ANAHEIM – When the baseball world was engaged on Tuesday over discussion of unwritten rules and etiquette of blowouts, Joe Maddon took a bit of a middle position.
The subject was sparked by Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. who hit a grand slam on a 3-and-0 pitch with a seven-run lead in the eighth inning Monday. The Texas Rangers, especially manager Chris Woodward, were not happy.
Maddon, who has spent more than 40 years in professional baseball, said he does not want his hitters to venture onto a 3-0 pitch with a big lead.
“It’s just part of the game, whether people want to hear it or not, or whether they agree with it or not,” Maddon said. ‘It’s just. Going forward, most of the time your veterans will talk to your young players when it actually happens. I’ve been involved in those conversations. ”
While that may seem like an old-school mentality, Maddon admitted that ‘when all this stuff was written, it was a different game than it is today. ‘
He also said it would not bother him if his team was on the wrong side of that situation.
“I would not be too scared of it in general,” he said. ‘I’m not really worried about all that stuff. For me, if we kick our butts, it’s our fault. It’s not the other team’s fault and the goal of the game is to score runes, and I’ve always kept going. ‘
PITCHING PLANS
The Angels postponed the start of Andrew Heaney until Friday, which will give him an extra day of rest.
That provides an opening for a start to Thursday’s game in San Francisco, the final of the four games against the Giants.
Jaime Barria, who was recalled for Tuesday’s game to provide bullpen coverage, may have been a candidate for that start, but the Angels used him in relief on Tuesday. The Angels could still use Matt Andriese, who opened the year in the rotation, if he is not needed in relief on Wednesday.
It marks Barria’s first time this season. Barria was a revelation with a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts in 2018, but placed a 6.42 ERA in 19 games last year.
Taylor Ward got option to Long Beach to make room for Barria.
PITCHING TO TROUT
So far this season, 55% of pitches for Mike Trout have been in the zone, which would be well higher than any other season of his career, according to Baseball Savant.
The previous high was 51.2% in Trout’s rookie year in 2012. Every other season it was less than 50%, including 47.2% last year.
While it’s possible this is just a small sample size – Trout still has only 86 plate appearances prior to Tuesday’s game – it could also be the result of having Anthony Rendon behind him in the lineup.
“I have had arguments about protection, which means the man was beaten behind the man,” Maddon said. ‘And many times it’s poo-pooe, d, but I tell you, the lineup card comes over to the Giants and they see Trout (hit) three. “We really want to avoid him, but we can’t deal with Rendon.” It’s that simple. It’s that simple. ”
Trout and Rendon have hit back-to-back in just 16 of the 24 games. Rendon suffered four injuries and then Trout missed four before the birth of his son.
EK
Jason Castro was still out due to a stiff neck. After Max Stassi took four days in a row, that opened the door for Anthony Bemboom to get his first start of the season. …
Andrelton Simmons (dirty ankle) takes continuous balls and batting practice. He will be evaluated on a daily basis to determine when he is ready to activate.
