Rally Cat curse, terrible bullpen performance doom Angels in blown loss to Phillies

Things were looking so promising for the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. It was the the bottom of the seventh inning and the Angels found themselves with a two-run lead with two outs against the red-hot Phillies.

At that point, MLB.com had the Angels with better than a 84.5% chance of winning the game against a very tough opponent that they had beaten the night before.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Rally Cat struck and the game unraveled shortly thereafter, leading to a brutal 7-5 loss to Philadelphia. Don't worry, no cats were harmed, although at least one was pretty shaken up.

Rally Cat curse, along with another terrible bullpen performance, dooms Angels in loss

First, you can't help but feel sorry for the cat here. The poor thing was obviously terrified as it found itself in front of thousands of unfamiliar screaming people. However, the cat was obviously a Phillies fan as it ran straight into their dugout for safety, so our sympathy can only go so far.

Unfortunately for the Angels, the cat's curse was already placed on their beleaguered bullpen and the damage was done. In the top of the eighth, Alec Bohm hit an RBI single to get the Phillies within a run, and then Nick Castellanos tied the game in the top of the ninth with a solo homer. A two-run homer off the bat of Johan Rojas later in the game's final frame proved to be the decider as the Angels' offense went quiet the rest of the way.

While it's easy to blame Rally Cat here as the Angels' version of the Cubs' black cat appearance back in 1969, the real blame should be on LA's bullpen, which coughed up yet another late lead. Matt Moore gave up a run to let the Phillies get close and Carlos Estevez got rocked for three runs, including both homers in the ninth.

The Angels' bullpen has some soul-searching to do after this one, although it couldn't hurt to make a donation to the local humane society just to be safe.

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