I Never Expected Perfection

The A's and Angels battle as we cross the halfway point in the season

A’s starter J.T. Ginn set the tone in the bottom of the first. At least that’s what I wanted to believe.

After Angels leadoff hitter Zach Neto reached on an infield single and Nolan Schanuel took first base on a five-pitch walk, Ginn coaxed Jo Adell into a 1-6-3 double play and struck out Jorge Soler on a well-located sinker. He pumped his fist as he walked off the mound.

It was Christmas in June at Angel Stadium, and Ginn wasn’t the only one dishing out lumps of coal. About an hour before first pitch, Angels owner Arte Moreno fired GM Perry Minasian. Many may argue that Christmas came early for Minasian.

With one out in the home half of the third inning, Josh Lowe was 90 feet from plating the first run of the game. A’s manager Mark Kotsay elected to bring in the infield against the left-handed hitting Schanuel. Ginn’s sinker is reason enough to play for a weak chopper. The action pitch, however, was not pounded into the dirt. It was lined towards the center of the diamond where the outstretched glove arm of second baseman Jeff McNeil secured the ball, holding the game scoreless.

Ginn had surrendered a hit and stranded a runner in each of the first three innings. Meanwhile, his counterpart, 22-year-old Walbert Ureña set down all nine batters he faced in the early goings. When the final score of the game is 9-3, it’s fun to have considered no-hit bids and drawn-in infields. Strange things happen in the world of the round ball.

Ureña struck out Shea Langeliers to end the top of the fourth. The game had been flying by with the tempo of departure day during Spring Training, when players essentially get fined for taking a pitch. I looked at the scoreboard to find that Ureña had thrown 31 strikes and only five balls in the first four innings. I came to the ballpark hoping to sit quietly with my thoughts. The game moved in such a way — even with stadium music and prompts for the crowd to GET LOUD — that it invited everyone sit quietly. The calm was short-lived.

A double into the Bermuda Triangle off the bat of Wade Meckler constituted a one-out rally for the Angels, but third baseman Denzer Guzman took a full-count fastball for strike three.

With two down, A’s catcher Langeliers either got crossed up or just plain clanked a slider from his pitcher, and Meckler advanced to third. The dam broke when second baseman Donovan Walton singled up the middle to break the scoreless draw.

Ginn had tempted Angels batters for too long and eventually the game catches up to everyone. His team was going to need a baserunner. It came immediately — not even an ABS challenge from catcher Logan O’Hoppe could undo ball four. Tyler Soderstrom took his base.

Earlier in the game, Ureña had flashed a smile after fielding a comebacker off the bat of A’s catcher and WTP favorite Jonah Heim. Maybe something was said by an infielder after the easy throw to first. Maybe there was an inside joke with a teammate. The smile was a reminder that, even against the backdrop of a dismissed baseball operations leader, these guys are still playing a game. It was nice to see.

That smile faded quickly in the fifth. Twenty-one pitches into the inning, the perfect game was gone, the no-hitter vanished, the shutout disappeared, and the lead was relinquished. Walks kill at every level. Even a 98 MPH heater and a power changeup are ineffective when the command is missing.

Stuff — high velocity and extreme movement — has superseded strike-throwing and sustainable deliveries. Pitchers will continue to chase what teams reward. Players will continue to reflect what coaches and executives will tolerate.

A scout I ran into before the game reminded us that all great hitters have one thing in common as they climb the amateur and professional ranks: They make contact. Hitters today reflected what is not only tolerated but rewarded.

Around the league, we hear more about withering fundamentals. We read about data replacing experienced coaches.

I thought about all of this as the A’s hung seven on the Angels in the fifth. Two walks with a fielder’s choice in between were followed by six consecutive singles, two of which bounded up the middle, eluding second baseman Donovan Walton. Should either of those balls been ruled an error against Walton? No, but at this level, those plays need to be made. Center fielder Josh Lowe fielded a batted ball and tried to nail the lead runner at third. By doing so, Alika Williams easily took second. The game sped up on the Halos, and mental mistakes compounded physical struggles.

