Shohei Ohtani Gets Brutally Honest About Angels' Mindset Following 2 Straight Losses to Dodgers
There is a ton to take away from these first two meetings of the year between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels but the biggest one in my opinion has to be that the Boys in Blue just seem to be more comfortable being uncomfortable than the Halos are right now.
And that is okay because the Dodgers house some of the biggest names in baseball and this is no dig at Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, but the fact of the matter is that their roster has guys who have gone the full mile in the postseason. This freeway series was not the most beautiful or exciting form of baseball... only 19 hits and four runs were produced by both sides in total over their two games.
The Halos got completely shut down on offense and the Dodgers couldn't do much either as they produced the four runs themselves but couldn't find major success against Reid Detmers, Ohtani and the rest of LA's bullpen. However, the squad that the Dodgers have this year is not as polished as some they've had in recent history and it is a game like last night where their veteran leaders show they can in slow circumstances.
But it has to hurt for Ohtani as he put together another classic performance at the mound with seven innings pitched, only one run allowed on a homer from Freddie Freeman, and a total of 12 strikeouts (almost tying a career-high). The 28-year-old superstar opened up about how the squad was feeling following the loss and started off by mentioning Gio Urshela, who we just found out will miss the rest of the season with a pelvic fracture, and Anthony Rendon, who is currently on the IL.
“Like Gio and Tony, those guys probably feel the worst about the injuries,” said Ohtani. “And the guys that are playing are trying to play their best to score runs, and especially the guys in the middle of the lineup like myself. If we can’t come through, it’s gonna be hard to win ballgames.”
(Via OC Register)
The Unicorn never criticizes his teammates without throwing himself into the mix and he knows that they let two prime opportunities slip away from them here. Hopefully things get for Friday's outing against the Colorado Rockies.
