For many years weve seen the Angels present groups on a “stars and scrubs” viewpoint, likewise called the “rub a little Trout on it” approach of roster building. Due to the fact that he, recently the Angels have actually leaned even harder into the stars-and-scrubs method; having been gift-wrapped a generational skill. didnt like cold weather condition? to combine alongside Trout, the Angels threw some cash at the infield in the form of Anthony Rendon, and step 3, revenue.
Just that hasnt been the case, as both Trout and Rendon are currently injured, and the Angels off-season strategy of mid-to-lower-tier pitching investments has borne little fruit, with recent acquisitions Dylan Bundy and José Quintana relegated to the bullpen. As impressive as Shohei Ohtani has been, he is just permitted to bat as soon as per 9 batters, regardless of Joe Maddons protestations to the contrary, and even with breakout star Jared Walsh and David “All BABIP, No Barrels” Fletcher keeping the lineup chugging along, it just hasnt sufficed to put the Angels into postseason contention. Stars and scrubs, nevermore.
The Mariners wont be accused of having an overload of stars, however their lineup was much more starkly divided tonight in between experienced manufacturers at the top vs. the bottom half of the lineup– 2 rookies, one player with less than 500 MLB ABs playing out of position to boot, and one struggling energy gamer. Even with J.P. Crawford going hitless tonight, it was the top of the lineup that represented all of tonights runs, in a game that wasnt as close as the last rating programs.
First of all, it should be said: offense gets all the attention, however the Mariners arent in an area to win this game without Chris Flexens performance tonight. Flexen was stellar, spreading 6 hits across 7 innings, offering up just one run on a Max Stassi solo homer. Flexen danced out of trouble a couple of times, mostly on bad-luck hits– an Adam Eaton double that snuck down the left field line, a David Fletcher “double” with an exit velocity of 67 MPH– and probably could have pitched an eighth inning as he seemingly had the Angels under his spell, needing simply 79 pitches to clear seven innings.
Meanwhile, the Mariners made some hard contact off old buddy Andrew Heaney early; J.P. began blistering a ball at 102 MPH but right at the left fielder, and then Mitch Haniger singled (99 MPH). Ty France got hit by a pitch, due to the fact that obviously were still doing that, and after that Luis Torrens brought Haniger home with a solid RBI single.
Then the bottom of the lineup attempted their hardest.
Back to the top of the lineup in the third, Mitch Haniger copied Eatons double down the line to lead off, and Ty France cued a changeup off the edge of the plate past a diving Jared Walsh to bring him home. Then Kyle Seager chose a 2-1 lead wasnt quite enough of a security blanket, and tattooed this shot (106.6 EV, 419 feet) into the bowels of Angel Stadium:

Then the bottom half of the lineup tried their hardest.
The Mariners offense was quiet until the seventh, at which point the Mariners were on their first pitcher of the game and the Angels their fourth as Joe Maddon anxiously cycled through matches to make certain Jarred Kelenic faced a consistent slate of lefties. Maddon raised Alex Claudio to have Dylan Bundy face Mitch Haniger with one and two out and Mitch Haniger took the minute to hoover up all the starpower in Angel Stadium for himself:

Also, it must be kept in mind that even as the bottom of the lineup again tried their hardest over subsequent innings, Jarred Kelenic did lastly notch a hit, breaking an 0-for-whatever streak however also, more significantly, thumbing his nose at the unlimited line of lefties Joe Maddon paraded out of the bullpen to face him, working that struck off Jose Quintana.
With a 6-1 lead the Mariners need to have had the ability to travel to a simple win, however regrettably, Anthony Misiewicz was a little rusty, offering up a run in his inning of relief, and Kendall Graveman suffered from an unforeseen Dylan Moore mistake that made the video game much closer than it had any company being as the Angels tried to breathe life into this game in the ninth like a daddy frantically trying to reinflate a bouncy house at his kids birthday celebration. The Angels ran out of helium, though, and they likewise encountered the brick wall referred to as Paul Sewald:

It wont help the run differential, however a win is a win, and a win over the Angels is especially sweet. The Mariners might be more scrubby than they are stars, however theyre shining where it counts: in the win column.

For years weve seen the Angels roll out groups on a “stars and scrubs” approach, also known as the “rub a little Trout on it” technique of roster building and construction. Just recently the Angels have leaned even harder into the stars-and-scrubs methodology; having actually been gift-wrapped a generational skill since he. Just that hasnt been the case, as both Trout and Rendon are presently injured, and the Angels off-season technique of mid-to-lower-tier pitching financial investments has actually borne little fruit, with current acquisitions Dylan Bundy and José Quintana relegated to the bullpen. As exceptional as Shohei Ohtani has been, he is just permitted to bat once per nine batters, regardless of Joe Maddons protestations to the contrary, and even with breakout star Jared Walsh and David “All BABIP, No Barrels” Fletcher keeping the lineup chugging along, it simply hasnt been enough to put the Angels into postseason contention.