Let’s take a quick break. How many of the names mentioned so far in this story are unfamiliar to you? During my years with the Padres and Diamondbacks, I prided myself on not just knowing every active player, but knowing something about each player. I knew every prospect. I anticipated many of their debuts.

Now I must admit that I had never heard of Angels reliever Samy Natera Jr. until I saw him enter a game earlier this week. The names are now coming fast and furious. Rookie third baseman Denzer Guzman reminds me of that as he singles for the second time on the night.

As the damage mounted against the Angels, A’s leadoff man Henry Bolte was awarded second base after Ureña committed a disengagement violation with Kurtz batting. It’s Major League Baseball in 2026, friends! The pitcher threw over to first not once, not twice, but thrice. That third pickoff attempt hasn’t been legal since the 2022 season. Automatic balk!

I wanted to write about how effective Ureña’s changeup was against the A’s left-handed hitters, but the fifth inning had other ideas. After requiring only 36 pitches to navigate the first four frames, Ureña threw 40 in the fifth inning, recording only one out. Ultimately, he gave way to reliever Brent Suter, who retired the next two batters and end the inning. (Heim made two outs in the innings that saw 11 A’s come to the plate.)

A quiet night with my thoughts was interrupted with the chant of “Sell the team” coming from upper deck in left field. Tonight, Perry Minasian doesn’t have to watch.

The final round of Jo Adell’s batting practice included a few blasts to right center field. The ball flight was true; the impact impressive. His raw power and athleticism will inspire inquiries from other teams looking to bolster their outfield depth ahead of the trade deadline. In the bottom of the fifth, he sent a Ginn fastball on the outside corner into the right-center bleachers.

Meanwhile, the Angels briefly restore my faith in fundamentals. Schanuel begins 3-6-1 double play, executed with precision and passion. Suter, the 36-year-old veteran out of Harvard, proves that pitchers are athletes too. He may end up in a different uniform next month, and I hope his bullpen mates have been paying attention to his approach to his job. On this night, he’s stabilized the game and given his team a chance to fight back against an A’s squad with a leaky backend of their pen.

Then things got weird again. A 3-2 pitch to Henry Bolte was called strike three, but the hitter claimed catcher’s interference. Good thing the Angels have a manager who caught 12,968 innings at the big-league level! The replay clearly shows Bolte making contact with O’Hoppe’s mitt. It also shows that the ball was already in the mitt when Bolte’s bat entered the hitting zone — in an emergency two-strike fashion. Did Bolte initiate the contact? Kurt Suzuki argued, but home plate umpire Dillon Wilson wasn’t convinced. Suzuki was then inspired to share a more colorful reaction to the call and was promptly ejected.

I can only hope that, after retreating to the clubhouse and reaching the manager’s office, Suzuki sent Minasian a sarcastic text.

Bolte, who reached on catcher’s interference, stole second, and came around to score on a Kurtz single. The A’s had tallied eight runs on nine singles before Heim, batting from the right side for the first time of the night, one-hopped the left-field fence and cruised into second base.

Their GM has been fired, their manager ejected, and Mike Trout currently resides on the Injured List with a strained right hamstring. The future Hall of Famer debuted with the Halos on July 8, 2011. Tony Reagins was GM, and Mike Scioscia was manager. Since then, Trout has played for six managers and — if he hasn’t already — will soon meet his fifth general manager. The talented and young position players of the uprooted A’s pour salt on the wounds of Angels faithful.

It’s the top of the eighth and many of the announced 29,089 in attendance are departing. Part of the thrill of coming to the ballpark these days is an appreciation for never knowing what I might see. The A’s are creeping back towards .500; a sweep of the Halos would get them there.

Both teams offer many more questions than answers. Jo Adell swings and misses at an Elvis Alvarado slider to end the game. Everyone has left the building.