it.

For the Angels to be taken seriously, the Padres, even with their talent, were a team they had to find a way to beat. Sweeping a series is hard, but at least take the series. Or even win one. They failed to do neither. This is a Padres team that got swept out of Pittsburgh just last week. An embarrassing performance in every way.