Padres pitching looked excellent (so did Angel’s pitchers – Canning especially), with Garrett Richards getting punished literally once in his outing, this, by the best player in baseball, and the best in a generation. That and a bad throw was the extent of anything he did wrong.
As a Padres fan, I was most impressed by the Padres pitching tonight – not that they gave us a whole lot else to be excited about with mostly milquetoast offensive work coming through. That said: The Padres pitching was sharply more interesting than the Angel’s pitching despite the angels pitcher having pitched well statistically. That is of course, with the notable exception of Guerra, who looked off from the very first batter. Throwing a lot of wide rising stuff, we normally don’t see as often from him. He also let two runs score, thanks to a first base side double.
Emilio Pagan looked amazing. That rising fastball was death to several Angels hitters
Kirby Yeats is a beast. It’s like watching Trevor Hoffman reincarnated at times. It’ll be great to see his career solidify in the SD brown and yellow uniform.
Machado and Trout shared a couple of superstar grins with each other as Trout lined out to Manny. That’s fun stuff for baseball fans. That slick, underlying tone of respect and camaraderie, despite the obvious fiercely competitive nature of each of these players.
It might have been a much different game had Rendon been in the lineup, but that’s going to be the running theme for the Angels this year as they look to have the most competitive team they have had in many years. If they stay healthy and consistent, and Ohtani can produce at even a moderate level, the Angels look very good this year. Especially given the 60-game schedule.
A first real look at Taylor Trammell who we keep hearing is a superstar in the making. He had mixed stats in minor league play last year, but by all accounts, despite his lower stat output, he has improved on some of the fundamental issues he had while killing it early offensively over the past couple of years.
Remember this is the guy that the Padres traded Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen and Victor Nova for, in a trade that saw Trevor Bauer (Yasiel Puig factored too), one of the more interesting starting pitchers in the entire game go to the Reds. I’d have taken Bauer in a heartbeat as I rank his work-rate highly, and he occasionally shows flashes of Hall of Fame level pitching. Given all that, it will be a nice consolation to see Trammell take off in the San Diego system. We’ll see.
The Padres lost this game (in 9 innings), but I cannot say I’m unimpressed. I do believe as the offensive players get into their groove, a 1 run deficit won’t be too hard to overcome for this team, which has some exciting guys like Fernando Tatis, Jr.
Bonus baseball for the Padres and Angels extends the game as it keeps rolling past the ninth with the Angels in the lead 1-0 after 9 full innings. The bonus baseball is helping to facilitate the new rules regarding tie games. Angels start with a runner on second; Padres are gifted a run on the board and let’s see what happens. (Spoiler – Padres lose)
This season is going to be different with only 60 games, deep squads and odd new rules.