It has been a very frustrating season for the Los Angeles Angels. Not only will they once again be on the outside looking in from the playoff picture, but this coming offseason could see them lose two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani as well.
As the weeks wind down in the year, the Angels are just trying to keep things positive. However, it can be tough to do that when you struggle to win games.
Things reared their ugly heads once again on Tuesday night, as the Angels dropped another game to the Seattle Mariners by a score of 8-0. Patrick Sandoval struggled on the mound, but it was infielder Mike Moustakas who took the blame for the loss.
“Those are routine balls,” Moustakas said. “All three of those plays I need to make. If I make any of those plays, Sandy has a great outing. It’s on me that those plays weren’t made and he had to labor through those innings and they scored a lot of runs because of them. And that’s on me.”
There were a couple of plays that Moustakas should have made, but this was a complete team loss. However, it's nice to see a veteran player like Moustakas stepping up to be a leader and hold himself accountable.
Manager Phil Nevin gave his thoughts on the game, saying that Sandoval has got to figure things out on the mound, even when plays on defense go wrong.
“I’ve said all along, the next pitch is too important,” Nevin said. “You’ve got to reel yourself back in, stay focused and make good pitches, make good plays, take good swings. And he got hurt after those errors. He’s getting better at it. His body language is better. He’s attacking things afterwards. It’s understandable when things don’t go your way, you might have some issues afterwards, but you gotta make better pitches then.”
This has been the story of the Angels season. They just haven’t been able to undo errors made, and it has cost them in the standings.
Things haven’t gone their way for quite some time this season, but they will continue to try to win as long as they have games on the schedule.
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