Athletics’ Chapman Enjoys his Talks with Angels’ Trout & Pujols
The Angels don’t have much of a record at 5-11, but they have some great talent on their roster, and it seemed like most of it fixated on Oakland A’s third baseman Matt Chapman Monday night.
By the time Hall-of-Famer-to-be Albert Pujols came up for his second at-bat in the third inning, Chapman had already batted twice and had launched two home runs.
Then Chapman defused what could have been a huge third inning for the Angels, spearing a bullet hit by Pujols that could have driven in a couple of runs.
Mike Trout, another Hall-of-Famer-to-be, was at third base at the time. He started talking with Chapman and the two men shared a light moment.
“He was like, `You’re just having a game, aren’t you?’” Chapman quoted Trout as saying.
Later Pujols would find a moment to tip his cap.
“Pujols told me, `Why are you always taking RBIs away from me? And runs?” Chapman recounted. “And I just said I figured you already had enough.”
He may be right. Pujols has the fourth-best all-time RBI total at 2083, although none of them came last night, thanks to Chapman.
And then there’s Trout. He singled in his first two at-bats, then homered twice later in the game, the second of those coming in the bottom of the eighth inning, snapping a tie and giving the Angels a 10-9 victory.
Chapman wasn’t crazy about losing, but the fact that the A’s have the best record in baseball served as something of a calming effect.
Chapman grew up in Southern California, playing at El Toro High, where as a sophomore he backed up a shortstop named Nolan Arenado, who is now the Gold Glove-winning third baseman for the Colorado Rockies. Thanks to his locale, Chapman grew up watching Trout, who debuted with the Angels in 2011, and Pujols, who showed up in 2012.
Chapman’s a fan. And particularly where Trout is concerned, words don’t go far enough, so that banter at third base Monday night constitutes a special moment.
“He just jokes around like that,” Chapman said of Trout. “You think you’ve seen it all, and then he just keeps doing it. He’ll get his two hits early in the game and then he’ll just hit two homers and like, he can change the game with one swing of the bat.
“It’s always awesome to play against him. He is in my opinion the best player in the big leagues and maybe the best ever to do it. So, it’s always a lot of fun to play against him, and it’s stressful because you know he’s so good and you always know he’s a threat when he comes up. But it’s pretty fun to way. And is seems like he just keeps getting better every single year, which I really didn’t think that was possible, but he’s doing it.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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